Farmington Municipal Schools Disbands Behavior-Management Program After State OSE Directive

Farmington Municipal Schools disbanded a long-running behavior-management program Feb. 27, 2026 after direction from the New Mexico Public Education Department’s Office of Special Education, the district announced following a state complaint review. The action responds to findings in Complaint Resolution Report C2526-26 that documented districtwide practices in special education settings.

The Complaint Resolution Report excerpts describe the district’s use of Behavior Disorder classrooms and an associated Behavior Management Program. “At the time, the LEA had created a Behavior Disorder (‘BD’) classroom at multiple schools within the LEA, which was intended to provide a separate learning environment for special education students with a history of behavioral misconduct governed by a Behavior Management Program (‘BMP’) based on the Crane and Reynolds Level System (CRLS),” the report states, and adds that “The CRLS is an outdated, complicated points-based level system that is to be applied uniformly to all students in the BD classroom and requires them to earn points by following set class” procedures.

State investigators documented a breakdown between individualized planning and the district’s points system. The report says “there was a clear and fundamental misunderstanding of staff as to whether the BIP was ancillary to or replaced by the BD classroom’s behavior management program (BMP), as evidenced by documentation that student was receiving behavioral services by virtue of being in the program.” The report further notes the BMP “was neither part of Student’s BIP, which wasn’t created until over a month after he was moved into the BD classroom, nor was it tailored to Student or aligned with the requirements of his IEP.”

Investigators flagged concrete conflicts between IEP placements and BMP practices. The Complaint Resolution Report quotes the student’s IEP listing required integration at meals, recess, assemblies, computer lab, art, music, and physical education and states the BMP “prevented him from doing so until such time as he’d earned enough points– a Sisyphean task for a child with multiple […]” The report also documents that the student’s BIP “was not tracked; and (4) Student’s behavior became increasingly violent during his placement in the Behavior Management Program, which was not tailored to his unique needs.”

The report includes operational failures that preceded the state directive. Investigators found the student’s BIP was created more than a month after his placement in the BD classroom, that discipline removals “were frequently sent to the office for misbehavior without such removals being documented,” and that a goals document recorded the student “had made no progress, had a difficult transition to his new school, and requires the support of at least 1 adult during most of school day.” The report cites federal regulatory language, including 34 C.F.R. § 300.530(i)(3) and 18 U.S.C. § 1365(h)(3), in its analysis.

Farmington’s disbanding of the BD/BMP structures follows the OSE direction referenced by the district and reflects statewide enforcement of special education requirements. The Complaint Resolution Report C2526-26 and the OSE directive now frame the next administrative work for FMS: identifying how many BD classrooms operated across district schools, replacing the CRLS-based BMP with individualized supports that comply with IEPs, and documenting behavior interventions and removals in accordance with federal and state rules. Families and advocates in San Juan County will watch how the district implements those corrective actions and how the district restores required integration and supports for affected students.