Santa Fe Schools Hid Audio on 61 Cameras, Including at Least One Elementary Classroom

On September 2, 2025, office manager Shanda Martinez watched a fisheye camera go up near her desk at the Santa Fe Public Schools facilities building. She asked if she could see the feed.

The installer said he was “not sure” because “this one has audio.” Within days, employees were walking outside to use their phones. An outside investigation commissioned by the district later found 61 cameras recording sound across nearly every SFPS building, including at least one elementary classroom at El Camino Real Academy.

Servers overwrote footage about every 30 days. Security executive director Mario Salbidrez and deputy Mark Lewandowski were placed on leave September 17, 2025, and fired February 9, 2026. A criminal investigation is open. Almost every official now on the record says they did not authorize what was already running.

Salbidrez told Superintendent Christine Griffin that audio-capable cameras were in 98 percent of district buildings. Audio could be pulled “with a mouse click” from the Safety and Security office and over the district VPN from home. About 1,000 additional cameras were audio-capable but not yet turned on.

The first units went in during November 2021 at Capital High, Santa Fe High, and Milagro Middle School. Former Superintendent Veronica García, who was then in office, denied authorizing audio and said she “wasn’t even aware we had that capability.” Salbidrez says a later “Front Office Project” was approved by former Superintendent Hilario “Larry” Chavez after a November 2024 café meeting, framed as protection for staff facing confrontational parents. Chavez texted General Counsel Joshua Granata denying approval of any audio devices. The investigators found no written authorization from either superintendent.

Investigator Christopher Cappon of Robert Caswell Investigations recovered shared folders on Salbidrez’s accounts containing audio sent to Chavez and Granata. One February 2025 file from Aspen Community School went to Chavez and an assistant superintendent. Another, involving a counselor at Nina Otero Community School, went to Granata and HR. Granata said he was never asked to review the legality of audio recording and denied using audio in discipline. The report documents at least five cases in which camera audio was used against employees. Facilities director Marissa Bonifer learned audio from a Santa Fe High security office had been used in a written warning for her daughter, a security guard, after Bonifer had complained about the school’s security lead.

Safety and Security spending rose from $1.7 million in fiscal 2023 to $2.8 million in fiscal 2024. Non-grant spending across those three years reached $7.1 million, plus $630,000 in grants, drawn from mill-levy and bond funds. Chief Procurement Officer Marie Gutierrez said blanket purchase orders are for maintenance and repair. The report concludes those orders were used for new camera installs in violation of district rules. Capital Outlay Director Martin Ortega, who routed requisitions, told the investigator: “I was told never to question what was on the invoice.”

Not all of it was buried. On July 17, 2025, the board approved about $1.1 million in camera spending without discussion, including a $129,225 Santa Fe High order that described a “Fisheye Camera with Audio” as “perfect for monitoring common areas.” Griffin signed the next day. Board President Kate Noble later said the board opposes audio-enabled cameras and license-plate readers. A separately approved high-school plate-reader program, budgeted at more than $80,000 and planned to check plates against a sex-offender database, was halted.

New Mexico’s wiretap statute, NMSA 30-12-1, is generally treated as one-party consent for telephone and wire communications. Whether that covers fixed institutional microphones in offices and classrooms is unsettled. Salbidrez and Lewandowski reportedly cited one-party consent. Granata confirmed a criminal referral; he did not name the agency. Counsel for the fired officials has notified the district of planned civil suits. SFPS, citing litigation, has declined to answer specific claims.

Students and staff were recorded in public-school buildings without a documented vote, a posted notice, or a finished legal review. Footage aged off the servers every month. The board now says no audio cameras or plate readers remain. The investigative report, commissioned October 2, 2025 and dated January 5, still does not produce a complete paper trail for who authorized years of microphones in a district full of minors. That gap is now a matter for police and the courts.