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RIO RANCHO, N.M. – The Rio Rancho School District is seeing some success with teaching children about online safety. It’s called the Digital Defenders program, and it’s starting up again.

The eight-week course begins Tuesday at all elementary schools in Rio Rancho and three middle schools. It helps teach kids how to navigate the online world and, more importantly, stay safe while they do.

“As things progress in our world, more and more stuff is happening on the internet, and we need to make sure that our kids are safe,” said Melissa Eisenberg, a Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary education technology specialist.

In this day and age there’s a lot online, and while it can be used for good, it can also be harmful.

“It’s really important for students, especially as young as third, fourth, fifth graders, to be very aware of themselves online,” said Eisenberg.

Eisenberg is one of the advisors for Rio Rancho Public Schools’ Digital Defenders program.

“We have students, grades two through five, interacting with different digital citizenship lessons, topics, things like that. Like their digital footprint, how they can stay safe online and private and personal information they should or shouldn’t share,” Eisenberg said.

This is the second time the district is offering the course.

“We were awarded a grant that is actually ending in 2025 where we were able to run the program for two years,” said Eisenberg.

Eisenberg hopes they can find a way to go even longer. She says she’s seen the success first hand.

“We learn how to be safe on the internet,” said Delilah, a fourth grader.

Delilah took the course last year, and she’s excited to take it again.

“My favorite thing I’ve learned so far is learning that how the internet can be dangerous and can be safe,” Delilah said.

Delilah told us she learned not to interact with anyone she doesn’t know on the internet, which is something she might not have known before becoming a digital defender.

“Before the class, I was sometimes when my time was over on my Nintendo, I would try to sign in to their account to put more time on it,” said Delilah.

Another aspect of the course is after the kids learn, they head back into the classroom to teach their peers.

“Having that older sibling or older student type interaction is really more powerful than even an adult saying like, ‘Hey, be careful,’ because it’s your peer for them,” Eisenberg said.

Eisenberg emphasized having courses like these are more important than ever.

“We are here as educators to raise good citizens in the world, and part of that, especially in the 21st century, is making sure they’re good digital citizens, so making sure students are safe and kind,” said Eisenberg.

You might be thinking second grade, or 8 years old, is a little young to be learning such important topics, but Eisenberg says they’re seeing kids at even earlier ages use technology or even social media.

She says building the foundation of internet safety at those early ages helps solidify it as they grow.

The Sandoval County Commission approved an ordinance to amend its lease with Intel at the Sept. 12 meeting, but not before asking some hard questions, particularly about layoffs the company announced in August.

The original lease between Sandoval County and Intel Corporation was signed and dated Oct. 26, 2004, and was first amended and extended in 2019. That first amendment extended Intel's spending period by five years under the Industrial Revenue Bond.

A second amendment to the lease was proposed in order to extend the completion date of the project, increase payments in lieu of taxes, adjust the existing provision relating to the delivery of a surety bond in connection with the protection of certain environmental indemnities, and permit the county to acknowledge Intel’s interest in certain federal benefits in connection with the potential expansion of a chip facility.

"It extends the spending period or completion date from October 25 of this year to October 25 of 2034, which is the end of the Industrial Revenue Bond. So basically what you're doing is allowing them between the first amendment, second amendment and the original an entire 30 years to spend up to about $4.7 billion remaining of the original $16 billion IRB," Rob Burpo, county financial advisor, said.

In spending this money, Intel will also provide reports of spending to the county assessor's office on an orderly basis, according to Burpo.

"The county felt that it was a good idea not to put any kind of restrictions on their ability to spend. We're trying to encourage them to spend as much money in the county as possible," he said.

Another factor Burpo says is essential is allowing the county to work with the federal government to make sure some of the loans and grant programs are available to Intel under the 2022 CHIPS Act.

"That CHIPS Act was designed to encourage domestic development and manufacturing of chips in order to make sure that we have a good supply chain of chips domestically as well as to counteract the impacts of China's expanse in the CHIPS program," he said.

Burpo added that the county is encouraging Intel to relocate or expand within Sandoval County.

"That will benefit the company as well as the county," he said.

He says they also encourage Intel help with local economic development locally, and Intel will pay the fees as required by law.

Burpo says the amendments will not only impact the globe, but also directly impact Rio Rancho, Corrales and the surrounding areas.

Commissioners had questions, but they asked that Intel's local administration come up to answer them.

Commissioner Jay Block asked about the current number of employees and contractors at Intel. Intel's representative said they have 3,000 contractors and 3,000 full-time employees. He added they are looking to hire more engineers and technicians in all areas of expertise, like electrical, mechanical, etc.

"Any AI or cyber?" Block asked.

They responded by simply saying "potentially.".

Block went on to thank Intel, calling them a great partner with the county.

Commissioner Josh Jones asked about new businesses and any lead generation coming from Intel.

Burpo explained that they were generic with Intel on that front purposefully so Intel could relocate some of their global operations to Sandoval County and increase that work without it being restricted to or limited to their business partners.

He was also concerned about any upcoming layoffs Intel will have.

Intel confirmed that they announced the layoffs Aug. 1. An Intel representative reassured Jones that the layoffs were all related to human resources and they don't expect to see a net reduction in employment. Instead, they say local employment numbers will go up because they are moving technology development resources from Oregon to Sandoval County.

The commissioners unanimously passed the amended ordinance.