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Elsy Fierro's hearing on the controversial Rio Grande High School grade change will have to wait for a District Court decision on her request to open it to the public.

A Nov. 8 hearing has been scheduled in District Court to determine whether Fierro's ethics case can legally be heard behind closed doors.

Fierro is the Albuquerque Public Schools administrator who ordered the grade change for the son of former Albuquerque Board of Education member Miguel Acosta and Bernalillo County Commissioner Teresa Cordova.

The son was allowed to graduate in May after his F in English was changed to a D.

The state Public Education Department has accused Fierro of exerting "undue influence" and providing "incomplete and inaccurate" information to her superiors to get the grade changed in violation of the educator ethics code.

On Monday, the hearing officer in the ethics case ordered the hearing closed, citing federal privacy laws protecting student records.

Hearing officer G.R.S. Khalsa said Tuesday if the court orders an open hearing the state will have to dismiss its case because he won't violate federal law.

Bruce Berlin, the Education Department's lawyer, said state Education Secretary Veronica Garcia would be the one to decide if a dismissal were in order.

The state does not want to violate the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act because it has been warned by the federal government that to do so could bring severe penalties, such as withdrawal of federal funding, Berlin said.

If the hearing is closed, Khalsa said he wouldn't violate federal law because he can consider all evidence with the student's name redacted.

Khalsa said he doesn't know the names or identities of any of the players in the case because he lives 100 miles from Albuquerque and has been "insulated" from the media coverage.