Parents, students and staff urged the district to preserve what works at Mesilla Valley Leadership Academy as officials defended a plan aimed at enrollment, sustainability and expanded career pathways

Damien Willis, Organ Mountain News

LAS CRUCES - A Las Cruces Public Schools proposal to create a new sixth- through 12th-grade academy is running into resistance from families, students and staff who fear the district could dismantle parts of a middle school model they say is already working.

The district is developing the new school on the campus now shared by Mesilla Valley Leadership Academy and Rio Grande Preparatory Institute, with an opening targeted for fall 2027.

LCPS officials say the proposal is still in an early design phase and is intended to create a smaller school combining rigorous academics, project-based learning, career exploration and stronger connections between middle and high school.

But during Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting, members of the MVLA community questioned whether the process is moving too quickly and whether the district is adequately protecting the school’s culture, staff and programs.

“I actually think many elements of the proposed 6 through 12 CTE model sound exciting, but why does creating an opportunity require fundamentally changing a middle school model that is already successful?” Kristen Chasteen, a parent of two former MVLA students and former PTO president, told the board.

Chasteen said the proposed academy appears to go beyond simply adding high school grades to MVLA, potentially creating a new vision, mission, staffing model and instructional structure.

“If MVLA has something worth preserving, then the people who made that model successful should be at the center of this new school, not treated as applicants for their own jobs,” she said.

Other speakers focused on MVLA’s house system, relationships between students and staff and the school’s culture of belonging.

Amanda Telles, an MVLA special education teacher, asked the district to preserve a model she said has helped students with disabilities thrive.

“We need something different,” Telles said, noting that many students with special needs seek out MVLA because of its environment.

One sixth grader asked the board to preserve both the school’s teachers and its houses, while a former student said the house system had helped shy students develop confidence and leadership skills.

The message was echoed by several parents: Add opportunities, they said, but do not discard the parts of MVLA they believe are already successful.

District cites enrollment, staffing and sustainability

Deputy Superintendent Wendi Miller-Tomlinson told the board the proposal grew out of broader questions about declining enrollment, limited funding and how LCPS uses staff, programs and buildings.

“We’re in the infancy of this process,” Miller-Tomlinson said.

LCPS currently serves fewer than 22,000 students, she said, and officials have been examining whether existing programs can remain sustainable as enrollment declines.

Superintendent Ignacio Ruiz said that between MVLA and RGPI, the district is serving roughly 150 students while maintaining two principals, separate office staffs and teachers.

RGPI also has a building capable of serving about 300 students but had roughly 60 enrolled, Ruiz said.

The proposal, officials said, is partly intended to address those inefficiencies while creating a larger school that could attract families seeking a smaller learning environment.

The district hopes to begin the new academy with roughly 250 students and eventually grow enrollment to about 300.

Officials also pointed to two major Career and Technical Education investments on the campus.

Construction is underway on the CTE Collective Mercado, which Miller-Tomlinson said the district hopes to complete by December. LCPS is also preparing to break ground on a larger CTE building, with construction expected to take a little more than a year.

The academy would not be designed strictly as a vocational or CTE school, Miller-Tomlinson said. Instead, LCPS envisions a college-and-career academy incorporating core academics, project-based learning, career exposure and flexible learning opportunities.

District officials said students would not be expected to choose a career path in middle school.

“We’re not asking students to pick their career or their pathway or their life work when they’re 11,” Miller-Tomlinson said.

Questions about staffing and identity

Staffing emerged as one of the most sensitive parts of Tuesday’s discussion.

The district’s draft framework contemplates one school led by one principal, with LCPS developing profiles for the leaders and teachers best suited to the model.

Miller-Tomlinson said LCPS will work through staffing issues with its employee unions and collective bargaining agreements.

She said the district wants to balance retaining employees already working at MVLA and RGPI with giving other LCPS educators an opportunity to work in a new instructional model.

Some existing teachers, she said, may decide a project-based school with flexible scheduling is not the environment in which they want to teach.

Board member Teresa Tenorio questioned whether that uncertainty helps explain why MVLA employees and families feel threatened by the proposal.

Tenorio also pressed administrators on why the district’s initial community engagement presented the idea as a largely blank-slate 6-12 school rather than explicitly framing it around MVLA and RGPI.

Miller-Tomlinson said the district intentionally started broadly.

“If we were going to have a 6-12 school, what would it look like?” she said, describing the early process as a “blank canvas” intended to gather ideas before becoming constrained by existing programs.

Tenorio said that approach may itself have contributed to fears that MVLA and RGPI could disappear into something entirely new.

Board members question the pace

The district gathered 854 participants through an initial ThoughtExchange process, with respondents emphasizing smaller learning communities, mentorship, strong academics, internships, student belonging and flexible learning options.

LCPS held additional focus groups Tuesday and Wednesday at the RGPI/MVLA campus in Mesilla, including English- and Spanish-language sessions for students, families, employees and community members.

The district also plans additional student focus groups during the school day and another round of online feedback.

But several board members questioned whether the current schedule allows enough time to meaningfully incorporate that input.

LCPS had tentatively planned to bring a finalized framework to the board Sept. 15.

Miller-Tomlinson acknowledged that is a short timeline. She said the district wants enough time afterward to secure New Mexico Public Education Department approval, which could take about three months, before moving into detailed operational planning, staffing, budgeting and student recruitment.

She also stressed that Sept. 15 is flexible.

Tenorio said the schedule felt rushed and told administrators she wanted time to review more than summary charts from the district’s community engagement.

Board Secretary Patrick Nolan went further.

“I think we definitely need more time,” Nolan said. “September seems like a rush.”

Nolan said he still sees promise in the concept but acknowledged the district has “missed some steps” and needs to work harder to overcome skepticism among existing families and staff.

Vice President Robert Wofford similarly urged administrators not to let fiscal concerns overwhelm the educational purpose.

“I hope we don’t just rearrange the pieces so that we can save money,” Wofford said. “We need to take the soul of that school into the new school.”

Board member Ed Frank also urged the district to protect what has made MVLA successful.

“We don’t want to mess with something that’s working well,” Frank said.

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‘Preserve what is working’

LCPS officials repeatedly emphasized Tuesday that the new academy is not intended simply to bolt RGPI onto MVLA or extend the existing middle school model through 12th grade.

Miller-Tomlinson said the district instead wants to identify the strongest elements of both programs and design a school appropriate for students across the full grade span.

MVLA’s existing campus constraints had prevented the school from growing, she said, while the move to the RGPI campus gives the district room to expand.

Ruiz also pointed to demographic differences between MVLA and the district as another reason LCPS wants to broaden access to the model.

He told the board MVLA has substantially higher percentages of white and gifted students than the district overall and lower percentages of Hispanic, economically disadvantaged and English-learning students.

The new academy, administrators said, should ultimately serve a student body more reflective of the broader district.

For families who spoke Tuesday, however, expanding access does not require starting over.

“What are we fixing?” Chasteen asked the board. “What are we willing to lose in the process?”

Damien Willis is founder and editor of Organ Mountain News. If you have a personal story to share or a lead we should follow up on, reach out at OrganMountainNews@gmail.com or connect with him on X at @damienwillis.