Recent movement on the plan to create a 6th-12th grade academy at the sight of Rio Grande Preparatory Institute and Mesilla Valley Leadership Academy has received pushback from parents.
Projected to start in fall of 2027, the new academy will serve grades 6 through 12 on the same campus and focus on career training, entrepreneurship, and project-based learning.
To make this school possible, LCPS is discussing combining Mesilla Valley Leadership Academy and Rio Grande Preparatory Institute, who already share the campus.
Deputy Superintendent of Teaching & Learning Dr. Wendi Miller-Tomlinson said that this decision came about because of decreased enrollment district-wide and the small size of the schools.
“Having a very small school with 100 students in an era of declining resources, declining enrollment, just makes sustainability very difficult and the leadership at Mesilla Valley Leadership Academy has talked for some time about how they were just kind of stuck. They couldn't grow, the facility that they were in wasn't big enough to take on more students, so really thinking about how can we leverage that and leverage the high school piece that is happening at Rio Grande Prep, great programs of study, great energy, students are doing really great things at RGPI,” Dr. Miller-Tomlinson said.
However, not everyone is excited about this plan. Mesilla Valley Leadership Academy Parent Teacher Organization President Rebecca Cram said she doesn't want to see MVLA lose some of the things that make the spotlight school unique and successful.
“What aspects do they want to keep from MVLA and whoever runs the school really has to see the vision for both pieces, both schools. I think that one concern, is there backing with whoever the next principal is of what is special about MVLA and RGPI,” Cram said.
On top of that, she says that the age range at the school is also of concern. She questions how a career-readiness focused school will work for middle through high schoolers, and how safe the campus will be.
“Probably my biggest concern is that it is really not that well thought out to have 6th grade with 12th graders and everything in between. The building itself is old and it is not that big. I 100% agree that MVLA could grow and should grow and I 100% agree that RGPI can grow and should grow. I am not disagreeing with that. I don't think that combining 12-year-olds with potentially 19-year-olds because you could have a student who was held back and now they are seniors and now they are 19. It doesn't feel right to have those age groups together in a building that is pretty small,” Cram said.
Dr. Miller-Tomlinson says the district is planning on combining the best aspects from each school and is working to keep student success at the front of their minds.
“We obviously want to preserve the things that are working well. We are not going to tear everything down and start over. It's really combining good practices from both schools, not just Mesilla Valley Leadership, but Rio Grande Prep as well. And again increasing opportunities for our students, tapping into some new facilities that are being built on that campus. We are building a career and technical education center there that will serve high school students and really leveraging that resource and adding that to the things that we are doing well at both of those schools,” Dr. Miller-Tomlinson said.
A steering committee is currently working on taking feedback from the community and working on a path forward. Information can be found at lcps.net.
