| Las Montañas High School celebrated a very special milestone in 2010 – 27 teenagers went into the world as the first group of students at the school to graduate. If the graduating class seems small, the classroom sizes will seem even smaller, but the thing this school has going for it is its emphasis on “creative learning.”
Walking into Las Montañas, a charter school within the Las Cruces Public School District (LCPS), is kind of like walking into a grown-up Adventure Zone. Students are happy, teachers are happy and any focus on education is ‘cool’ – especially by being equipped with a Creative Learning System SmartLab, which uses state-of-the-art technology to help develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
The school first opened in 2007 to a group of freshman, then began teaching 10th through 12th grades. Currently the school has about 310 students enrolled, and next year they expect to graduate 90 seniors. Along with a creative learning emphasis, the school focuses on smaller class sizes, subject mastery and new technology and online and dual-credit courses.
“We have a very close group of students and teachers here at the school because we are smaller,” Joyce Aranda, academic dean at Las Montañas, says of the school that keeps class sizes to 12 to 15 students.
Charter schools, by definition, are mission focused schools providing a structured learning environment, individual student discipline and increased parental involvement. Because school leaders are permitted more flexibility, they are better able to respond to the needs of parents and students. Charter schools maintain their own personnel, manage their own budgets and report to their own board of directors.
“Charter schools are becoming an important option for parents across America, including Las Cruces,” Joyce says.
Over the past three years, Joyce and her staff have been working on a specific set of goals, including creating a foundation; building and construction; expansion for growth; registration of a new grade level; curriculum building; hiring staff; a federal and financial audit; nutrition audit; culture and school environment policies.
“Everything we are doing here is very exciting,” Joyce says. “It’s a great place to watch growth.” |
