Article courtesy of the Las Cruces Sun-News
By Reyes Mata III
LAS CRUCES – Arrowhead Park Early College High School – an ambitious venture to slash dropout rates – heralded a major accomplishment during its ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday at its new campus.
“One hundred percent of the sophomore class progressed from ninth grade to 10th grade on time,” Principal Jennifer Amis told the crowd of about 450 people who gathered at the New Mexico State University-based high-school campus.
Some of the parents in the crowd who were cheering that announcement say they support the strong academic curriculum and zealous advancement of students that the new high school emphasizes.
Francisco Silva, a parent of a freshman, said the Arrowhead experience is keeping his son on track for a stable future. “He has all these options at Arrowhead High School that he would not have had somewhere else. The education is very intense.” His wife, Rosa Maria Silva, said she was very pleased with her son’s experience so far, adding that “he will be ahead of the game if he stays here.”
Jose Garcia, secretary of the New Mexico Higher Education Department, took the podium and said the dismal dropout rate of the state’s children is unprecedented. “For the first time in New Mexico’s history, the older generation is better educated than the younger generation,” he said, citing census figures that show fewer New Mexicans are achieving degrees in higher education. “That’s not good and we need to do something about it.”
The state has traditionally “not done a good job of improving the dropout rates of high school and college,” he said, and added: “But this school has proven they can reduce dropout rates to zero.”
Using a public-private funding hybrid, Arrowhead Park Early College High School – which officials stated cost $82 million less than a comparable school construction project – is the future that some state officials want New Mexico schools to look like.
“Thank you for creating the picture of what this state needs,” said state Education Secretary Hanna Skandera. “We now have a perfect model, a literal model,” she said, adding that her advice to the state regarding reducing dropout rates would be: “Go down and take a look at Las Cruces – they delivered.”
Las Cruces Public Schools Superintendent Stan Rounds echoed the same sentiment: “This is a zero-dropout place,” he told the crowd. “More than 60 percent of these students are the first in their families to go to college. And, to date, not a single one has dropped out,” Rounds said in a statement prepared earlier.
A high-school degree at Arrowhead will also entail a college-level associate’s degree, clearing the way for a four-year degree from a university, said Barbara Couture, NMSU president. “That is progress, a seamless transition of a college education,” she said of the school.
The school – part of the LCPS system – opened in July 2010 at Dona Ana Community College. Last August it moved to NMSU’s eight-acre site. The school currently has 115 freshmen and 115 sophomores, administrators said. Next year, the school will accept an additional 125 students, then an extra 125 students will be accepted the following year to reach the 500-student capacity, said Gabriela Alaniz, dean of students, and Yolanda Juarez, office manager of the school.
Officials at the event credited the Bridge of Southern New Mexico with bringing the private and public sectors of the area together to create the innovative school.
Reyes Mata III can be reached at (575) 541-5405.
