Las Cruces dual language charter school hopes to grow enrollment

La Academia Dolores Huerta Charter Middle School is among the few schools in New Mexico that offers a dual language learning experience for students. In Las Cruces, it is the only middle school with a full dual language curriculum.

The school opened in 2004 with the goal of promoting strong social-cultural experiences through a holistic Spanish and English approach.

Sylvy Galvan de Lucero, school principal and superintendent, said the school’s faculty strives to enrich student’s perspectives every day.

“One of the biggest things is just the exposure because being in the community that we live in, so close to the border, having a frame of reference for Spanish and English language and how they coexist, teaches students to be successful in their future careers and that being bilingual is almost mandatory,” Galvan de Lucero said.

Core classes such as English, math, science and social studies, are taught in English and Spanish alternating between weeks. Elective classes include ballet folklorico, conjunto, mariachi, horticultural and creative media.

“Part of our vision is to be one of the highest performing middle schools in the country as we restructure and do it through a big support of the cultural arts that tie to the roots of our community here in the southwest,” Galvan de Lucero said.

The school moved locations in 2018 from its original campus on north Main Street to Mesilla Park. With the move, the school saw a decline in enrollment and the pandemic in 2020 contributed to it. Galvan de Lucero said the community assumed it had closed.

Enrollment for the upcoming year is open for the school, as La Academia Dolores Huerta Charter Middle School hopes to grow its presence, amid previous challenges.

“We lost a lot of enrollment and then COVID hit, and it really hurt us, so we’re rebuilding I guess you could say, we’re in restructuring mode,” she said.

In the past, the school struggled with meeting performance benchmarks set by the New Mexico Public Education Department, almost losing its charter. Under new leadership and approaches within NMPED, La Academia Dolores Huerta has been able to recover under the state’s Community Schools initiative which empowers local schools to thrive on their culture, community and collaboration.

Galvan de Lucero said that La Academia Dolores Huerta was recently awarded a community schools grant of $50,000 which will help with planning and institutional development to support students and their families.

“It is the hope of La Academia Dolores Huerta that by developing a strong Community School framework and environment, it will promote a growth in enrollment by being able to provide our school community with unique opportunities that also consolidate the need to be looking all over the city to find the support and information they need,” Galvan de Lucero said in an email.

The school will host an open house and welcome back fiesta celebration starting at 4:30 p.m. on July 21, 2023, with food vendors, arts and crafts and entertainment. Families interested in touring the campus or wanting information about the registration process are encouraged to attend or visit the website at ladh.org. They may also call 575-526-2984.

Ernesto Cisneros is a UNM/NM Local News Fund Fellow covering education. He can be reached at ECisneros@lcsun-news.com. Follow him on Twitter at @_ernestcisneros

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: La Academia Dolores Huerta Charter School accepting new enrollment