'Where else are these kids going to go?': families are dismayed about possible repurposing of Duranes Elementary School.

Esteban Candelaria, Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
·2 min read
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Feb. 20—Not many people have a closer connection to Duranes Elementary School than Joshua Martinez.

A fifth grader at the school, Joshua is the third of his siblings to go to Duranes, near Rio Grande and Indian School NW. But as Albuquerque Public Schools mulls repurposing Duranes into an early childhood center, the fate of his school is up in the air.

"Me and my siblings — we grew up in this school. And it'd be very sad to see this school close," he told the Journal as students left the school for the day on Tuesday. "And then I have friends in fourth grade and third grade, and it wouldn't be that nice for them not to grow up like we did."

On Wednesday, the APS board plans to take up a proposal to change Duranes' attendance area, reassigning its students to nearby Reginald Chavez and Cochiti elementary schools. If approved, the move would be one of multiple steps in the district's plan to right-size its facilities with declining enrollment.

Earlier this year, a districtwide headcount of students, excluding those in charter schools, was around 68,300. Five years earlier, that number was closer to 81,800. Duranes, according to APS' most recently available headcount, was about 140, and in the 2018-2019 school year was about 170.

If approved, Duranes students' reassignments would be effective this fall, which a district official said was so the building can be cleared and demolished for construction.

APS added that staff will move with students to their respective schools, with the exception of about seven pre-K staff, who will work out of a temporary space until the new facility is complete.

Students who live south of Duranes and Rice NW and west of Rio Grande NW would go to Reginald Chavez, and those living on the other side would go to Cochiti, according to a presentation of the plan. The latter would get the bulk of Duranes' reassigned students.

Last year, the district assigned new boundaries to La Luz Elementary School, largely sending students to nearby MacArthur Elementary School to lease La Luz's grounds to The Albuquerque Sign Language Academy.

If the board approves the attendance area plans for Duranes, some students and their families could be forced to move schools for the second time in about a year.

That includes the family of Mía Sánchez, aunt and caregiver of a Duranes pre-K student who formerly attended La Luz. Sánchez questioned the benefit of repurposing another school, expressing concerns about class sizes at students' new schools.

"I think we have so many kids, and Albuquerque is such a growing community, that — where else are these kids going to go?" she said. "... It's just sad. I don't see why they should be closing so many schools down."