Big smiles and big emotions: Back to school for Rio Rancho students

RIO RANCHO — The weather was perfect on Tuesday, Aug. 6, with a nice early morning breeze, as Rio Rancho Elementary School “substitute principal” Cathy Baehr and assistant principal Melissa Garcia opened the parking lot gates and began welcoming in cars ready to drop off eager students for the first day of the 2024-25 school year.

At the same time, across the Rio Rancho school district, other principals, assistant principals, teachers, administrators, volunteers and staff were performing the same routine, each with joyful anticipation for the new year.

Baehr told the Observer this is a big year for the district and for RRES, and the staff is feeling excited.

“This is a special year,” Baehr said. “This is [RRES’s] 50th anniversary. That’s huge. The district is only 30 years old.”

Baehr motioned to the newest building on campus, which is positioned next to the playground facilities and marveled at just how far the school had come in that time.

“When I started, this was all dirt with a bunch of portable [classrooms] everywhere. Now look at it,” she said.

For its first two decades, Rio Rancho Elementary School was a part of the Albuquerque Public Schools district and joined the Rio Rancho Public Schools district upon its creation in 1994. Baehr was an assistant principal at the time, splitting her time between Enchanted Hills Elementary School and RRES.

“Everyone said we wouldn’t make it,” Baehr said, recalling the early days of the fledgling school district. “But we did. And not only academics, but sports and fine arts and all our clubs and programs. I'm very proud to be a part of it.”

Baehr retired four years ago but said she just couldn’t stay away. The call to return to RRPS, at least part time, was too strong.

“I retired for a second but didn’t like it, so I came back,” she said.

Baehr, designated as a “casual employee,” is filling in for school principal Sarah Farner, who is out on medical leave until Aug. 12. Baehr and Garcia are splitting Farner’s duties.

“Sarah is so anxious to get back to the kids,” said Baehr.

As usual, the first day of school came with big emotions and big smiles from students, parents, teachers and staff alike.

“There were some nerves, especially with the kindergarteners. There were some tears from the children and the parents,” said Baehr. “But the teachers were on it. There were lots of hugs and there’s lots of love. The teachers work hard to make the classrooms so welcoming. It truly takes a village.”

The teachers were feeling the nerves and excitement as well. Second-year, second-grade teacher Jessica Valles said it was an emotional day, but the kids were the ones who turned it into a positive one.

“The first day really was amazing,” said Valles. “The children are so sweet, and they were so kind and empathetic with one another.”

Baehr said the students were able to adjust to the start of school seemingly better than the parents.

“By the second recess, [the students] were all out [on the playground], loud and proud and running all around,” she said.

That immediate feeling of ease comes from the attentive and kind staff at RRES, according to one parent, Randy Castillo. Castillo has two neurodiverse children attending RRES — Arabella (second grade) and Ayden (kindergarten) — with a third still in the crib, ready to become a RRES Roadrunner in the next few years.

“The first day was rough, just watching them walk away and everything,” Castillo said. “But everyone here [at RRES] is amazing. The teachers are amazing. The therapists are amazing.”

Castillo’s eldest child, Arabella, who is on the autism spectrum, was nearly nonverbal when she began attending RRES two years ago.

“But by the middle of the school year, she was shouting and talking away,” he said.

Elsewhere in the district, the students at Rio Rancho Middle School were embarking on their own new adventures, seeking fresh opportunities.

"I'm excited ... to meet new people and maybe try new things. And I'm nervous, like if I get lost in my classes, and I don't make it on time," said Aleena Dodd, a sixth grader.

New teachers are joining the Rio Rancho community for the first time as well, and they aren’t immune from the nerves.

First-year art teacher Paige McGlaughlin, who recently moved from Colorado where she taught middle and elementary school, said she is excited to, “just get to know the students and see the kinds of art they make and just ... what gets them excited to be in art.”

The focus of RRMS staff, according to principal Andrew Pierce, is to help students learn, grow and get all the tools they need to succeed in high school and beyond.

“[We want to] find their strengths, find their gaps ... help fill them in and get them up to speed,” Pierce said.

Pierce, who has worked at the school for 22 years and been the principal for five of those, says the school spent much of last year getting programs and new infrastructure in place and they are excited to see the success of those programs grow.

"We put a lot of new things in last year to really get the community back into school,” said Pierce “[That means] more community engagements, and we had a lot of success with that."

Some of these new programs and facilities include a state-of-the-art woodshop and a fine arts program. Pierce said electives at RRMS are growing in general.

"So we're trying to meet the diverse needs of the kids, which trying to get their interest in this day and age is definitely tougher than it used to be, but I feel like we're adapting to that and offering more interest-based, hands-on opportunities for kids to be engaged in school, right alongside the core curriculum classes," he said.

Like RRMS, RRES is excited to gauge the success of new programs and designs for the school year. Baehr said the school often takes the summer to assess new ways to be inclusive, from new playground designs with additional pathways for wheelchair access to revising the drop-off/pick up system to make the daily transition more comfortable for neurodiverse students — and more efficient for parents.

Baehr adds that a successful school is a welcoming school.

“Our wonderful team of custodians have been helping to maintain this beautiful campus,” she said. “And really the district groundskeeping team does a fantastic job at every school [in RRPS].”