Independence HS moved to highest intervention status by state agency

RIO RANCHO — After maintaining low graduation rates for the past three years, Independence High School has been designated by the New Mexico Public Education Department as a school in need of the highest level of intervention by the agency.

School and district leaders told the Rio Rancho Public Schools Board of Education Aug. 11 that they are in the midst of a multi-prong plan to turn the rates around at the school focused on students in grades 10-12 focused on credit recovery. In a prepared statement following the meeting, IHS Principal Jessica Sanchez said her team is unclear on the timeframe surrounding the PED’s intervention with the school, but the agency has been supportive.

“Although challenging, we are optimistic that our school will meet the threshold,” Sanchez wrote. “IHS is committed and working hard, and we remain focused and steady in our efforts. We’re staying engaged, tracking progress closely, and open to discussing adjustments if needed to make the goal more attainable — understanding that meaningful change takes time.”

PED spokesperson Janelle Garcia said in an email that her agency “remains committed to supporting IHS and Rio Rancho Public Schools through this process.”

The school board’s discussion about the designation came at the start of the first full week of the RRPS school year, which started Aug. 7, and as Independence seeks to enlarge its footprint with a brand-new campus in the summer or fall of 2027.

IHS, a Title I school founded at the turn of the century, came under the PED’s “More Rigorous Interventions” designation after failing to post graduation rates of at least 66.67% over three consecutive years, according to data provided by RRPS during the school board meeting.

Since 2021 — which officials noted included the negative affects on education due to the COVID-19 pandemic — Independence maintained graduation rates below 57%, the data stated. However, IHS achieved a 58% graduation rate in 2024.

“It’s encouraging, to say the least,” Sanchez told the board, noting the school does not yet have the 2025 graduation rate.

Going forward, she would like to continue to utilize $150,000 in grant funding aimed at improving graduation rates. New Mexico’s Title I Non-Competitive School Improvement Grant (for MRI/CSI schools) provides funding for up to three years. The grant will provide support to teachers, mental health counseling for students, expand their electives, as well as student support before and after school as well as on the weekends, she said.

The grant’s teacher support includes more than $56,000 toward an external group called “Coaching for Excellence,” according to Sanchez, who told the board, “there’s always room (for teachers) to grow.”

An additional $28,000 makes it possible for a group of counselors come into IHS two days a week so students don’t have to seek external services, she said.

“We’ve seen a vast improvement in attendance by those students in particular,” Sanchez said. “I even had a student who said, ‘I always come on Tuesdays.’”

The grant funding will also include an additional $25,000 toward a film/art teacher, $30,000 for an academic counselor and just over $10,000 for indirect costs, according to Sanchez.

These initiatives do not include $16,000 that Independence plans to put toward numerous “enrichment opportunities,” such as field trips, Sanchez said.

Garcia wrote in an email that IHS’s ongoing efforts to strengthen its own data collection, refine teacher coaching, “deepen family partnerships” and measure initiative impact “will be essential to exiting MRI status in future cycles.”

During the school board meeting, RRPS Superintendent Sue Cleveland praised IHS’s work but seemed to criticize PED for applying its designation system against the school.

“You’re caught in a system that doesn’t really recognize the uniqueness of the student population you serve,” Cleveland said.

Garcia wrote that creating alternate high schools is a district decision, but federal law requires that all public schools, including alternative schools, must be held to the same standards.

“RRPS does not have to segregate students into an alternative schools — it could retain these students within its non-alternate high schools — which would decrease those schools’ grad rates, but perhaps not to MRI status,” Garcia wrote.

During the school board meeting, Cleveland noted PED officials made site visits to the school in which they were complimentary.

“I don’t know what they were expecting, but certainly when they got here, they were very impressed with what they saw,” she said. “So, I hope at some point, the state will rethink the structure for schools that take students that are behind from Day 1 instead of making that a negative.”

In an email, Garcia confirmed PED visits to IHS occurred Sept. 11, 2024, as well as in January and April of this year. The most recent visit “recognized several promising and positive developments at IHS,” she wrote.