Sandoval Academy of Bilingual Education moving into new facility in 2025

Big things are happening at the Sandoval Academy of Bilingual Education.

SABE, the first kindergarten through eighth grade dual-language charter school in the city of Rio Rancho, has outgrown its current campus.

Now, the school, known for its innovative approach to education, is preparing to move into a new facility for the 2025-26 school year. The new building will feature 16 full-size classrooms, safety features, outdoor learning areas and a pre-K program.

SABE principal Jackie Rodriguez emphasized the importance of the new facility in meeting the community's demand for bilingual education and expanding enrollment.

“Obviously it’s a bigger space. Because it's owned by the state, we're able to utilize capital outlay money to build it to suit our needs,” Rodriguez said. “We're going to be able to have more fun, be able to bring in a playground, some outdoor learning areas and bring a pre-K program. We definitely want to bring in a pre-K. We know that the community needs it, the community has the demand for it and we will have facilities to meet that need.”

SABE has received support from legislators, including Sen. Craig Brandt and Reps. Jason Harper, Joshua Hernandez and Alan Martinez, for capital outlay funding for the new facility.

“We embrace the uniqueness of our school,” Rodriguez said. “As a charter, we have the autonomy to do things a little differently, including those shifts and ideas of what we look like, how we teach and what we teach.”

The academy offers a distinctive curriculum that provides bilingual education to about 280 students. SABE uses a 50:50 dual language immersion program that maintains 50% of instruction in Spanish and 50% in English throughout each day. Typically, the elementary (through fifth grade) model focuses on English language arts, math, and science and social studies in English, while Spanish language arts and science and social studies are in Spanish.

“Our focus is bi-literacy; that’s our main mission work,” Rodriguez said. “Our focus is on three populations of students, which include all kids: native Spanish speakers, enrichment for native English speakers and then a heritage piece for the community at large who are of Latin descent or Spanish-speaking descent to recapture their language. So that’s quite cool for all kids because they’re here for the purpose of learning language.”

SABE also has recently been awarded Best Documentary at the Film Prize Junior New Mexico. The winning film, composed, directed and edited by students and a teacher, focused on New Mexico's culture and language, showcasing the school's commitment to bilingual education.

The nine-minute documentary, produced bilingually with interviews in English and Spanish and captions in both languages, reflects the school's emphasis on immersion in language learning. Rodriguez expressed excitement about the new film program for middle school students, with plans to expand it in the coming year.

“We're pretty proud of them because they were nervous at first and said, 'What if we fail?' And I said regardless of what we produce, it's not a failure because it's our first attempt. It's totally new to us. We'll just produce something and we'll get out there and just do it. And they were winners. It was a total shock. I think I was more excited than the kids were because it's just huge. So it was just really nice to see. It's awesome because they probably had so much fun doing it, and then they got rewarded also.”

Rodriguez also highlighted SABE's importance of providing opportunities for students to engage in creative and innovative activities, such as filmmaking, to enhance their overall school experience. She said those opportunities will not only continue, but increase, as the school moves into its new facility at 601 Quantum Road for the 2025-26 school year.

“We have great teachers, great kids and a great program here and we're very, very excited to move into that next chapter of where we're at,” Rodriguez said.