LOS LUNAS —Los Lunas Schools Board of Education members recently approved its facility master plan, which will be used by the district for the next five years to help facilitate renovation and improvement projects district-wide.
“(The FMP) is designed to answer where we want to be, where we are now, where we are going and how we get there,” said Ailene O’Byrne, a representative from Architectural Research Consultants, who the district hired to help create the FMP.
“The facility master plan is a road map for your facilities. It’s not cast in stone as it can be changed or updated, but it gives direction so things are focused and can get done,” she said at a LLS Board of Education meeting.
News-Bulletin file photo
Raymond Gabaldon Elementary in Los Lunas was recently awarded a pre-k award from the Public School Capital Outlay Council to build a pre-k center at its campus, but the district may rescind the award to have a better shot of obtaining funding for a full school replacement.
O’Byrne presented some demographic data that was important for the basis of the FMP.
“Basically, what it comes down to is, yes, you’re a growing community, but not with children — that’s the bad news,” said O’Byrne. “You have people moving into your community, but people are not having (as many) kids. Therefore, the school district is not seeing a large increase in students. In fact, it’s pretty well flatlined and for several years has declined.”
O’Byrne said this is not just a problem for LLS, as it’s a national and state-wide issue.
“People are not having children and it’s affecting our schools,” said O’Byrne. “We do see some growth in the next 10 to 20 years, but it’s very little. What that tells us is you don’t really need any new schools. You’re going to be working with the schools you have and making them the best they can be.”
Tiffany McMinn, LLS’ construction supervisor, said in a phone interview lower enrollment numbers affect schools because it may disqualify schools from certain funding.
O’Byrne said the student population across the district is also disproportionate across some schools, so redistricting could be imminent.
LLS elementary school facility scores as determined by Architectural Research Consultants. Image courtesy of Los Lunas Schools.
“There are a lot of schools that are not being well used and there are some that are bursting at the seams,” she said.
Los Lunas Schools Superintendent Ryan Kettler wrote in an email the district has contracted an outside company to conduct a boundary study and discussions have begun with the new board regarding redistricting along with other matters related to the FMP.
O’Byrne said that the FMP was vetted in an objective way to set up schools to be the best they can for students and staff. This entailed visiting and thoroughly evaluating the condition of almost every school and support site in the district and conducting a variety of interviews.
“ARC went out and looked at every school except LLHS because it’s fairly new, and we did not look at Peralta or Ann Parish elementaries because they’re undergoing replacement or major renovations,” said O’Byrne.
McMinn said pre-construction work started at Peralta Elementary last summer and main construction began earlier this month. She said there is not an estimated construction start date for Ann Parish Elementary yet as it’s still in the early stages.
O’Byrne said ARC evaluated everything, from roofs to parking lots and every room in every building. They also interviewed the teachers, students and all major LLS directors. From this data they then scored each facility.
“Generally speaking, the elementary schools are doing well, but the school that really stuck out is Raymond Gabaldon,” said O’Byrne. “It’s really having a hard time. It’s old and is struggling.”
LLS middle school facility scores as determined by Architectural Research Consultants. Image courtesy of Los Lunas Schools.
RGE was recently awarded a pre-k award from the Public School Capital Outlay Council to build a pre-k center at its campus, but O’Byrne said the district may rescind the award to have a better shot of obtaining funding for a full school replacement.
“Rescinding (the award) would make RGE shoot to the top,” said O’Byrne. “It would probably be among the top 20 schools in the state to replace entirely.”
O’Byrne said the condition of the two middle schools are alright, but a lot of money was put into Los Lunas Middle School recently, so it’s time for Valencia Middle School to also get a little help.
“Valencia High School is doing well, but it’s got a lot of empty classrooms,” said O’Byrne. “The opportunity schools (Century High School and Los Lunas Family School) are way down there though. It’s pretty close to condemning buildings; that’s how poor those facilities are that those staff and students are working out of.”
McMinn said the Century High School campus, which also houses Los Lunas Family School, is one of the district’s older school sites.
“That’s the benefit of doing these. It gives us an outside view and evaluation of where our facilities are at and what it would take to get it to where it needs to be,” said McMinn. “So it’s a great road map for us to use to make the improvements needed for that campus.”
Recently, LLFS qualified for state funding for substantial renovation. Though, the award, should LLS put in an application, will only fund renovation for the LLFS portion of the campus.
LLS high school facility scores as determined by Architectural Research Consultants. Image courtesy of Los Lunas Schools.
O’Byrne said there’s almost $250 million worth of work that needs to be done across the district. She said no district can fund all of this at once, so looking for funding opportunities through bonds and the state is important.
When the state steps in, they can cover 60 percent of expenses or more while the district fills in the rest. O’Byrne said this is why it’s important to have a FMP because the state will not contribute unless the need is shown in a master plan.
McMinn said a FMP committee was formed to prioritize projects based on the data collected during the facility evaluations. Priority one items include renovations to address life, health, safety, security and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance.
Through state funding and the recent passing of the LLS $24 million general obligation bond and continuation of the 2 mill levy, McMinn said they are now able to move forward with utilizing funding to begin accomplishing FMP projects.
“We’ll start with priority one projects across the district. Then, we’ll look at priority two (projects) and see how far we can stretch that funding to accomplish as many projects as we can,” said McMinn. “We want to make sure that we’re doing improvements across all our facilities and every campus is getting something improved with that money.”
Priority projects the district is targeting in the next five years include, but are not limited to:
- Life, health, safety, security and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance
- Replacement of Ann Parish Elementary, Peralta Elementary, Raymond Gabaldon Elementary and Century High School/ Opportunity Schools
- District-wide technology upgrades
- Audio enhancements
- Continue door and window replacement at Valencia Middle School
- Los Lunas High School stadium improvements
Felina Martinez was born and raised in Valencia County. She graduated from the University of New Mexico in 2021. During her time at UNM, she studied interdisciplinary film, digital media and journalism. She covers the village of Los Lunas, Los Lunas Schools, the School of Dreams Academy and the town of Peralta.
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April 25, 2024
