How Las Cruces schools are keeping kids engaged

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Las Cruces schools have seen a drop in attendance throughout the district. To move attendance back up, faculty challenge themselves to create an engaging environment for kids.

Schools within the Las Cruces Public School district and local charter schools are developing new ideas by asking students what interests them. This allows staff to create lesson plans that keep students engaged and willing to learn, attending and prospering at school.

One example among Las Cruces charter schools is Alma d’Arte Charter High School, located at 402 W. Court Avenue, an arts-based school founded in 2004.

“We used to have a compulsory attendance where it was really punitive. If students missed 10 days of school, they got dropped and we would call (the state Children, Youth and Families Department), but I don’t know how much that really worked,” principal Adam Amador said in an interview. “Now, we have an ‘attendance for success’ app which is really flexible and liberal, but it only works if the students and parents commit to coming to school.”

Amador added that his biggest concern is students missing out on education by simply missing one day of school. For public schools in New Mexico, low attendance also comes at a financial cost, since enrollment is a factor in the formula that determines schools’ state funding.

“We must look at student engagement. Maybe parents have educational trauma where they may not have been treated right in school whatever the case may be, they just don’t like the school setting. For us, we integrate art, dance, mariachi, culinary and if that’s what you like, you’re going to want to come to school,” Amador said.

He said the best thing to take into consideration is students’ and parents’ wants and needs. He added that New Mexico only banned corporal punishment in schools in 2011 and some parents may still not trust the system.

“My parents went to school and would get in trouble for speaking Spanish. There is inherent bias and racism in the schools. When you factor all this in, well, what’s the perfect environment and how do we create that at the school in order to maintain attendance?” Amador questioned. 

Amador said the toughest competition for faculty and parents is technology, as students may question the need to attend school when they have so much knowledge at their fingertips.

“We push a lot of entrepreneurship, people in our community that are self-made millionaires without a formal education. What’s the right thing to do? At the end of the day, we want a productive society and citizenship,” Amador said.

As to the “million-dollar question” of student engagement, to keep them coming to school, he turned to Alma’s arts-based mission:  “If you’re attending our school for art, what kind of art do you like and how can we feed that?”

Last year, Amador said Alma accomplished first place in the New Mexico State University’s dance academy competition, the culinary students won the Taste of Las Cruces competition and students saw their art exhibited in local museums.

“When kids experience that success, they want to be a part of it all the time. I think at the end of the day, getting the kids to school, having positive teacher and parent communication and having kids experience success will boost attendance,” Amador praised. “There is no magic wand but there is a lot of innovation in keeping students engaged.”

Alma d’Arte is not the only school combating low attendance. Las Cruces Public Schools, New Mexico’s second-largest school district, had a noticeable drop in attendance among 12th-grade students between March and May of this year. In an attendance report provided by the district, seniors at three out of four of the schools observed were the largest class to have the lowest attendance rating.

At Centennial High School, 16.8 percent of the senior class missed school between March and May as opposed to 12.7 percent of the freshman class. Centennial had an overall absence percentage of 13.8 percent throughout the school.

Organ Mountains High School retained a 13.8 percent rating alongside Centennial during the last three months of the school year.

Irvin Alvarez, attendance liaison at Organ Mountain, spoke about efforts the school faculty take to keep students and parents engaged, viewing each student’s case individually rather than attributing absences to simply not wanting to attend class.

“You have no idea what they are dealing with until you get to know them,“ he said, adding that building trust among students and their families is the result of teamwork. “I believe if the parents and faculty can rally behind a student and encourage them, it really makes a big difference.”

Parent-teacher conferences and open houses lead that effort, in Alvarez’s view.

“Whenever students are struggling and teachers can sit down one on one with parents, it makes a difference. … It helps the parent and student understand where there may be problems and it allows the teacher and parent to help the student get back on track,” he said.

Moreover, it is an opportunity to share important information.

“Many parents may not be aware, they may think their children are here at the school, but they may not be. I always want parents to be vigilant. Yes, your student may be at school, but not in class,” Alvarez said. “Parents have access to (the website portal) ParentVUE, which gives them access to their grades and attendance.”

Organ Mountain principal Luis Lucero agreed.

“It’s not just one person, it takes everyone to understand what is going on in that student’s life,” he said. When bullying leads to absences, for instance, the school turns to its new staff social worker, although the problem of bullying via internet is daunting: Faculty and staff cannot monitor social media daily.

Lucero also introduced a student leadership group consisting of students addressing mental health among their peers, as with the creation of a spirit week focusing on suicide prevention.

“Their goal is to change the narrative,” Lucero said. “In October, they will focus on cyber bullying prevention. I am simply the facilitator, and I could not be more proud of them.”