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Las Cruces Public Schools begins the 2022-23 school year Wednesday, July 20, as the school district moves to a year-round school calendar that adds 10 days of instruction, reduces the summer break and adds a two-week fall intercession.
Kindergarten, sixth- and ninth-grade students return to classes July 20. All other students return July 21.
The LCPS Board of Education decided to adopt year-round schooling earlier this year to improve student performance, LCPS Public Information Officer Kelly Jameson said.
“We owe it to our kids to try something different,” Jameson said. “This is a solution experts in the field felt was appropriate.”
Jameson said LCPS decided to adopt year-round school this year because state funding was available.
“The board thought it was time,” Jameson said.
Free meals
Thanks to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program, all LCPS elementary and middle school students will receive free breakfasts and lunches during the 2022-23 school year, said LCPS Community Outreach Liaison Brigitte Zigelhofer. She said LCPS has applied for CEP funding for all high schools. CEP is a non-pricing meal service option for school districts in low-income areas.
School safety
Zigelhofer and Jameson said LCPS will continue to focus on school safety in the new school year.
The LCPS website includes a message from Amy Himelright, director of mental health and academic counseling for the district. Himelright addresses in particular the May 24, 2022, shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas that took the lives of 19 students and two teachers and wounded 17 others.
“When teachers and parents talk about safety measures and practice things like safety drills, doing so with calm, confidence, and competence also mitigates negative outcomes for children,” Himelright said on the website. “We can send a message to our young people that we will protect them, they are not helpless, and there are things like situational awareness, knowing where to go and how to respond in a crisis, and keeping an open line of communication with trusted adults, can all be within their control and can keep them safe.”
Calendar
Here are highlights from the 2022-23 LCPS calendar:
Arrowhead Park Early College High School
Arrowhead Park Early College High School and Arrowhead Park Medical Academy operate on a separate calendar. Their 2022 summer session began July 5. Visit www.lcps.net/page/calendars-handbooks-school-hours and click on “2022-23 APECHS and APMA Calendar.”
Board of Education
For information about board meetings, member biographies and LCPS policies, visit www.lcps.net, click on “Menu” and scroll down to “Board of Ed.” There is a link at www.lcps.net/page/board-documents to watch board meetings live online.
The board holds work sessions beginning at 4 p.m. the first Tuesday of each month. Regular board meetings begin at 6 p.m. the third Tuesday of each month. The board meets at the Karen M. Trujillo Administration Building, 505 S. Main St., suite 249.
Overview
LCPS has nearly 25,000 students in 40 schools in the City of Las Cruces, Town of Mesilla, Village of Doña Ana and on White Sands Missile Range. The district has approximately 3,200 employees. LCPS was created Jan. 1, 1954.
LCPS app and more information
LCPS’ new website is www.lcps.net. The main LCPS phone number is 575-527-5800.
Download the LCPS app on Android: https://bit.ly/3z1L88X or iPhone: https://apple.co/3BYAOAh.
Find the 2022-23 calendars, school hours, the LCPS student and family handbook in English and Spanish and links to individual schools at www.lcps.net/page/calendars-handbooks-school-hours.
