New Schools and Programs for 2009-10:

This coming school year will be a year of great change and great opportunity for the Rio Rancho school district, our students, and our community.   Below is a synopsis of the coming changes and links to Web sites where you can get more information.

 

In accordance with state statute and district policy, Rio Rancho Public Schools accepts students from outside Rio Rancho on a space-available basis.  For more information about the district’s Open Enrollment policy, click here. Review the school figures in the box to the right to see the change to our schools for next year.

 

Here are the major changes for the 2009-10 school year:

• Opening of V. Sue Cleveland High School:
  Rio Rancho’s second comprehensive high school will open in August 2009. Click here for information about this exciting new school, and about planned programs and facilities. Rio Rancho High School will see the influx of almost half of the district's 9th - 11th graders, and continue to teach all 12th grade students (Cleveland High will not be accredited it's first year of operation and therefore cannot graduate any seniors). Click here for boundary information.
  
  

  SEE OUR SLIDE SHOWS!
  Click below (or the picture on the right) to view ongoing slide shows of CHS' construction:

  • Spring '09 Slide Show
  • Summer '09 Slide Show
    
    
• Realignment of secondary school grade levels:
  With the opening of Cleveland High School, the grade level configurations for Rio Rancho secondary schools will change. This change will bring Rio Rancho’s schools more into line with the grade level configurations, academic testing and accountability statutes and regulations, and athletic and extracurricular programs throughout the rest of New Mexico:
  • Our comprehensive high schools, which currently serve grades 10-12, will become grade 9-12 schools. This change does not affect Independence High School, which is already a grade 9-12 school, or Rio Rancho Cyber Academy which serves grades 6-12.
  • Our middle schools, which currently serve students in grades 6-7, will become grade 6-8 schools
  • Rio Rancho Mid-High, our current school for 8th and 9th graders, will cease to exist and those students will attend high schools and middle schools. Click here for boundary information.
    
    
• Opening of Rio Rancho Middle School:
  Rio Rancho’s fourth middle school, Rio Rancho Middle School, will open in the current Mid-High facility. Students in grades 6-8 currently attending Cielo Azul Elementary and Rio Rancho Elementary, and some students attending E. Stapleton, Colinas del Norte, and Enchanted Hills Elementary, will attend the new school. For boundary information, please click here. For information on Rio Rancho Middle School, click here.
  
  
• Rio Rancho Montessori program at Sandia Vista Elementary:
  For many years, Rio Rancho parents have been asking for a Montessori program as an option for their children. This year, Rio Rancho Public Schools will open a public school Montessori program at Sandia Vista Elementary. This program is accepting applications from both within and outside the Rio Rancho district; in-district students and those with previous Montessori experience get priority. For more information on this exciting new program, click here.
  
  
• Career Tech Center:
  The new Career Tech Center in the former 9th grade wing of the Mid-High campus will provide advanced and other programs for students at all of Rio Rancho’s high schools. This will make programs available that could not gain sufficient enrollment or are too expensive to run individually at the high schools. Central New Mexico Community College (CNM) will also offer dual-enrollment courses through this facility. For further information, contact 338-0078 ext. 201.
  
  
• School District Owned/Operated Bus Service:
  This summer, Rio Rancho Public Schools will take over operation of school bus services previously outsourced to a contractor. The district is confident this change will ultimately result in a more efficient, cost-effective, and customer-friendly student transportation operation, with the goal of safe and on-time transportation of students. For further information about school bus services, click here or call 338-0078 ext. 100.
  
  
• New Student Information System (PowerSchool):
  Starting in the Fall 2009, RRPS will be using a new student information system called PowerSchool. This system replaces our original system called SASI and will be applied for all grades K-12. In connection with this change, the student grades & attendance application (ParentConnect) that parents have used for the last 3 years, will be terminated. For grades 6-12, a new application will be deployed, but not until later in the fall. For more information, click here.

Open enrollment in Rio Rancho Public Schools:

One of the most common questions we receive at Rio Rancho Public Schools is, “If I live outside Rio Rancho, may I enroll my child in a Rio Rancho school?”

New Mexico’s Open Enrollment Act is a state statute that permits parents to apply to have their child attend any school in the state.  Rio Rancho Public Schools Policy 302 defines the district’s Open Enrollment policy in accordance with the statute.

 

Open enrollment requests generally fall into two categories: requests from parents living within Rio Rancho who wish to transfer their child from one school to another, and requests from parents living outside the Rio Rancho school district who wish to enroll their child in a Rio Rancho school. 

 

Schools accept students applying under open enrollment on a space-available basis.  Available space generally refers to space in a classroom as opposed to space in the school in general.  For example, if a fourth-grade class can have up to 22 students and only 19 students are enrolled in the class, the class may have “space” available.  For this reason, it is possible that schools may have space available at some grade levels and not at others.   We recommend highly that parents contact the school they are interested in having their child attend to inquire whether the school is able to accept additional students. 

 

Rio Rancho schools provide opportunities for home-school families who would like to have their children take specific classes through a Rio Rancho school.  The Family School at Rio Rancho Elementary and the Rio Rancho Cyber Academy are particularly geared towards meeting the needs of home school families.  Students enrolled at least half-time (a half day at the elementary level or at least four classes at the secondary level) may attend tuition-free. 

 

For information on open enrollment opportunities, please contact the school you wish your child to attend or the RRPS Student Services Office at 896-0667 ext. 129. 

 

Due to the fact that seniors living in the Cleveland HS attendance zone will be enrolled at Rio Rancho HS in the 2009-10 school year, Rio Rancho High is not currently accepting transfer or out-of-district students.