After months of legal wrangling, numerous trials, setbacks and uncertainties, Cariños Charter School administrators finally know where they will educate their students for the rest of the year.
First District Court Judge Sarah Singleton, after hearing from all sides about the available options, ordered Monday, at a hearing, that students be housed at Mountain View Elementary School. She said this was the most feasible option, given the time and resource constraints both the District and the charter school faced.
Students have been at Northern New Mexico College’s El Rito campus, but this was a temporary solution since the facilities are only available until Dec. 4. Additionally, inspectors from the Construction Industries Division from the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department and the Fire Marshal’s Office would not permit students to remain there after six weeks without significant modifications to the facilities.
Singleton said Mountain View had the required space and accommodations to meet the students’ needs. The school has the capacity for 162 students, but only 40 attend the school. There is a kitchen onsite, so meals can be prepared and, most importantly, it is a working school that requires no additional renovations.
“There are other reasons why Mountain View is the best choice,” Singleton said. “Moving Cariños to the site allows parents of the 40 students to choose whether they want to be a part of the charter school. I do not want to tell the parents what to do, but if they believe the dual language program is better, then they can be absorbed by Cariños.”
Mountain View parent Myrna Romero agreed with Singleton’s opinion. She said the decision benefits both the charter school and Mountain View students. She said she has some options now that Cariños will occupy the space. Española Board members previously voted to close the school and Romero said she did not know what to do.
“If the District doesn’t want us, then I am sure the charter school will,” Romero said.
Per Singleton’s Oct. 15 order, both parties met with lawyers from the New Mexico Public Education Department and the Industries Division Oct. 23, to find a more permanent location for students. Three other options were discussed and presented to Singleton, but she had concerns with all of them.
Education Department attorney Daniel Hill told Singleton the District dismissed placing large numbers of portable classrooms on school sites because of the time and cost involved. There were also discussions about clearing space at either Española Middle School or Española Valley High School.
Singleton terminated those two possibilities because she said she believed it would be difficult to find space for the more than 100 students and staff Cariños has. She said she also thought the age difference between District students and the Cariños preschool children would cause issues.
There was also the possibility of placing students at Velarde Elementary School. This was the preferred option for Cariños administrators among the ones presented.
“There is concern about the driving distance between Española and the (Mountain View) school,” Cariños attorney Ronald VanAmberg said. “It is also a difficult drive and potentially hazardous because of the road conditions, especially during winter time.”
Ultimately, Singleton rejected VanAmberg’s claims. She said buses are already used to transport students to that location and in the 26 years buses have been delivering students, there have been two accidents. She said that made the risk “negligible.”
There was also the issue of space. Española School Superintendent Danny Trujillo said there are nearly 100 students at Velarde Elementary and the school does not have enough room to provide for the more than 100 students that Cariños has.
VanAmberg discussed the possibility of placing portable classrooms on school grounds, but Singleton said that would be too costly and burdensome.
Cariños administrators said they were relieved to finally know where they will be for the next few months and District officials were thankful they did not have to provide portable classrooms.
“I think it was a good decision,” Board member Pablo Lujan said. “The students have a place to stay and it saves the District money.”