School on UNM-G campus seeks charter designation

Despite a rocky relationship between Gallup McKinley County Schools and Middle College High School, there’s a sunny spot that shines in the form of an A-grade for the Middle College.

The traditional school grading system is mandated by New Mexico Public Education Department, and started about seven years ago.

With an overall score of 75.85 percent, MCHS readily stomped on the C-grade it received the previous school year. Dr. Robert Hunter, Middle College CEO, found it difficult to swallow the C as they have a tradition of receiving brag-worthy report cards from the state each year.

As noted in past Gallup Sun reports, the school faced challenges and disagreements with the district this year, which ultimately ended with the revoking of its charter in 2019.

But, as for grades throughout the district as a whole, in the past five years in McKinley County, Crownpoint Elementary School and Twin Lakes Elementary School received the most Ds — five and four, respectively. Nearly 20 of the 35 GMCS schools listed in the sidebar of this story had no Fs over the five-year grading period.

Moreover, when it comes to New Mexico schools underperforming, the state capital of Santa Fe takes the cake.

The grades revealed that among the larger districts across the state, the Santa Fe Public Schools’ performance was most concerning, with a majority of D and F schools—56 percent D and F grades.

The districts of Farmington, Gadsden and Hobbs most improved over the past five years with very few schools earning failing grades.

Meanwhile, Hunter said MCHS has applied for a school charter from the state, but he doesn’t anticipate an answer back for about two years.

“The application is the first step,” he said.

Applications are due to the state education department by Oct. 1, and the Legislature will process the applications in December.

“The decision is made at that point, but we probably wouldn’t see any happen until the following year,” Hunter said.

In the meantime, MCHS reached a settlement agreement with GMCS that will allow the school to remain in operation for the school year.

The 14-page settlement agreement, which can be found on the GMCS website, includes a 53-page charter contract, a four-page corrective action plan, and an eight-page July 6 notice of intent to revoke charter.

The agreement allows MCHS, which operates on the campus of UNM-Gallup, to remain in operation through June 2019. At that time, the charter will end.

As for the school’s relationship with GMCS, Hunter said, “We’ve been attempting to work together.”

Mike Hyatt, superintendent of Gallup-McKinley County Schools, confirmed there is an agreement in place with MCHS.

“We signed an agreement to extend the relationship under a correction action plan until June 30, 2019,” Hyatt said. “I’m just glad that we could eventually come to an agreement. I wish we could have came to an agreement sooner.”

Gallup-Mckinley County Schools NMPED Grades

By Rick Abasta
Sun Correspondent