How can I have input into the boundary process, or get my questions answered?
The boundary committee and the board welcome your questions and comments. There are several ways you can make your opinions known:
• Attend the “sharing and listening” sessions, open to the public, at which options under consideration by the boundary committee will be presented and discussed by the community. The dates for these sessions will be set once the committee has developed options for boundary changes. Once the dates are determined, they will be posted to this Web site, sent to schools, and provided to the media.
• Mail your comments to your school or to the district office at 500 Laser Rd. NE, Rio Rancho, NM, 87124. Please put the word “boundaries” on the envelope.
• E-mail your comments to district@rrdo.rrps.k12.nm.us. The comments will be addressed by district staff or members of the boundary committee, as appropriate.
• Fill out a comment form at your school or at the district office.
• Address the board when it meets to consider the committee’s recommendations.
Why do you have to change attendance boundaries?
In 2005, Rio Rancho Public Schools (RRPS) adjusted its elementary school attendance boundaries and promised the community that the boundaries would remain in effect for at least two school years. We are now in the third school year since these changes and preparing to open new school facilities.
• The new V. Sue Cleveland High School will open in the fall of 2009. Attendance boundaries need to be established for this school and for Rio Rancho High School. These boundaries need to be in place soon because they affect development of curriculum and staffing, athletic programs, and many other aspects of the new high school.
• Two new elementary schools, Sandia Vista and Cielo Azul, will open in the fall of 2008. Attendance boundaries need to be established for these schools.
• A new middle school will open in the fall of 2009 in one wing of the current Rio Rancho Mid-High. At that time, middle schools will become grade 6-8 schools and ninth graders will move to the two high schools. Boundary changes will need to be made to establish attendance boundaries for the fourth middle school and to adjust for the change in grade levels.
• The district will seek funding for an additional elementary school it hopes to open in 2009, and the boundary committee may establish attendance boundaries for this school to take effect in the fall of 2009.
• The boundary committee will also look at changes to balance enrollment at existing schools.
How likely is it that my child’s school will be affected?
It is likely that all schools in the Rio Rancho district will be affected by the boundary changes. As attendance boundaries for new schools are established, boundaries for more distant schools are often adjusted to balance enrollment district-wide. This is especially true for schools whose enrollment is over capacity.
Who is on the boundary committee?
The boundary committee consists of more than 60 people, and includes two parent and two staff member representatives from each of the district’s current schools as well as parent and staff members representing the new Cielo Azul and Sandia Vista Elementary Schools. The committee also includes advisory representatives from the City of Rio Rancho, the Department of Public Safety, the business community (developers), a school board representative, and district staff members with specific expertise benefiting the boundary review.
Why is the committee so big?
The board feels it is important to have as broad a range of participation from the community as possible. This will enable the committee to gather relevant data and information, give the affected schools a voice in the process, and allow the community to work together and reach consensus on the best solution for ALL Rio Rancho students.
What is the committee doing?
The committee began work in early November and is reviewing a large amount of data on school enrollment and community growth that needs to be considered during the boundary review process. The committee will use that data to develop and consider possible options for attendance boundaries. It will present the options it feels are most workable to the community during public “sharing and listening” sessions. It will then consider revisions based on the input from those sessions, and will compile a recommendation for consideration by the school board.
How long will the process take?
The board and the committee recognize that parents and school staff members would like to have a decision as soon as possible. However, it takes time to consider all the facts and make informed, sensible recommendations. The committee hopes to be able to take a proposal for high school boundaries to the school board before winter break, and for elementary and middle school boundaries to the board in late January or early February.
What criteria is the committee using in considering boundary adjustments?
The committee looks at several factors as it prepares options to be presented to the community and ultimately to the board. These include, but are not limited to:
• Building capacity (with and without existing portables) for each school
• Student safety considerations
• Current enrollment and anticipated enrollment growth for each school
• New development and anticipated population growth in the neighborhoods served by each school
• Anticipated new school construction
• Cultural and socioeconomic balance, to the extent practical
• Sensitivity to special needs and the capacity of schools to serve special needs students
• Proximity of schools to where students live
• Transportation considerations
• Stability of attendance boundaries, with the goal that students not be rezoned more frequently than necessary
• Feeder school alignment
• Maintaining the integrity of neighborhoods wherever possible
• Real estate occupancy/vacancy rates
• Impact of boundary changes on Public Schools Facilities Authority prioritization of state school construction needs
If the boundaries change, can my child stay at his/her current school?
Under the state’s open enrollment policy, parents may request that their child be enrolled at any school. The principal may or may not grant the request based on whether the school has space to accommodate the child after serving those children who live in the attendance area. Parents whose children attend school outside their assigned attendance area must provide their child’s transportation to and from school.
My child will be a high school senior in 2009-2010. Will he/she have to move to the new high school?
No. Your child will graduate from Rio Rancho HS. When Cleveland HS opens, it will open with a freshman, sophomore, and junior class. All seniors will stay at Rio Rancho High. This allows seniors who have attended two years at RRHS to stay there through graduation. Also, it will allow time for Cleveland HS to become fully accredited by the state and the North Central Association before graduating its first class.
What about current fourth and seventh graders? Can they finish elementary/middle school at their current school?
That is a decision that will need to be made by the board after it considers the potential impact on the affected schools, including whether schools will have enough room in their fifth-grade classes to accommodate students affected by the boundary changes. In the past, the board has afforded incoming fifth graders the opportunity to remain in their current school if that school has space available; however, parents are required to provide their child’s transportation.
May my student still ride the bus to school and to daycare?
As is currently the case, elementary school students who live further than one mile away from an elementary school, 1½ miles from a middle school, or two miles from a high school may ride the school bus to school. Bus service is also provided if students have to cross major streets or potentially hazardous natural boundaries such as arroyos. The district will continue to consider special requests to allow students to ride buses to daycare and after-school programs on the same basis it has in the past.
Will the changes impact the student-teacher ratio in my school? Will they impact the funding my school receives and how many teachers my school?
The maximum number of students per classroom (the student-teacher ratio) varies by grade level, is mandated by the state, and stays the same regardless of the size of a school or changes in the attendance area. Funding under the state’s equalization formula follows the student, so if a school’s enrollment increases or decreases, the school’s budget and the number of teachers correspondingly increase or decrease.
The vast majority of a school’s budget is tied to salaries and benefits. If a school’s enrollment declines, fewer teachers and staff are needed, and that accounts for most of the decrease in the school’s budget. In accordance with district policy and union agreements, most teachers and staff displaced by boundary changes will have the opportunity to transfer to other schools in the district.
Will there be any impact on my taxes?
No. Property tax levies that support public school construction are the same district-wide, as are state taxes that support public education.
Will the boundary changes impact the start and end times for the school day?
Maybe. It is possible that some schools’ start and end times may be affected by the need to adjust school bus transportation schedules. The start and end dates for the school year and operating hours for each school are determined as part of setting the school calendar, which is a separate process from the boundary committee’s work. That process occurs after the winter break, and the calendar usually goes to the school board for consideration in March or April.
How will the changes affect services to my child with a disability?
The district will continue to provide special services in accordance with the student’s IEP. In most cases, students with disabilities go to the same school as other children in their attendance area.
I bought my house specifically so my child could attend a certain school. And now you’re going to change it?
The boundary committee and the board must consider the best interests of all children when setting attendance boundaries. Unfortunately, as the district tries to maintain excellence in its schools while accommodating rapid growth, it becomes necessary to change attendance boundaries. There are no guarantees, in this or any other school district, that specific neighborhoods will always be assigned to certain schools, and the Rio Rancho Public Schools have never made any such promises.
Where should I register my child for school next year, since boundaries may change?
The boundary process should be completed well before the time when students register for next year. If your child is affected by the boundary changes, you will be informed and advised where to register your child. If you are in doubt, register your child at the school he/she is currently assigned to.
Schools impacted by boundary changes typically offer a transition program where principals visit with students and parents moving to a new school, provide an orientation, and offer tours of the new school.
Once the boundaries are changed, how long before they will need to be changed again?
Because of the district’s rapid growth, the committee is working on the premise that elementary and middle school boundaries will need to be reviewed again in two years.
Will my elementary school children be able to stay with their schoolmates as they move onward through middle and high school?
The issue here is “pure feeder school alignment”. This means that all children from an elementary school move on to the same middle school, and all children from a middle school move to the same high school. This is something the committee will consider in drawing attendance boundaries and is part of the reason the high school boundaries are being developed first. With the high school boundaries established, the committee can try to align elementary and middle school boundaries to the high school boundaries.
The committee tries to maintain pure feeder school alignment in suggesting attendance boundaries. However, it is not always possible to keep all children together all the way through school. Right now, all schools have pure feeder alignment except for Colinas del Norte, where some students attend Eagle Ridge Middle School and some attend Mountain View Middle School.
I have a suggestion to put forward to the board. How do I do that?
The board created the boundary committee to consider options for redrawing attendance boundaries. Therefore, you should share your suggestions with the committee through your school’s representatives or through the e-mail and mail addresses listed at the beginning of this page. If you wish to address your suggestions directly to the board, you may do so by writing to the board at 500 Laser Rd. NE, Rio Rancho, NM, 87124 or e-mailing to
district@rrdo.rrps.k12.nm.us. Keep in mind that until the board formally meets to consider the committee’s recommendations, it will probably forward all suggestions it receives to the boundary committee.
Rio Rancho Public Schools, like most school districts, establishes attendance areas for schools. Students who live within the boundaries of a school’s attendance area are usually required to attend that school unless another school approves a transfer, or the student is enrolled in an alternative educational setting.
View the current Boundary Map of our schools
