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The governing board of Explore Academy in Las Cruces voted to close their high school last week, surprising some parents.
On Friday, June 20, the board voted unanimously to shutter the high school but keep grades kindergarten through 8th grade running. The immediate closure will cancel the upcoming school year that was due to start on July 28.
“We are crushed,” Janelle Vasquez, mother of one student, said.
Her child has special needs and has been attending the school for the last three years. Vasquez said that her child enjoyed the small classroom sizes and the higher amount of attention each student received. She said she does not want to place her child in a public high school because he “would just get lost.”
“Now we are stuck trying to figure out where to put him,” Vasquez said.
As for any notice that this was coming, Vasquez said that she “really didn’t hear anything.”
In the agenda for the June 20 meeting, the vote took place under the agenda item titled “School Path Forward Presentation and Discussion.”
School Board Co-Chair Angel Rivera said that she understands that it may not appear on the agenda that there would be a vote there to close the high school but “there had to be a deciding point on where we go from here.”
According to the meeting minutes, four options were presented to the board. These options included continuing as normal but becoming $659,000 in debt and “likely close by December 2025,” get rid of 10 staff and not have enough staff to keep the school functioning, submit a deferment proposal for the high school property on Del Rey as well as cut staff and bank on large growth in the future, or close the school.
The board voted 5-0 to close the high school after being open for just two years. Explore Academy has not graduated a class of students.
“The conversation has been ongoing since November,” School Board Co-Chair Christine Reyes said. “We exhausted all other options to keep K-12 open.”
As for how the school got into the financial situation, Reyes explained that the school got hit with a balloon payment — a one-time large payment due at the end of the mortgage designed to lower monthly payments and shorten the time it takes to pay the mortgage — that worsened the financial situation.
In addition to this expense, Reyes said that the previous board also had contracts that “were not revealed” until later and they were “a surprise to everyone.” Reyes continued by saying the payment for the contract “continues for some time” and hurts their financial health.
The contracts revolved around the high school, but she declined to comment further on it.
When asked about how much the parents were aware of the situation, Reyes said that “It’s mostly been head administration and the board. The parents have been blindsided for sure.”
Vasquez said her family is scrambling to place her child.
“We are just trying to figure it all out right now. I sent out a bunch of emails this morning because we need to know what we are doing because one charter school starts on July 11 and if we are going to go there, we need to know,” Vasquez explained.
In the letter sent to parents, Explore Academy attached links to websites for the Las Cruces Public School district and other charter schools. When asked what other support was sent out to parents, Vasquez said, “Nothing.”
According to their website, Explore Academy Las Cruces serves 700 students across all grades. They first opened in 2021 and initially offered education for grades 6-8 but expanded from there.