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I’ve set foot in Mayfield High School exactly once, in approximately 2010. It was already well past its prime.
In the ensuing 15 years, Las Cruces Public Schools opened Centennial High School, which optimists say resembles a small college campus, while pessimists say it resembles a minimum-security prison.
LCPS also did a $40 million-plus remodel of Las Cruces High School, which was the oldest high school in the district.
Stunningly, Organ Mountain High School, née Oñate High School, is already 30 years old.
But hold on, Knights; you’re still 30 years younger than Mayfield.
If you’re a Mayfield person (MHS’s mascot is the seemingly incongruous Trojan; so named because when the school opened in 1965, Southern Cal’s Trojans were one of the top college football teams in America, with a string of Heisman Trophy winners), you’ve probably been wondering, “When’s our turn?!”
Well, if you’re willing to go to the polls, flip the ballot over and vote Yes for the Las Cruces Public Schools bond issue, your turn starts in just about a year.
Early voting is ongoing now, and Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 4.
Yes, it’s a lot of money – $65 million for the whole bond, to be precise – but it won’t increase your taxes.
Fully $20 million of that goes toward the renovation of Mayfield. It will also bring some matching money from the state of New Mexico. It won’t quite double the money, but it will be close, and it will be more than enough to pay for design, planning and getting bulldozer blades in the ground for the upgraded Mayfield.
If your children or grandchildren go to Mayfield, or to its feeder middle schools, you would be letting them down by not voting yes.
But Mayfield is not the only benefactor.
In addition, the bond will fix, upgrade and maintain other buildings in the school system. In the Las Cruces Public Schools, buildings needing such work range in age from 19 to 72 years old.
Can you believe a school built in 2006 (Sonoma Elementary) is already almost 20 years old? Me neither.
But there it is.
The bond will cover things as basic, yet vital, as restrooms, nurse’s offices, playgrounds and security.
How do you feel about our youth, our children, and their education?
You can answer Nov. 4 with your vote.
They deserve a Yes.
Richard Coltharp is an assistant professor of journalism at New Mexico State University. He was general manager, editor and publisher at the Las Cruces Bulletin from 2010-2023, and a senior editor at the Las Cruces Sun-News from 2007-2010.
