NM International School moving to larger facility
An Albuquerque Public Schools-authorized charter school is expanding in both square footage and grade levels.
New Mexico International School is moving from its home of four years to a 66,000-squarefoot facility at 7201 Montgomery NE, between Pennsylvania and Louisiana.
The dual-language charter will move into the site in the summer of 2019 and open in the fall.
That’s tripling the size of its current 21,500-square-foot campus at 8650 Alameda NE.
The new facility and former church will undergo remodeling before the school sets up shop.
Plans include expanded and additional classrooms and a new playground.
The long-term goal is to expand NMIS’ music program and to add a performance arts center on the campus.
Currently, the school also has a gym and kitchen for the kids.
“Charter schools for the most part move into older facilities.
We are fortunate enough this used to be a school and church,” said Head of School Todd Knouse, saying there’s less construction needed for the property.
The extra space is needed for NMIS’ initiative to expand the school’s reach to include a middle school program, which will kick off for the first time in the 2018-19 school year.
“Parents wanted the school to grow since we opened our doors seven years ago,” Knouse said.
In August, the school’s charter was expanded to include sixth-graders who will become the inaugural seventh- and eighth-grade classes the following years, according to Knouse.
“We simply need more time to help them become academically proficient,” he said. “We want more time to instill language proficiency to help make it more concrete.”
Right now, the school has 220 students enrolled but the building purchase allows student occupancy to more than double.
In addition to adding the middle school grades, the school will expand kindergarten from two classes to four and more in the future, if needed, according to a news release.
The charter school has a language acquisition focused curriculum with 90 percent of lessons in Spanish and 10 percent in English. And in fourth grade, the kids are introduced to Arabic.
The idea is to set up an advantage for the students who will enter a competitive workforce in the future.
The facility on Montgomery Boulevard is currently the site of the Montgomery Church of Christ and Albuquerque Christian School.
Albuquerque Christian School will go to a location on McLeod Road near San Mateo Boulevard.