APS considers adding ninth grade to Roosevelt Middle School in Tijeras

Albuquerque Public Schools weighed a plan to add ninth grade at Roosevelt Middle School in Tijeras, with the board set to vote June 29 on a rollout that would turn the campus into a sixth-through-12th-grade school by 2029. If approved, Roosevelt would become the first APS middle school to also serve high school students.

Roosevelt had 397 students last school year and ranked in the top quarter of New Mexico public schools. Students at Roosevelt outperformed district and state averages in reading and math across every demographic group, and APS considered the school a strong candidate for expansion.

The plan would add one grade level, move students from middle school into high school on the same campus, improve academic, social and emotional preparation, give staff an earlier chance to intervene when students struggle and reduce dropout risk. Roosevelt already had enough classrooms and facilities to absorb a ninth grade with minimal disruption, needing only one additional full-time teacher and a slight financial impact.

Roosevelt feeds into Manzano High School, which recently landed on the state’s struggling-schools list because of low graduation rates. The expansion could help address that problem without building a new school from scratch, and parents at Roosevelt showed support in a survey.

About 77% of APS seniors in the class of 2025 graduated in four years, and 15 APS high schools were under Public Education Department monitoring for low graduation rates.