East Mountain school expands to give Sandia Park its first middle school

Sandia Park children will no longer have to leave the East Mountains for middle school, a shift that could spare families long daily drives and keep students on one campus through high school. The change gives the community its first local middle-school option after decades without one and turns East Mountain into a true 6-12 pathway.

Construction began Friday on the expansion, which will start with sixth grade and add seventh and eighth grade the following year. East Mountain, which is now using the shorter name instead of East Mountain High, said sixth graders will join the campus by fall 2026. The plan includes a 27,000-square-foot building, a module building for sixth graders, a multipurpose room, a cafeteria, a learning commons, middle-school classrooms, a music room and a new parking lot.

The school said the middle-school program will center on inquiry-based academics, leadership opportunities, a supportive environment and outdoor learning experiences. That matters in a part of Bernalillo County where distance shapes everyday decisions. Parents have long sent children to schools in Tijeras, Edgewood or Albuquerque, a routine that can mean about 40-minute drives or bus rides. For families spread across Sandia Park, Frost Road, Mountain Valley and North 14, the new grades are as much a transportation fix as an educational one.

East Mountain has operated since 1999, making it one of the oldest charter schools in New Mexico. The school says it was named a National Blue Ribbon School, the highest designation awarded by the U.S. Department of Education, and that it was the only high school in New Mexico to receive the honor in 2018. Albuquerque Public Schools approved the middle-school expansion in November 2023 by a 5-2 vote after a debate over school performance, district right-sizing and the impact on other campuses.

For parents, the expansion changes the shape of the school day and, potentially, the shape of family life. Jim Kehrle has a son beginning sixth grade in August as part of East Mountain’s first middle-school class. Other parents said they would have chosen the school sooner if the middle grades had already existed. School leaders have framed the shift as a way to keep students rooted in one community and send ninth graders into high school with more similar academic backgrounds.

The broader significance reaches beyond one campus. Bernalillo County’s North Highway 14 plan describes the corridor as a main commuter route to Albuquerque for surrounding bedroom communities, which helps explain why local schools matter so much in this part of the county. With the expansion underway, Sandia Park is getting a long-missing piece of public infrastructure that could change how East Mountain families move through school for years to come.