By Kevin Hendricks
East Mountain High School, a charter school in Sandia Park recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School, has announced plans to expand its program to include middle school grades.
Beginning in the fall of 2026, the school will welcome sixth, seventh, and eighth-grade students. This expansion follows nearly three years after the APS Board of Education approved the move. Construction on the new middle school building is set to begin this month with the addition of a new parking lot.
The expansion comes after EMHS received the 2025 Joseph Bruno Charter Leadership Award from Building Hope, which recognizes the school’s leadership, innovation and impact.
“We’re thrilled to be in this position,” said Trey Smith, Executive Director, East Mountain High School. “Being recognized by Building Hope is an incredible honor and a reflection of our presence within our community. Now, we get to expand to include middle school grades with another accolade under our belt. This expansion allows us to create a seamless, high-quality learning experience that begins earlier in a student’s journey and that provides a more intentional path from middle school into our rigorous high school curriculum.”
The new middle school will be housed in a separate building on the current EMHS campus, at the site of the existing main parking lot. Construction of the new building is scheduled from May 2025 to July 2026, in time for the 2026–2027 school year. The middle school curriculum will align with EMHS’s values of “academic excellence, creativity and social-emotional growth,” according to a press release. The middle school is expected to serve about 350 students.
Applications for the first middle school students will open in November 2025.
“We are excited to offer small class sizes, leadership development and our inquiry-based curriculum to even more families in the East Mountain area,” Smith said.