Submitted by Trey Smith, Executive Director of East Mountain
As I prepare to send my own son off to his first day of Kindergarten in just a few days, I find myself riding a rollercoaster of emotions, probably not unlike what every parent feels this time of year. I’m feeling a little anxious: Will he like his classroom? Will he make a friend? Also, I’m honestly feeling a little excited to get him out of the house and back on a routine. But more than anything, I’m filled with something deeper: hope.
The hope that a new school year brings is unlike any other feeling. Fresh notebooks, clean calendars, and the belief that something extraordinary could happen between now and May. That’s not just how I feel as a parent, but that is how we operate as a school.
East Mountain High School is coming off a school year of incredible success and also major challenges. When the statewide assessment data is released in a few weeks, East Mountain High School will show a 20% increase in Reading and Writing proficiency and an impressive 70% increase in Math proficiency. Those incredible academic successes are the result of a dedicated staff who never stop trying to improve for their students. That success has been recognized by many regional and national experts. The Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce named East Mountain the “Excellent School of the Year” and a national organization awarded us the “Model Charter Leadership Award.” In one year alone, East Mountain has also been the recipient of over $3 million in grants from Public Charter Schools of New Mexico, the Charter School Growth Fund, Excellent Schools New Mexico, and Building Hope to aid in our coming expansion.
In the midst of all that incredible success, our school is also working with the worst budget cut we’ve ever faced, from both the New Mexico legislature and the federal government. Despite record enrollment numbers and unprecedented student achievement, all governmental sources of funding have decreased for a school that is considered one of the best in the state. While our staffing and programming will be impacted by this reduction in resources, our resolve to serve students will not.
This new year promises to be the best yet in our school’s 26-year history. We are set to graduate our largest class ever of 113 students. We are poised to have record-breaking performances in both our athletic and extracurricular programs. And we will break ground on an ambitious new construction project as we set out to create the best middle school program in the state. As we see it, we are not just building a new middle school; we are building hope.
Hope that, despite the ever-changing policy shifts in Santa Fe and DC, a school grounded in high expectations surrounded by a loving community can achieve great things. We are excited for all that this new school year will bring, and we invite the entire community to share in that hope for our children’s future.
Trey Smith is a school executive and doctoral candidate in New Mexico. He serves as Executive Director of East Mountain, one of the state’s highest performing schools. He also works to champion meaningful education policy reform.
