Alamogordo Public Schools updates community on new middle school

Note: On Oct. 28 this article was updated to reflect a clarification in a quote by Grant Lichtman in which he referred to the current Chaparral Middle School.

The plans for a new middle school in the Alamogordo Public School District include a  more modern and collaborative approach to teaching and learning.

Renderings of the new middle school that will take the place of Chaparral Middle School, show a stadium with ball fields, tracks and a main building designed around a center courtyard.

"We're so excited to show everybody in this town a school that is like no other Alamogordo has seen before," Acting Alamogordo Public Schools Superintendent Kenneth Moore said. "We're building a new middle school that's designed around the science that's behind how students learn rather than just building a school to code."

Chaparral Middle School, 1401 College Avenue, is more than 60 years old and has fallen into disrepair.

The new middle school will have learning spaces with windows connecting students and teachers to the outdoors, Moore said.

"Trying to connect students to the outdoors more because there's a lot of great science behind connection with nature and improved learning outcomes," Greg Papay of Lake Flato architecture firm. 

Educational author and speaker Grant Lichtman is a part of the team designing the new middle school.

"I went to a school like this and I'm 66 years old," Lichtman said referring to the current Chaparral Middle School. "It had classrooms like this and you went from one classroom to the next and we shut up and we did what Ms. Hearst told us to do."

Lichtman, a former educator, has worked with more than 250 school districts nationwide to refashion the way children are taught based on the changes happening in the world.

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In November 2019, Otero County voters approved a $17 million general obligation bond to help offset the cost of rebuilding Chaparral Middle School, covering the Alamogordo Public School District's funding obligations in the construction project which is estimated to take two to three years.

State funding for the project caps at 60% and the $17 million general obligation bond covers the 40% Alamogordo Public Schools needs to raise to pay its share. The final total cost of the project is as of now unknown.

A geotechnical report released in April 2020 showed significant soil issues existed on Chapparal Middle School's current location. The soil issues were deemed so bad that a new location was found in what is now Hang Glider Park on Fairgrounds Road.

The City of Alamogordo and Alamogordo Public Schools orchestrated a land exchange in November 2020 wherein the current Chaparral Middle School location would become a park once the current school is demolished.

The land exchange agreement includes a $200,000 allowance for an irrigation system and landscaping to be done once the school is demolished.

The proposed new middle school will be about 7,000 square feet on about 20-25 acres of land. 

Nicole Maxwell can be contacted by email at nmaxwell@alamogordonews.com, by phone at 575-415-6605 or on Twitter at @nicmaxreporter.