Community Groups in Las Cruces are working to turn Lynn Middle School into a community school with programs to benefit all community members that range beyond education. While, that effort is still in the planning phases, Las Cruces City Council and Las Cruces Public Schools are working together to open more facilities to the public.
Sonya Delgado, Parks and Recreation Director for the City of Las Cruces, says there isn’t enough indoor recreation space to meet the city’s needs.
“Currently we only have one indoor gymnasium that can be used for league play,” Delgado said. “So, we’re a community of over 100,000 people, and we need access to gymnasiums just for basketball, volleyball, any other kind of court activity you can think of. We currently have to cap our leagues because we don’t have the space. And we need to be able to offer multiple, different types of activities throughout the year, and so we have to cap it by space, time, and the number of teams.”
Delgado says the city is working with Las Cruces Public School Staff to bring an agreement to the city council and school board on the city using school recreation facilities by summer vacation. She says they are working on determining the potential costs, and says the city would be willing to pay for that cost.
Maria Flores, President of the Las Cruces Public School Board says they want to open buildings up to more of the community.
“There has been some barriers, or hurdles if you will to overcome,” Flores said. “And to start opening up some of our buildings so we can get more community use. And we’re going to this paradigm of community schools, so it’s the perfect opportunity and the perfect time to do this to open them up. And we want students in our buildings and we want community in our buildings.”
Mayor Ken Miyagishima says by inviting the community into the schools, it could help people feel more invested in education.
“By doing this and by being more inclusive and inviting the community that surrounds that school,” Miyagishima said. “To let them know that this is their school, and how they can help interact, you might find them even wanting to even go further and be mentors to some of the children. You may have some retirees that have certain specialties that they feel might be able to help with the students.”
Dave Greenberg, Assistant Director of Ngage New Mexico, working with the community schools initiative says shared spaces is one of the pillars of community schools.
“We have these facilities in our community,” Greenberg said. “That are funded by our community, and a lot of them are really beautiful pristine schools, and a lot of them sit vacant on the evenings, and the weekends, and the summertime. So, how can we better utilize that space to meet the needs of our community, and that is one of the pillars of community schools and that is what we’re seeing in this shared space.”
Greenberg says they are hoping to complete the community assessment for the full community school program at Lynn Middle School by early next year before beginning implementation.
