Posts Tagged ‘Bridge of Southern New Mexico’
Early College High School Lands Grant Funding
Article courtesy of the Las Cruces Bulletin
By Todd G. Dickson
State Higher Education Secretary Jose Garcia and Public Education Secretary-designate Hanna Skandera say they intend to make the public schools and higher education work together to provide a better trained work force.
Speaking before the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance (MVEDA) Tuesday, Jan. 3, Garcia and Skandera said they also will make the educational system more accountable. Their appearance in Las Cruces was followed up by Gov. Susana Martinez meeting with a large group of regents, governing board members and post-secondary institution presidents in Socorro to discuss the state’s new higher education funding formula.
The new formula will reward New Mexico’s higher learning institutions based on outcome measures that reflect student achievement and preparedness for New Mexico’s work force, as opposed to basing the allocation of funding on measurements like the size (square footage) of each institution. Also, the current formula funds colleges and universities based on courses and degree programs started. The new formula would be based on courses and degree programs completed.
Garcia said this is about more than making better use of the state’s support of higher education. The idea is to put the money into where there are gaps, especially in skill sets needed in high-tech professions.
At the MVEDA luncheon, Garcia noted that Intel decided to expand its Arizona operations, but not its plant in Rio Rancho. Yet, New Mexico spends more per graduate than Arizona, he said. Garcia said he took it as signal that New Mexico is not producing the kind of work force that is needed for the United States to be competitive globally.
“The central goal of New Mexico’s higher education institutions should be to graduate the students New Mexico’s economy will depend on for decades,” Martinez said. “In an increasingly competitive global economy, this formula will help us deliver the graduates we need for the jobs of tomorrow, and it serves to intently focus our attention on the achievement of our students.”
Under the formula, institutions would receive funding for graduating students in “STEHM” (Science, Technology, Engineering, Health Care and Mathematics) fields. A recent study disclosed that New Mexico’s economy will require nearly 50,000 employees with STEHM degrees by 2018 and nearly 95 percent of those jobs will require post-secondary education. “For the first time in the history of New Mexico, the younger generation is less educated than the generations before,” Garcia said. “This new formula is our opportunity to make sure today’s students are tomorrow’s successful employees.”
Meanwhile, Skandera said the schools will be changing, too, with a focus on making graduates better prepared for the work force or higher education once they complete school. Skandera said the schools will be more realistically assessed than the guaranteed failure rates offered by No Child Left Behind standards, which she said has only resulted in schools putting resources into helping borderline students rather than helping struggling students.
“Education is about setting up our kids for success,” Skandera said. “Let’s honor the successes we see and work on the areas we need to.”
At the MVEDA luncheon, a local success story was also highlighted. The Arrowhead Park Early College High School (APECHS) on the New Mexico State University campus will get a boost from a $345,090 W.K. Kellogg Foundation grant for the public-private workforce development advocate. The school, created by a school-business partnership called the Bridge of Southern New Mexico gives students the chance to learn in a higher education environment and earn college credits.
APECHS can tout that none of its students have dropped out, said Tracey Bryan, president and CEO of The Bridge. She said the cooperative efforts between the public schools, higher education and the business community is what spurred Kellogg to give the significant grant.
Distribution of the grant money includes $45,000 to NMSU’s Enlace Program that helps minority students succeed in higher education, $45,000 to NMSU and the University of New Mexico education research centers, $37,090 to the Arrowhead Center where the school is housed and $10,000 to the Service Learning Program at the NMSU College of Education. But the bulk of the Kellogg grant will be used to increase the student capacity at APECHS and to begin work on setting up four more early college high schools in Doña Ana County, according to the grant announcement.
Bryan said the Kellogg grant is a significant award, but The Bridge also has been getting grants from other private foundations and local businesses to help the APECHS effort. Through APECHS and other efforts, Las Cruces Public Schools is seeing good progress on reducing its dropout rate overall, Bryan said, “and the sky’s the limit” for future progress.
Skandera touted APECHS as an example of how to improve schools. “We didn’t point fingers in Las Cruces,” she said. “We sat down and said how do we get there, and we partnered.”
Education Cabinet Secretaries Featured at January Luncheon
New Mexico Public Education Department Secretary-Designate Hanna Skandera and New Mexico Higher Education Department Cabinet Secretary Dr. Jose Z. Garcia will be the featured presenters at the January MVEDA Business in the Borderplex luncheon. The luncheon will be held on Tuesday, January 3, 2012 from 11:30 AM until 1:00 PM at the Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces, 705 S. Telshor. The meeting will begin with a hot entree buffet.
MVEDA, the Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce, the Hispano Chamber de Las Cruces, and the Bridge of Southern New Mexico are pleased to kick-off 2012 by co-hosting a conversation with the Cabinet Secretaries on their work in building a strong, well-prepared workforce.
Secretary Skandera
Previously, Skandera served as Florida’s Deputy Commissioner of Education under former Governor Jeb Bush, working to advance middle and high school reforms that instituted greater accountability, incentives for high performance and the end of social promotion. Her work led to scores that improved dramatically across ethnic groups, with Hispanic students outperforming all students in 31 other states. Florida has been recognized nationally as one of the only states to narrow the achievement gap for poor and minority students. She also served as a senior policy advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Education and as former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Undersecretary for Education.
Secretary Garcia
Jose Z. Garcia has been on the faculty at New Mexico State University for more than three decades. He has conducted research and lectured throughout Latin America, specializing in questions of political instability. Dr. Garcia directed the Center for Latin American and Border Studies at NMSU for 13 years. In recent years his research has focused on the U.S.-Mexico border. He is one of the founding members of the Paso del Norte Water Task Force, a non-governmental, tri-state, bi-national organization created in the late 1990s, grouping together irrigation district and water utilities managers with environmental groups, citizens, and academics, to stimulate greater cooperation toward more efficient regional water management in the Paso del Norte region. Dr. Garcia was chair of the organization from 2010-2011. He has also taught a course in New Mexico politics for many years. After receiving a BA from Occidental College, Dr. Garcia was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to Ecuador. He received an MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and a PhD from the University of New Mexico.
The vital link between education and workforce and economic development has been highlighted by The Bridge of Southern New Mexico. The Bridge is working alongside Secretary Skandera and Secretary Garcia to create stronger linkages from public education to post-secondary education to give New Mexico a prosperous, sustainable future for business by building a strong, well-prepared workforce.
Luncheon cost is $20.00 per person, payable by cash, check or major credit card. Due to space limitations, reservations are required. Please confirm your attendance no later than Thursday, December 29th by sending an email to rsvp@mveda.com or by calling the office at (575) 525-2852. The meeting is open to the public.
Parents, Officials Laud Arrowhead School
Article courtesy of the Las Cruces Sun-News
By Reyes Mata III
LAS CRUCES – Arrowhead Park Early College High School – an ambitious venture to slash dropout rates – heralded a major accomplishment during its ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday at its new campus.
“One hundred percent of the sophomore class progressed from ninth grade to 10th grade on time,” Principal Jennifer Amis told the crowd of about 450 people who gathered at the New Mexico State University-based high-school campus.
Some of the parents in the crowd who were cheering that announcement say they support the strong academic curriculum and zealous advancement of students that the new high school emphasizes.
Francisco Silva, a parent of a freshman, said the Arrowhead experience is keeping his son on track for a stable future. “He has all these options at Arrowhead High School that he would not have had somewhere else. The education is very intense.” His wife, Rosa Maria Silva, said she was very pleased with her son’s experience so far, adding that “he will be ahead of the game if he stays here.”
Jose Garcia, secretary of the New Mexico Higher Education Department, took the podium and said the dismal dropout rate of the state’s children is unprecedented. “For the first time in New Mexico’s history, the older generation is better educated than the younger generation,” he said, citing census figures that show fewer New Mexicans are achieving degrees in higher education. “That’s not good and we need to do something about it.”
The state has traditionally “not done a good job of improving the dropout rates of high school and college,” he said, and added: “But this school has proven they can reduce dropout rates to zero.”
Using a public-private funding hybrid, Arrowhead Park Early College High School – which officials stated cost $82 million less than a comparable school construction project – is the future that some state officials want New Mexico schools to look like.
“Thank you for creating the picture of what this state needs,” said state Education Secretary Hanna Skandera. “We now have a perfect model, a literal model,” she said, adding that her advice to the state regarding reducing dropout rates would be: “Go down and take a look at Las Cruces – they delivered.”
Las Cruces Public Schools Superintendent Stan Rounds echoed the same sentiment: “This is a zero-dropout place,” he told the crowd. “More than 60 percent of these students are the first in their families to go to college. And, to date, not a single one has dropped out,” Rounds said in a statement prepared earlier.
A high-school degree at Arrowhead will also entail a college-level associate’s degree, clearing the way for a four-year degree from a university, said Barbara Couture, NMSU president. “That is progress, a seamless transition of a college education,” she said of the school.
The school – part of the LCPS system – opened in July 2010 at Dona Ana Community College. Last August it moved to NMSU’s eight-acre site. The school currently has 115 freshmen and 115 sophomores, administrators said. Next year, the school will accept an additional 125 students, then an extra 125 students will be accepted the following year to reach the 500-student capacity, said Gabriela Alaniz, dean of students, and Yolanda Juarez, office manager of the school.
Officials at the event credited the Bridge of Southern New Mexico with bringing the private and public sectors of the area together to create the innovative school.
Reyes Mata III can be reached at (575) 541-5405.
EP Electric Names NMSU Alum Clay Doyle VP of Transmission and Distribution
Clay Doyle
Article courtesy of the Las Cruces Sun-News
LAS CRUCES – El Paso Electric has appointed Robert Clay Doyle to serve as vice president of transmission and distribution. In that position, Doyle – who most recently has been vice president of New Mexico affairs – will oversee the transmission and distribution divisions, which include substations, transmission and distribution design, operations, construction and maintenance.
Doyle has been with El Paso Electric since 1992 and has served in various capacities including manager of the corporate projects office, project manager of corporate transition to competition, supervisor of distribution dispatch and distribution monitoring engineer. He earned a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from New Mexico State University and is a registered professional engineer in New Mexico and holds certification as a project management professional. Doyle has been a fund raising team leader for the local affiliates of Habitat for Humanity, the Kiwanis Clubs of Las Cruces and the Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce. He also is an active participant with the Boy Scouts of America and serves on the board of the Bridge of Southern New Mexico and the board of the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance.
Legislative Coalition Briefs Area Legislators
On Monday, January 10th, the Dona Ana County Legislative Coalition (DACLC) briefed Dona Ana County legislators on the Coalition’s 2011 legislative priorities. The event, sponsored by El Paso Electric (EPE), was held at the Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces. Garrey Carruthers, Dean of the NMSU College of Business and former New Mexico Governor, moderated the briefing.
Photo courtesy of Fred Shepherd
Bill Connor (pictured right), Chair of the DACLC, began the briefing with background on the Coalition. The Coalition was formed in the fall of 2007 to identify and promote significant legislative initiatives to benefit Las Cruces and the surrounding communities’ economic and developmental needs. Members include: City of Las Cruces, Dona Ana County, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces Public Schools, Gadsden Independent School District, Hatch Valley Public Schools, The Bridge of Southern New Mexico, Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce, Hispano Chamber of Commerce de Las Cruces, and the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance (MVEDA).
Connor discussed three legislative appropriations requests which include: $850,000 for planning of a new Mesilla Valley Regional Dispatch Authority facility; $2,100,000 for construction of a Crisis Triage Center; and $6,000,000 for access roads and infrastructure for new Las Cruces schools under construction on the East Mesa.
The DACLC economic development priorities include the support of existing incentives, support of funding for the New Mexico Partnership, passage of the Locomotive Diesel Refuel Tax Exemption, creation of an overweight border commercial zone, and creation of a permanent Border Infrastructure Fund. The passage of the Locomotive Diesel Refuel Tax Exemption is critical for the announced expansion by Union Pacific in the Santa Teresa area.
The Coalition’s presentation included a number of legislative actions for education restructuring and policy changes. They included: reducing bureaucracy in the public and higher education departments; more efficient reimbursements to the public schools systems; reassessing tuition credit funding formulas; and support of expansion of dual credit courses.
In the final presentation, Clay Doyle, Vice President of New Mexico Affairs for El Paso Electric, discussed the forecasts of future electricity usage in the region. He noted that during the next 5-7 years the company will invest approximately $600 million in new generation and between 2015 and 2020, EPE will need to add 150-175MW of generation annually.
In his closing remarks, Carruthers reminded the audience of the upcoming Las Cruces Day in Santa Fe, which is hosted each year by the Chamber’s Conquistadores. This year’s event will be held January 29-31st at the La Fonda Hotel on the Plaza.
