West board considers expanding college credit program
West Las Vegas Schools Principal Angelo Archuleta addressed the district’s Board of Education at its regular meeting Nov. 8 seeking support to expand the district’s dual credit program.
Under agreements with Luna Community College and New Mexico Highlands University that allow, WLV high school students can enroll college courses while in high school. In some cases, students can even earn an associate degree by the time they graduate high school.
Archuleta proposed expanding the current agreement to include online courses from Central New Mexico Community College, but many on the dais questioned the idea.
Board member Linda Montoya wanted to know why students should attend online classes from a community college based in Albuquerque when similar courses are available from Luna and NMHU. She also had concerns about violating current agreements with Luna and Highlands.
“It’s really more about providing students as many options as possible,” Archuleta told the board. “The agreement we’re entering into with CNM does not conflict in any way with Luna’s or Highlands’ dual credit agreements. What it basically does is it opens the door for our students to be able to take online coursework that is asynchronous. That means they can do it on their own time rather than actually sitting in a classroom.”
Archuleta said about 40 students have expressed interest in taking courses online from CNM, a program he hopes to begin in January of 2019. If the arrangement with CNM proved to be a success, Archuleta would also like to explore offering dual credit courses with the University of New Mexico as well.
West Las Vegas Assistant Principal Nicaea Chavez told the board one problem with the current agreements with Luna is that the community college has stated it would like to require students to attend more courses on campus, which leads to problems for some West students who don’t have transportation to Luna. In one case, Chavez said, the district had to contract a bus driver to transport a single student to and from Luna for one class.
“That happens several times per week,” Chavez said. “We could save money by offering the online courses — having those options available — rather than busing our students and paying out of our district pocket.”
However, Chairman Marvin Martinez expressed concerns about the online-only nature of the CNM classes excluding some students.
“For the students that don’t have the ability to have a computer at home, is it a possibility to have that option here, (as) an after school program?” Martinez asked.
Archuleta said he was looking into utilizing part of the computer lab, where staffing is already available, to allow students to access online CNM courses after school.
The board was slated only to hold a discussion on the matter, and formal action will likely be scheduled for a future board meeting. The board was scheduled to hold a discussion on the program at its last regular meeting on Oct. 11, but Archuleta was not present for that portion of the meeting and the matter was tabled.
