Rio Rancho, APS to offer free summer school

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.- Rio Rancho Public Schools (RRPS) will be offering free summer school for high school students.

"It’s definitely for kids that weren’t able to complete their classes or didn’t do well in the class over this last year," said Renee Saucedo, secondary school improvement officer for RRPS.

The school district made the decision to offer classes at no cost after seeing a spike in failing grades.

"If you look at failure rates two years ago, they were anywhere in between 5% and 10%," Saucedo said. "Where this year, we’ve seen them raise up to 15% to 20%."

By offering summer school for free, families could end up saving hundreds of dollars.

"They’re actually going to offer four sessions. So we always offer at least two sessions, but now we’re going to have those two sessions, and both of them with a morning and afternoon possibility, so a student will be able to take up to four classes which is two full credits which previous cost would be $800,” Saucedo said.

Albuquerque Public Schools also saw an increase in students falling behind during the pandemic.

The district will also offer free summer school, but it will be held online.

Rio Rancho’s summer classes will take place in-person at the district’s Student Service Center.

Rio Rancho says they are able to offer it for free thanks to vacancy savings and money left over from extended learning.

Students who are interested in enrolling have to talk to their counselor to sign up.