CIBOLA COUNTY, N.M. The Grants Cibola County Schools held a board meeting on March 24, that convened for nearly five hours. During this, they covered topics concerning the data from the middle of the school year, graduation rates and graduation cohort, online learning possibilities, and recognitions.
Middle of Year Data
Middle of Year Data (MOY) for 2024-2025 vs 2025-2026 Reading Achievement Level 3rd Grade: 26% On Target, 22% Near Target, 51% Needs Support 4th Grade: 35% On Target, 38% Near Target, 37% Needs Support 5th Grade: 46% On Target, 41% Near Target, 14% Needs Support 6th Grade: 23% On Target, 26% Near Target, 45% Needs Support 7th Grade: 19% On Target, 20% Near Target, 51% Needs Support 8th Grade: 26% On Target, 24% Near Target, 16% Needs Support Overall: 29% On Target, 28% Near Target, 32% Needs Support
Middle of Year Data (MOY) for 2024-2025 vs 2025-2026 Language Usage Achievement
3rd Grade: 18% On Target, 13% Near Target, 43% Needs Support 4th Grade: 31% On Target, 32% Near Target, 44% Needs Support 5th Grade: 40% On Target, 38% Near Target, 42% Needs Support 6th Grade: 15% On Target, 18% Near Target, 56% Needs Support 7th Grade: 34% On Target, 24% Near Target, 51% Needs Support 8th Grade: 19% On Target, 17% Near Target, 57% Needs Support Overall: 26% On Target, 24% Near Target, 49% Needs Support
Graduation Rates & Cohort
According to Larry Chavez, executive director of student support, this represents a 9.5 percentage point increase over previous years, reflecting the district’s dedicated efforts to support student success. “This growth is the result of the hard work of our principals, staff, students, families, school board, and district leadership,” Chavez said. “It truly takes a community to achieve this level of progress.”
The New Mexico Public Education Department (NMPED) calculates graduation rates using a four-year cohort method. This system tracks students from their first year in ninth grade and adjusts for transfers, withdrawals, or other changes. Each student’s progress is monitored across 16 official enrollment “snapshots” over four years, ensuring an accurate and validated cohort graduation rate for schools and districts.
Key Data
• 2023-2024 GCCS Graduation Rate: 70.6%
• Improvement: +9.5 percentage points Current cohorts include:
• Grants High School:
176 students in the 2026 cohort, with 7 early graduates and 3 life skills retiring students.
• Early College High School: 11 students in the 2026 cohort, with 1 early graduate.
• Laguna-Acoma High School: 61 students in the 2026 cohort, with 12 life skills returning students.
GCCS is focused on maintaining and exceeding the state graduation rate in the years ahead. Key strategies include expanding career and technical education (CTE) pathways and internships, aligning board goals with district strategies, providing high-quality instruction and materials, promoting student engagement initiatives, ensuring consistent leadership across the district, and validating graduation data annually to maintain accuracy. The efforts reflect a positive trajectory in student outcomes, with long-term benefits for the community, families, and students’ future opportunities.
Graduation Cohort Details
• Early College High School:
• Total Cohort 2026: 11 students
• Early Graduates (Cohort 2027): 1 student
• Life Skills Returning: 0 students
• Grants High School:
• Total Cohort 2026: 176 students
• Early Graduates (Cohort 2027): 7 students
• Life Skills Returning: 3 students
• LagunaAcoma High School
• Total Cohort 2026: 61 students
• Early Graduates (Cohort 2027): 0 students
• Life Skills Returning: 12 students Current Cohort Rates:
• Early College High School:
• On Track: 92% (11 students)
• Credit Recovery: 8% (1 student)
• Possible Retention: 0%
• Grants High School:
• On Track: 89% (156 students)
• Credit Recovery: 7% (13 students)
• Possible Retention: 4% (7 students)
• LagunaAcoma High School:
• On Track: 91-97%
• Credit Recovery: 2%
• Possible Retention: 1%
Online Learning
“We are looking very closely at moving forward with an online learning option for all of our kids grade K through 12,” Superintendent Lane Widner explained. “Over the last three years since I’ve been superintendent - we’ve tried different things… We’ve looked at partner with Pecos Cyber Academy [and more] and we haven’t been able to get a really great online option for our kids. I think we have discovered that with Imagine Learning, that have a K through five program for elementary kids that is synchronous, it’s called Our Teachers. We’re looking at that as a great option for online for our elementary.” He explained that a possible option for high school students is Ingenuity.
Addressing the question of if the kids have devices, he said, “Yes, when your kids are online, we want them to have a device. And so it might be a six-year-old Chromebook, but we always want them to have devices… We don’t have a hotspot. We did during 2020… they were pretty sporadic.” He also mentioned that the hotspot was through Verizon.
“We’re looking at a hybrid option,” Widner informed “So, if a student wants to take CTE courses and kind of do a half day at home, and a half day [at school]. [So] we’re looking at those options too. So we are making progress finally after three years, we are making good progress.”
Recognitions
The first social emotional learning (SEL) award recipient is William Griner from Grants High School. He is the band director, oversees the performing arts center, and also helps GHS with their master schedule. Superintendent Wider said, “We are appreciative to Mr. Grinder for all that he does for kids.”
The next SEL award recipient is Annete Shawski. Widner said, “She works in the business office and she is our accounts payable person. She works very hard to make sure that our credit is good, that our bills are paid, that our PE cards are paid. So when we travel or anybody in the district goes, they have what they need to be able to feed kids and take kids on field trips. And so we are thankful to Ms. Shawski.”
Lastly, the Edu-Champion belts recipient is Esteban Balli. Widner explained, “Esteban is a great tech guy. He is very supportive of everybody… We appreciate him and all of his hard work and dedication.”
Upcoming
Regular Board Meeting April 21: RESCHEDULED Board Meeting April 23: Regular Board Meeting