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EDUCATION
Los Lunas Board of Education scraps RGE pre-K grant; pursue full rebuild
Published
LOS LUNAS — The question of what will become of Raymond Gabaldon Elementary School is now open after a recent Los Lunas Board of Education decision was handed down at a regular board meeting.
During its regular January meeting, the LLS Board of Education unanimously approved a motion to rescind a long-standing state memorandum of understanding for a grant to fund a pre-K center at RGE.
Superintendent Susan Chavez explained the move as necessary to put the district in a more favorable position for a complete campus rebuild — rather than a rehab of the current campus, which is showing signs of age.
Earlier in the meeting, LLS Director of Facilities Tiffany McMinn presented a report outlining aging issues, describing the work completed on the main building after a severe rainstorm in October 2025 caused roof and ceiling damage.
The decision on the grant is the latest development in an ongoing saga that began in July 2024, when the board announced plans to close RGE by the end of the 2026-2027 school year.
Following a meeting in October 2024, Los Lunas Schools officials met with the Public School Capital Outlay Council, New Mexico Public School Finance Authority, and New Mexico Public School Finance Authority to identify and review all options for the award to build a pre-K center at the school. In December 2024, the board announced a pause in the plans for RGE.
The PSCOC grant, which Chavez said was originally awarded in 2021, was intended only for a pre-K center at RGE. Chavez explained that while the district had previously approved an award language change in the grant in October 2025 to shift the focus to a full rebuild, the PSCOC did not accept the language modification.
“What the PSCOC has decided is that we will need to rescind the award and start over for a new school for Raymond Gabaldon Elementary,” Chavez said. “The reasoning is that retaining the existing pre-K award, or simply adding to it, would prevent RGE from dropping low enough on the state’s rebuilding priority list.”
The new plan is to apply for a brand-new school that includes a full pre-K center. Still, officials are also considering a different location for the new campus due to potential school boundary issues related to the current site’s proximity to Los Lunas Elementary.
The district is currently overseeing the completion of the new Peralta Elementary School and finishing the design stage for a new Ann Parish Elementary facility. Completion of the new RGE campus is still far off. Answering a question from board vice president David Vickers, Chavez said the new pre-K would no longer be at the RGE site but would instead be part of a brand-new elementary school.
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“If we did add the pre-K center alone and we do a rebuild there, then it does not bode well for a complete rebuild for Raymond Gabaldon because (RGE) does not go lower on the rebuild list,” the superintendent said. “Currently, it’s not in the top 100 because this award exists.”
In her comments, board member Michelle Osowski emphasized the need for transparency on the decision.
“I also wanted the parents of the RGE community to know and understand that the board is very aware of the needs at RGE and the desire is still to provide a new school if we could possibly get it,” she said during the meeting. “They’re deserving. It’s necessary.”
Board President Frank Otero echoed this urgency, noting the district has been dealing with RGE’s structural issues for seven or eight years.
“I would agree that Dr. Osowsky and I think we really can’t waste any more time when you need to come up with solutions before the next go-around to make that committee, and eventually resolve the issues,” he said.
The current Raymond Gabaldon Elementary building was constructed in 1938 using funds and workers made available by the New Deal-era Works Progress Administration and has been in continuous use since.
In her report to the board, McMinn said RGE’s library and other rooms on the east end of the building sustained water penetration due to heavy rainfall. She said LLS crews completed repairs on the roof’s exterior. With the exterior repairs complete and no further leaks detected, she said the interior damage at the school was being addressed in January, with the affected areas slated to receive a full ceiling tile replacement and new flooring to restore the space for student use.
Chavez said the district also performs monthly preventative maintenance on the aging structure. But the maintenance costs are getting more expensive as the years go by.
Dennis Gabaldon, son of Raymond Gabaldon and an advocate for preserving the main building at RGE, said he’s been in regular contact with the school board about the RGE situation since talk of the school’s closure first began. He expressed optimism when asked about the future of the main building at RGE.
“I’m really hopeful we can find an option to preserve the building,” he said. “It’s a WPA building built in 1938. I’m grateful that we can preserve the namesake, and I’m hopeful that we can preserve the building for another purpose.”
Otero said he’d been in contact with Gabaldon and said it’s been a concern of his since he was named to the board in June of last year.
“I’ve been on and off the school board since 2007, and throughout all these years, they’ve spent a lot of money maintaining it,” Otero said. “I know (Dennis) was concerned about the school and his father’s name, and I wasn’t sure what we were going to do.”
