SODA is a certified community school

LOS LUNAS — There was no quinceañera party for the School of Dreams Academy last school year for the charter school’s 15th anniversary, but that doesn’t mean there was nothing to celebrate, said SODA Superintendent Mike Ogas.

Ogas said recently the school, which opened in 2009, heads into the 2025-26 school year with a focus on its student community.

In addition to earning another five-year re-designation as an Early College High School back in February, the school, which is the only designated early college school and also the only early college high school in Valencia County, has made additional partnerships with state colleges.

“Becoming an early college high school and keeping the re-designation is a very arduous process,” Ogas said. “So we went through that whole process. We got our re-designation.”

Like other school districts in Valencia County, SODA is handling two new mandates from the New Mexico Department of Education — new graduation requirements and development of a cell phone policy.

PED is requiring districts to add two more graduation requirements for the upcoming school year and Ogas said the school’s governing council settled on adding Spanish and financial literacy.

“A lot of our kids want to enter college,” he said, “and most colleges require two years of a foreign language. Spanish is a natural fit for us. Traditionally, per our constitution, New Mexico is a bilingual state. So making sure that we keep that tradition — that’s why the dual language program for our school is important.”

Ogas said the choice of a financial literacy class aims to teach practical skills, such as managing a checkbook, understanding interest rates and credit scores.

“We wanted to try to do a little bit of that and then give them some, you know, some heads up in that area,” he said “It’s not an all-encompassing kind of deal. It covers basic stuff.”

The requirement for a cell phone policy, which was mandated during the most recent session of the Legislature, was also something the school’s governing council worked on over the last few months.

Ogas said he recognizes the prevalence of electronics in modern life and is shifting towards teaching responsible cell phone use with strict contingencies rather than outright bans.

“We had a long discussion about that,” he said. “Over the years, we’ve tried internally to say, ‘OK, do you just basically not allow cell phones at all on campus?’ That didn’t work, so we’ve dealt with those kinds of things, too.

“We basically came to the decision that let’s see if we can’t just help them learn how to use them responsibly, and then have some very strict contingencies if they don’t.”

The new cell phone policy dovetails nicely with the school’s expanded partnerships in its Early College Education program.

In addition to its existing partnership with UNM-Valenecia, SODA now has partnerships with Central New Mexico Community College, New Mexico State University and New Mexico Tech.

Ogas said Tech is offering a cyber-security class this semester to help educate students and parents on how to use the internet safely.

“New Mexico Tech has liaisons that come out to teach elementary kids, high school kids and parents about the pitfalls of using cell phones and that kind of stuff and cyber-security from their angles,” Ogas said. “We’re really excited about having that.”

He also pointed out that SODA is now a full-fledged community school, acting as a clearinghouse for services such as health, family counseling and other community needs. The school is also committed to improving its STEAM and FFA programs as well as its dual language program for kindergarten through eighth grade, which is unique in the county.

Ogas also mentioned that he will be meeting monthly in a collaboration among superintendents to discuss educational initiatives.

“There’s a lot of really neat conversations going on that, I can tell you, never happened before, ever, you know, in terms of, at that capacity,” he said. “We’re going to continue doing that for a while.”

SODA is hosting an open house day on Thursday, July 31, with classes beginning on Monday, Aug. 4.