Monte del Sol Charter School Receives National Civic Star Award

(Santa Fe, NM)— At the recent American Association of School Administrators (AASA) conference in San Antonio, Monte del Sol Charter School in Santa Fe, New Mexico received a National Civic Star Award.

Monte del Sol is the first charter school in the nation to receive this award and the only public school in New Mexico to be recognized with this award. The AASA conference has been awarding this recognition for the past three years to schools and school districts that develop exemplary school-community partnerships.

Secretary Veronica C. García said, “When parents and community work together with students to help reach educational goals, anything is possible. Exciting new developments in Public Schools are taking place. The achievements of Monte del Sol Charter School represent one example of a school-community partnership that I hope other public schools in New Mexico will follow. I congratulate the visionary staff and teachers of Monte del Sol Charter School for setting high standards and showing their students, through their exemplary mentorship program, that learning can occur beyond the traditional classroom setting.”

Monte del Sol was founded in 2000 as a public school serving grades 7 - 12. The school has a two-year graduation requirement called Mentorship. All graduates must complete a mentorship assignment with an adult in the community in such areas as: performing and visual arts, science (through Los Alamos Labs), athletics, and sustainability (e.g. earth care, inc. or eco diversity). These two-year mentorship programs have become very successful with benefits throughout the community.

For additional information about the charter school you can contact the head master (Tony Gerlicz) at tgerlicz@montedelsol.org