Deming Public Schools

Deming Public Schools is a public school district headquartered in Deming, New Mexico, United States.

The district serves the city of Deming and the village of Columbus as well as other areas in Luna County.[1]

Services to residents of Palomas, Chihuahua

Deming Public Schools buses U.S. citizen students residing in Mexico (including the city of Palomas) from the United States-Mexico border to Columbus Elementary and to upper grades in Deming. As of the 2013–2014 school year, 421 residents of Palomas attend the schools of Deming Public Schools. Many children living in Palomas are U.S. citizens because the U.S. federal and New Mexico state policies allow women in Palomas to give birth in the nearest hospital, which is in Deming, on the U.S. side of the border. Being born in the United States automatically confers citizenship. Due to the school fees at the public schools in Palomas, the English-language education, and the higher quality facilities in the Deming Public Schools campuses, many parents resident in Palomas prefer to send their children to the schools in the United States.[2]

To avoid having children travel down a two-lane road, the superintendent of the Deming Public Schools ordered school buses to park at the border.[3] Many of the parents of these students are unable to get visas into the United States and therefore are unable to travel to their children's schools or attend school functions. Viridiana Chacon , the principal of Columbus Elementary, used Skype to communicate with parents living in Mexico.[2]

The first border crossings to American schools began in 1949.[3] The tradition began when the principal of the elementary school in Columbus allowed children of one father living in Mexico to send his children to the school, and the school district began accepting students living in Mexico. At first, the district allowed non-U.S. citizens to attend. Around the 1970s Luna County began requiring U.S. citizenship in order for children to attend schools, but the district continued accepting children not living in Luna County.[2]

Schools

All schools,[4] except for Columbus Elementary, are located in Deming. Columbus Elementary is located in Columbus, New Mexico.

Zoned schools
  • Deming Intermediate School (6)
  • Red Mountain Middle School (7-8)
  • Hofacket Mid-High School (9-12)
  • Deming High School (9-12)

Charter schools
  • Deming Cesar Chavez Charter High School (9-12)

Alternative schools
  • Secure School (9-12)
  • Alternative High School (10-12)

3/4DD and K-6
  • Columbus Elementary School (K-6)
    • Of the district's schools, this one is the closest to the United States-Mexico border. As of 2013, the school has 570 students. The school uses a dual immersion program where classes are taught in a pattern where they are entirely English in one day and entirely in Spanish in another day. Almost 75% of the school's students live in Palomas, Chihuahua and have parents who are Mexicans. Almost all of the students are classified as English learners. About 94% of the students are classified as low income.[2]

K-5
  • Bataan Elementary School
  • Bell Elementary School
  • Chaparral Elementary School
  • Memorial Elementary School
  • Ruben S Torres Elementary School

3/4DD
  • My Little School

School Quality Scores

The State of New Mexico Public Education Department rates all school districts on a scale of A through F.
Scores for this district can be found at this web site:
http://aae.ped.state.nm.us/

References
  1. "School Board Districts" (Archive). Deming Public Schools. Retrieved on February 25, 2014.
  2. Layton, Lyndsey. "Children cross Mexican border to receive a U.S. education." The Washington Post. September 20, 2013. Retrieved on February 28, 2014.
  3. Miller, Robert. Literacy Instruction in Mexico. Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, April 1, 2003. ISBN 0873678435, 9780873678438. p. 103. "Since 1949 Mexicans have been crossing the border to attend schools in the Deming Public School District in New Mexico. In fact, the superintendent ordered the school buses to park on the U.S. side of the border crossing so that the students would not have to walk on a two-lane road to the school."
  4. "Deming Public Schools". Retrieved 10 February 2014.


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