Los Alamos Public Schools to close Loyola online academy after enrollment falls

Superintendent Miss Skye announced at the April 15 board meeting that Los Alamos Public Schools will close Los Alamos Online Academy (Loyola) for the 2025–26 school year because the program’s enrollment has fallen too low to sustain a high-quality, compliant model.

"We are gonna have to close Los Alamos Online Academy next school year," Miss Skye said. She told the board that only nine students are committed to return and that two of those are “on the fence,” spread across four grade levels. She cited the New Mexico Public Education Department requirement of 5.5 hours of instruction per day as a key operational constraint: "Meeting the PED requirements of 5 and a half hours of instruction each day, it has just become very difficult to sustain that model in a high quality way," she said.

The district said it will work directly with families to find alternatives and to help staff transition. Miss Skye said district staff have contacted Pecos Academy and Connections Academy so families who want to remain in online schooling can apply to those state-sponsored programs. The district also plans administrative placements for the two Loyola teachers who remain on staff so they do not have to reapply for new positions.

Public commenters urged the district to prioritize supports for students affected by the closure. Jackie Carroll, who identified herself as a Los Alamos resident and grandparent, said her grandchild had found Loyola to be "a safe place to get an education where they felt safe and structured and really good," and urged the board to ensure alternative placements preserve that safety and structure.

Board members asked clarifying questions about whether the district had considered turning Loyola into a program that accepts students from other districts. Miss Skye said the district has explored broader or statewide models in prior years but would need a separate application to the state and significant changes to staffing and platform if it were to serve students beyond Los Alamos. She said that, although community interest has surfaced in the past, the district does not have the staff bandwidth to make that kind of program shift in time for next school year.

The district framed the closure as a step to preserve educational quality rather than an end to online options: staff said they will keep the model available to rebuild if demand grows and will help families transition to available state-sponsored online programs.

No formal board action on the school’s closure was recorded at the meeting; the superintendent recorded the decision on the public record and invited follow-up discussion with affected families and staff.