EDUCATION
Proposed charter school teaching Middle Eastern history and AI withdraws application
APS would have voted on the school's charter this week
A proposed charter school that would combine Spanish and Middle Eastern history, architecture and artificial intelligence has withdrawn its application.
Radi Abouelhassan, a resource teacher at Albuquerque Public Schools, submitted his plan to open Andalusia Natural Sciences Academy in front of the APS Board of Education last month. Charters must seek approval before setting up within an existing school district.
According to APS records, the school鈥檚 application was canceled Aug. 4. The Board of Education was originally slated to vote on Andalusia鈥檚 charter at Wednesday鈥檚 meeting.
鈥淭he founding team is now looking at its options for moving forward,鈥 Board President Ronalda Tome-Warito said.
Abouelhassan did not respond to the Journal鈥檚 attempts to reach him.
The school had planned to open for ninth and 10th grades only as soon as August 2027 and enroll grades nine through 12 by its fourth year.
After the presentation in July, board members said they were doubtful the school could attract its target of 400 students by its fourth year amid nationwide enrollment declines. Since 2019, APS enrollment has dropped by more than 16,000 students.
Two Albuquerque charter schools 鈥 Voz Collegiate Preparatory and Equip Academy 鈥 shuttered this summer after school leaders said they were not able to attract enough students to make the schools financially viable. Public and charter schools in New Mexico are funded on a per-student basis.
Andalusia鈥檚 curriculum would have incorporated New Mexico鈥檚 Spanish colonial history, Middle Eastern history and the history of Al-Andalus, the medieval Muslim-ruled territory on the Iberian Peninsula.
Abouelhassan told the board he planned for students to use AI to construct architectural models of buildings and to use 鈥渞eal-world problem solving鈥 in class.
Natalie Robbins covers education for the Journal. You can reach her at nrobbins@abqjournal.com.
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