Original Research by School Decision on Antonito High School
Antonito High School is the only high school in the South Conejos School District, located in the small town of Antonito in the southern San Luis Valley near the New Mexico border. The town itself has seen a slight population decline in recent years, but has added a new medical clinic, a Family Dollar store, and importantly, the district recently constructed a new junior-senior high school building that integrates educational facilities into the community rather than placing them on a distant campus.
The school serves grades nine through twelve and is very small, with an enrollment that makes it one of the smallest high schools in the region. The student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic, with a very small number of white students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that a large portion of the community faces economic hardship. The town is not a wealthy one; home values in the area are well below both the state and national medians, and Antonito's economy relies heavily on seasonal tourism from the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad and, more recently, on cannabis dispensaries that draw customers from across the state line.
State testing data for Antonito High School was not available, so a parent cannot use proficiency rates from state assessments to gauge academic performance at this school. The graduation rate was also not available in the data provided. For a high school, these are significant gaps in the information families typically use to evaluate a school. Because testing and graduation data are missing, anyone considering this school would want to ask the district or school directly for their most recent academic outcomes and graduation rates.
What is known about the academic environment comes from the district level. The South Conejos School District is in its fourth year of implementing Expeditionary Learning (EL) Education across all grade levels, and this year marks the first full year of that curriculum and pedagogy school-wide. Expeditionary Learning is a project-based, whole-child approach that emphasizes hands-on learning, character development, and community connections. For a small school like Antonito High School, this means every student experiences a consistent, district-wide instructional model that is likely quite different from a traditional lecture-and-textbook approach. Families who value experiential, collaborative learning may find this approach appealing.
At the same time, the district has seen a notable shift in its teaching staff. A number of teachers are now alternatively licensed, long-term substitutes, or J-1 Visa teachers, while a smaller number hold full standard Colorado teaching licenses. This staffing composition means that classroom continuity and the depth of instructional experience may vary more than in a district with a more stable, fully licensed workforce. A parent may want to ask the school how it supports newer or non-traditional teachers and what the turnover rate looks like from year to year.
The school building itself is newly constructed, which is a practical advantage. Civic life in Antonito is modest, centered along the highway corridor and near the town hall. The town has a public library that opened in recent years, and the area is a gateway to outdoor recreation in the Conejos River Canyon. For a family considering this school, the central question is whether the Expeditionary Learning model and a very small, close-knit school environment outweigh the lack of publicly available academic performance data and the staffing challenges the district is navigating.
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