Children and students in New Mexico who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing will become lifelong learners and contributing, well-rounded successful individuals in an increasingly global society.
The mission of the New Mexico School for the Deaf (NMSD), New Mexico’s first public school, is to provide for the unique needs of children and students who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing, their families and professional partners by providing a comprehensive array of school and statewide programs.
Dear NMSD Community and Friends,
As this annual report reflects upon the 2024–2025 school year, I am reminded once again of the many ways NMSD continues to represent “hope made into reality.”
This past year, our middle school robotics team earned the title of State Champions, and our students excelled in athletics and activities on a national level. These visible successes make us proud and remind us of what is possible when talent, teamwork, and opportunity come together.
Yet, the accomplishments that are truly the most important are often the ones that go unseen.
• A child learning to add single digits
• A student writing their first story in English
• Another learning a new sign to express their thoughts
• Students grappling with chemical compounds
• A group of students figuring out how to work together
These classroom moments are the victories that happen every day at NMSD and form the foundation for all the big ones that follow.
Each of our graduates leaves NMSD ready to take on the next stage of life, with confidence, resilience, and a strong sense of self. That readiness is the result of the collective care, skill, and commitment of every staff member, family, and community partner including legislators who believe in the potential of our students.
As we look ahead, may we continue to celebrate not only the trophies and titles, but the daily moments of growth that make our mission come alive. Thank you for your ongoing support of our school.
With gratitude and pride,
Jennifer Herbold, Ph.D. Superintendent
Dear NMSD Community and Friends,
Every year at NMSD tells its own story, and 2025 has been one of connection and renewal. Students have stepped forward as leaders, staff have embraced new ways to collaborate, and families and partners have continued to offer steadfast support. This shared purpose carries our school forward with strength and unity.
This year, we proudly celebrated the 140th anniversary of NMSD, New Mexico’s first public school—a reminder of how far we’ve come and how deeply our mission still matters. That legacy lives on in the energy of our students, the dedication of our staff, and the strong bonds within our community.
As our campus evolves—honoring history while creating new opportunities—we’re reminded that NMSD is both rooted in tradition and alive with possibility. Storytelling remains central to our culture, connecting generations and keeping our heritage vibrant.
Our ongoing strategic planning and community conversations remind us that growth brings both challenge and opportunity. What stands out most is the creativity, resilience, and commitment of our students and staff.
As Regents, it is our honor to walk beside Dr. Herbold and her team in upholding the vision and values that make NMSD a place of learning, connection, and lifelong growth. The story of this year reflects both progress and heritage— celebrating those who came before us while embracing the future with gratitude and anticipation.
Kristin Mora
The NMSD Early Intervention Program frontloads services to the most critical developmental time—infancy and toddlerhood. Early identification and intervention help Deaf and Hard of Hearing children stay on a typical developmental path. Early intervention lasts a lifetime!
2024-2025
The Outreach team partners with public and charter schools to support educational programs for students who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Educational Consultants attend IEP meetings, provide consultation and professional development, and offer ASL services within school settings. In 2024–2025, these supports were available to all public and charter schools serving students who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
Preschool locations: Albuquerque, Farmington, Las Cruces, and Santa Fe
K-12: Santa Fe
Accredited academic instruction is provided along with a wide range of support services.
Instruction follows standards, guidelines and requirements put forth by the New Mexico Public Education Department with the addition of classes specifically geared for Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing children.
247 children 2024-2025
On the Santa Fe campus, this also includes:
• Residential Services
• Student Organizations
• After-school Activities
• Athletics
210 children
Statewide Educational Outreach:
Customized services for students attending public and charter schools are provided. The services include but are not limited to the following:
• ASL Interpreter training and mentoring
• Spoken language supports, training and consultation for SLPs
• IEP attendance and consultation on the addendum for Deaf and Hard of Hearing children
• Instructional guidance, student observations, ASL instruction and professional development for teachers
• Student evaluations as appropriate
• Provided follow-up support for Children’s Medical Services to ensure that timely services are delivered for the 21,000 newborns screened in New Mexico each year
• Provided hearing screening trainings to ECECD FIT agencies enabling them to screen over 16,000 IDEA Part C children per year
• Provided direct services to 258 families, longterm consultation to 123 families, and short-term consultation to 119 families or agencies
• Developed New Mexico’s first, and so far only, Tele-audiology Diagnostic program that enables the diagnosis of babies where rural location and lack of resources make diagnosis difficult
Statewide Educational Outreach:
We provide additional consultation and supports to nationwide and statewide agencies on topics relevant to Deaf and Hard of Hearing children and adults.
NMSD serves as the only comprehensive and directly accessible hub in the state for the New Mexico Deaf and Hard of Hearing community to participate in or attend activities and events such as performing arts, athletic programs and academic competitions.
NMSD is also the largest employer of Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals, including those with additional disabilities, in the state.
Instruction 2024 – 2025: 210
Santa Fe: Preschool to 12th Grade
Albuquerque, Farmington & Las Cruces: Preschools
Outreach 2024 – 2025: 266
Support to school districts and families
Early Intervention 2024 – 2025: 247
Home visiting services for children ages birth - six
Total Served 2024 – 2025: 723 * *758 services provided. 35 students served by both Early Intervention and our Preschools
The first years of a child’s life are the most critical to their lifelong development. Language and cognitive growth happen so quickly that by the time an infant is just 3 months old, they are already responding to a person’s voice and/or signing. At lightning speed, by the time a child is 5 years old, their conversation should be much like an adult's. This is why NMSD is dedicated to providing necessary services to infants, toddlers, and their families during this pivotal time of their life.
Some of the ways NMSD Early Intervention served families across New Mexico during the 2024-2025 fiscal year included:
• Direct services to 247 families through 4,243 home visits
• 259,952 miles traveled to provide services
• Consistent family-to-family events within regions
• Ongoing, consultative support to 112 children
• Short-term consultation to agencies and/or families
Additional crucial statewide supports provided by NMSD Early Intervention:
• Assistance to the Department of Health with follow-up to any of the state’s 21,000 newborns referring on their hearing screening
• Trainings to ECECD’s Part C and Head Start providers enabling them to screen over 16,000 children
• Diagnosis of numerous babies in rural New Mexico through the NMSD Teleaudiology Diagnostic Program. This is New Mexico’s first (and so far, only) remote hearing-diagnostic testing program. NMSD has 5 other rural teleaudiology hearing-testing clinics in process for 2025-2026
Statewide Educational Outreach partners with schools, families, and communities across New Mexico to support the success of Deaf and Hard of Hearing students. Our multidisciplinary team provides consultation, mentoring, and training to administrators, educators, interpreters, speech-language pathologists, service providers, and families to build strong language access and inclusive learning environments.
Educational Consultation: 2,166 checkins with school staff (525 with families); participation in 112 IEPs (75 focused on the Addendum for Students who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing Communication Considerations); 246 school visits; and 15 statewide or district-wide trainings provided.
ASL Programs: 1,027 ASL mentoring sessions in 23 districts, 62 in-home lessons, and 41 virtual sessions. 227 participants in the fall and spring ASL classes and 126 participants in the Summer ASL Immersion program at NMSD.
Interpreter Mentoring: 69 meetings with provisional interpreters across 3 districts, 85.5 hours of statewide support, 14.5 CEUs awarded, and 7 district or statewide PD opportunities, including a mental health series for K–12 classrooms.
Speech Languaage Pathology (SLP) Support: 183 consultations for 78 Deaf and Hard of Hearing students, 18 collaborative meetings with Educational Consultants, and support for 9 IEPs from an SLP perspective, with 4 CEUs awarded to 32 SLPs statewide.
Evaluations: 8 comprehensive evaluations completed on-site at NMSD. Our work strengthens connections among educators, families, and communities to ensure meaningful access and success for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students.
At NMSD, communication is our focus. We strive to give students optimal access to language and learning using a Bilingual (ASL and English) and a Bimodal (Signed and Spoken) approach.
Our staff include a variety of specialists: audiologists, speech language pathologists (SLPs), licensed and trained teachers of the Deaf, educational assistants, fluent users of ASL and Deaf professionals.
Early Childhood Education (ECE)
• Preschools continued to operate at our Albuquerque, Farmington and Santa Fe locations.
• Inspired by Reggio Emilia principles for authentic handson learning, we created an environment for language-rich communication opportunities.
• Spoken language and listening were supported by various models responsive to each child, such as Spoken Language classes and groups, individual speech language therapy, aural habilitation, and reading and writing.
• Students continued to use Handwriting without Tears, typing and letter recognition practice.
Elementary Education
• Curricular programming continued to align with New Mexico State Standards.
• Teachers continued implementing the Social Emotional Learning curriculum, Harmony, as part of their instruction.
• Our ASL and ELA teachers continued using the Bilingual Grammar Curriculum (BGC) to strengthen grammar instruction through printed English and American Sign Language. In addition, we introduced a new ELA curriculum, HMH Into Reading, which provides structured, research-based lessons designed to build reading comprehension, vocabulary, and writing skills.
• The Kiwanis' K-Kids Club continued for its third year with the 4th/5th grade class, providing students with opportunities to strengthen leadership skills and develop service projects to benefit their community.
59 students were enrolled in 3 ECE programs across 10 districts
91% of ECE students used hearing devices
86% of Elementary students were day students while 14% were residents
Our robotics team competed in the NM State VEX IQ Robotics tournament with 15 other schools. They earned the event’s top honor—the Excellence Award— recognizing their strong team interview, engineering notebook, robot skills score, and state championship win. The team was invited to the world competition in Dallas, where students had the amazing experience of meeting and learning from teams from around the globe.
High School International Studies students spent two unforgettable weeks in Japan, exploring Tokyo’s vibrant streets and Kyoto’s historic shrines. They immersed themselves in culture, tradition, and modern innovation through food, exchanges, and unique experiences. The trip was more than sightseeing—it was a meaningful glimpse into Japanese life, and students truly enjoyed it!
High School students have many club opportunities. This year, Stock Market and Chess clubs were added. In the Stock Market Game, students practice investing while competing with peers across New Mexico. The Chess team attended the national deaf chess tournament at the American School for the Deaf, competing with other deaf schools and programs. Both provided valuable learning experiences.
A group of High School students were selected to serve on the NMSD Student Compassionate Systems cohort group. The students attended training online and traveled to Boston, Massachusetts for this. Our students led youth council projects working with youth from all over the world. The students will help lead the upcoming compassionate systems training at NMSD in the fall of 2025.
National Writing and ASL Competitions hosted by Gallaudet University
Congratulations to the following students for earning recognition in different categories!
• Jesse Crespin - HS Poetry – Honorable Mention
• Kimora Vollmar - HS Poetry – Honorable Mention
• Liam Mohan-Litchfield - Elementary ABC/Number Stories – Honorable Mention
NMSD’s Whole Child Support Team (WCST) aided our students in participating fully in their educational environment by addressing academic, social and personal growth. WCST included speech-language pathologists, audiologists, occupational therapists, a physical therapist, a school psychologist, as well as the Student Support Team (SST) counselors and art therapist. The Health Center was staffed by a pediatric nurse practitioner and registered nurses.
Therapy and Evaluation Services
WCST provided therapy services both in-person and virtually. Students were evaluated in all academic areas. Staff trained to improve support for language skills in Deaf and Hard of Hearing students, as well as DeafBlind students. SST provided team building, suicide prevention, support for marginalized students and yoga-mindfulness training.
Audiology Services
Our audiologists provided comprehensive hearing evaluations and services for students, such as device checks, new earmolds and consultation. Audiologists represented NMSD in outreach initiatives.
Health Center
Health Center staff provided medications, treatments, sports physicals and screenings. Staff offered health education to students, support staff and families, as well as CPR and First Aid classes for NMSD staff and coaches.
85% of NMSD students received at least one related service
73% of students across all campuses used hearing devices
180+ student evaluations completed 6000+ hours of related services
Our Residential Program offered many opportunities for students to enhance leisure skills, develop independent living abilities, and explore new interests. Through structured activities and daily experiences, 446 recreational and life-skills events were implemented across five cottages—reflecting our commitment to fostering confidence, growth, and lifelong skills.
Our Transportation Department managed a total of 12 daily routes and 18 weekend routes across the state to serve our Albuquerque and Santa Fe campuses. Due to increasing enrollment in our Albuquerque preschool, we have now dedicated a full-time Transportation Program Assistant to coordinate all transportation operations for that location, ensuring smooth and efficient service.
Our Nutrition Services team provided free breakfast and lunch for all students, plus dinner for residential students and day students in after-school activities. To improve meal quality and appeal, a student preference survey guided the creation of a new meal cycle reflecting students’ tastes. This annual spring tradition helps keep our menus fresh and student-focused.
This summer, we held our annual New Mexico Challenge summer camp. Activities for students ages 18 months through 2nd grade included swimming in the lake, rock climbing, creative arts, friendship building, language enrichment, and more. Students in 3rd–8th grades attended camp in Aspen, Colorado, where they enjoyed exploring nature, swimming, hiking, whitewater rafting, archery, fishing, paddleboarding, panning for gold, campfire stories, leadership development, and team building. The campers returned home with lifelong memories.
45 residential students
32 day students served
76% of Santa Fe students and 47% of Albuquerque students received transportation services
9,623 breakfasts served (Santa Fe Campus)
12,693 lunches served (Santa Fe Campus)
3 major community events:
• Mini Zozobra
• Mexican Independence Day
• Roadrunner Celebration Day
During the 2024–2025 academic year, our school proudly supported eight different sports, fielding a total of 14 teams across grades 6–12. The success of our athletics program continues to be rooted in the dedication of our staff who step up to coach. Teachers, Student Life Educators, specialists, and others contribute their time and talent to ensure our students have opportunities to compete and grow.
Athletics remain an essential part of our students’ educational experience. Participation teaches teamwork, discipline, and sportsmanship. Those are skills and values that extend beyond the playing field and support our students’ personal growth, leadership, and future success.
Volleyball: Great Plains Schools for the Deaf Conference Champions for the third year in a row, ACE Champions, and Spike Out Consolation Champs. Recognized as the National Deaf Interscholastic Athletic Association (NDIAA) Division II Team of the Year and one of our players received the NDIAA Volleyball Player of the Year. The team was invited to the state tournament.
6 Man Football: Made it to the state playoffs.
Girls basketball: Roadrunner Classic Champions and Great Plains Schools for the Deaf Conference Champions for the first time since we joined in 2007.
Boys Basketball: Roadrunner Classic Champions and Clerc Classic Consolation Champions.
Battle of the Books: Qualified for the National competition and flew to Gallaudet University in DC to participate.
Academic Bowl: Roadrunner Classic Champions.
Cheerleading: One of our players received the National Deaf Cheer Competition Cheerleader of the Year award.
Track and Field: For the Berg-Seeger event, one athlete had a first place finish in the High Jump while another placed 3rd in the 100 and 200m. For the State Championships, 8 athletes qualified and one finished 4th in the 100 and 200m events.
2024-2025 Expenditures
2024-2025 Income Sources
$17,208,919 Land Grant Permanent Fund & Land Maintenance Fund
$6,015,900 State Appropriations
$ 2,421,532 Capital Outlay Funds $ 1,788,618 Restricted Funds / Other Revenues (Medicaid/Navajo Nation/IDEA B/DOH/JPAs)
"Ahéhee' NMSD Early Intervention shí'awéé' shá nda'nołtinígíí" [Navajo]
"Thank you NMSD Early Intervention for teaching me and my child."
~ The Bunion Family in Kirtland
NMSD holds Certificates of Accreditation from the Conference of Educational Administrators of Schools and Programs for the Deaf (CEASD).
Rate of transition to postsecondary education, vocational-technical training school, junior colleges, work training or employment for graduates based on a three-year rolling average.
Percent of Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meetings that address special factors of language and communication.
Percent of students from grades K-12 with IEP goals in reading and/or math demonstrating progress as documented by quarterly IEP progress reports.
Percent of students from grades K-12 with IEP goals in reading and/or math demonstrating progress as documented by quarterly IEP progress reports.
Percent of LEA (Local Education Agency) staff satisfied with educational services from Statewide Educational Outreach.
Percent of parents indicating that programs from the Statewide Educational Outreach have increased their ability to understand their child’s language and communication access needs.
For NMSD’s Early Intervention Program, percentage of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part C Early Intervention Performance Indicators that are met. (Performance indicators are outlined by the Office of Special Education Programs and adopted by the New Mexico Department of Health).
