V Sue Cleveland High School

4800 Cleveland Heights Road Northeast

School District

Rio Rancho Public Schools
Grade

9-12
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:20
Type

public

School Map for Rio Rancho Public Schools

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by parent on February 13, 2025

Cleveland High School has created an unsafe and toxic environment for students, where discipline is enforced unfairly, and serious issues are ignored. In less than a year, my son’s academic record has been severely impacted due to excessive suspensions for minor infractions while the administration fails to address real safety concerns.A prime example of this negligence is when a female student physically attacked my son, cutting his neck open. Instead of ensuring justice, the school suspended my son for defending himself, while the aggressor faced no consequences. Despite this serious incident, the administration never contacted me, highlighting their ongoing failure to communicate with parents.The school consistently punishes my son while ignoring cases of bullying and violence. He has been suspended over six times for reasons including being late, defending himself, and associating with the “wrong” peers. Instead of offering support, the school sent him to the Student Support Center, where he was exposed to students engaged in criminal activity. As a result, he was introduced to drugs and alcohol at just 14 years old—an outcome directly linked to the school’s poor handling of discipline and student placement.In addition to these issues, Cleveland High allows students to run and participate in a group chat called “Rio Playhouse,” which promotes inappropriate and dangerous behavior. Despite this chat being reported to both the school and law enforcement, the students responsible still attend Cleveland High without consequences. This further proves the school’s failure to address harmful student behavior while disproportionately punishing others for lesser offenses.To make matters worse, the principal refuses to meet with parents, leaving us without a voice in a school that claims to prioritize student safety. How are parents expected to trust this administration when they continuously ignore major concerns?While Cleveland High may have a strong sports program, the environment it has created is destructive, unsafe, and poorly managed. As an educator myself, I have never had issues with APS, but Rio Rancho Schools has proven to be the worst district I have encountered. No parent should fear sending their child to school, yet Cleveland High has made that fear a reality.
Submitted by parent on August 26, 2024

We had an AWFUL experience, and have heard similar, and worse, from several others. I am all for supporting school staff, particularly after covid where they all took such a beating, but the staff at CHS is terrible to deal with. Teachers that refuse to speak to parents, voicemails left and never get answered, emails sent requesting meetings that get ignored. Teachers can speak to students and parents in whatever way they choose, just make sure you do not defend your child or you will be the one in the wrong. The administration will not even discuss issues, they just speak to their own staff to get their side of the story and decide that is the 1 true reality of what has happened. Seems the school is terrific, as long as you don't question the way the treat your child.
Submitted by parent on May 18, 2024

This high school is beautiful and the staff is caring. Communication is excellent and I always feel well informed of what is happening. I’m also very impressed with their sports programs.
Submitted by parent on August 02, 2023

As a homeowner in this district I have no other choice but to send my children to this school. They failed my child on the very first day of his freshman year. Suspended a child with extreme social anxiety and learning disabilities isn’t helping a child succeed. Please if you move into this district reconsider sending your child to this school. Even if it means driving them to a charter school. The staff will set your child up to fail too.
Submitted by parent on March 27, 2023

This is an amazing school and has a beautiful campus with lots of amenities. It offers many extracurricular activities and promotes school spirit. I'm so pleased with my child's experience here.
Submitted by teacher on May 17, 2022

Athletes and coaches can basically do whatever they want. I mean pretty much anything. It is demeaning for the rest of the staff and students who are held to excessively high standards by this wired (surveillance) school. The administration are unavailable for parent contact. Affentranger and McCarty are also bizarre and difficult people to work with. Again, non-coaches are always under suspicion. The grading policy is ridiculously inflationary, meaning warm bodies get C’s, objective D students often get B’s or even A’s. There are a few (emphasis on few) excellent teachers, so an attentive parent could help a child navigate. I would not want my child going to this school.
Submitted by parent on August 11, 2021

Very pleased with this school. I have had 2 students graduate and two coming up in the ranks. Beautiful campus, great School spirit, academics prepared my students for college, athletics and music program have been a bright spot for my students.
Submitted by parent on December 04, 2018

I suppose that the day-to-day experiences of the students are ok. The school does offer lots of class options and extra-curricular activities.The staff is abysmal. Maybe they're equivalent to other schools in the state ... I wouldn't know. All of my interactions with them have been disappointing. Most recently, I had a change in jobs that moved us out of the state. The real estate market moves at its own pace and our house sold with just a few weeks left in the term. When we told the staff that our student would be leaving, they told us that we couldn't take our student out of school until after their EOC testing was done. They told us that they would not release our student's records for another month so that we could not enroll at any other school. They told us that when they finally did release the records that all the grades would be reduced by 20%. They didn't seem to understand or care that we no longer lived in the state, they were set on doing as much damage to our student as they could.Just a horrible group to have to deal with.
Submitted by other on January 12, 2017

The Administration at this school is terrible! They do not protect your child from bullies! There are also so many drugs circulating at this school, it is honestly out of control! Come on people get with it, this is going on right underneath your noses!!! Bump up the security! Our children are not safe!!!
Submitted by parent on October 26, 2015

This school offers a ton of AP courses and allows the students to be challenged. My daughter as a Senior chose to take 2 AP courses as electives and was challenged. She is now in college and thriving while others she knows who didn't challenge themselves find college extremely hard. The teachers are great, the coaches are great, the school spirit is wonderful and I have a sophomore there right now.
Submitted by parent on March 16, 2014

I have two boys here in 9th and 10th grade. They say that the teachers at Cleveland care about the kids (I have seen this) and they enjoy going to school. My younger son is in ROTC and and band and loves both. They offer a lot of school clubs, school sports, and other things. It's a safe, challenging, and fun school which I believe is what a school should be. I grew up in a nice high school in Michigan but Cleveland is way better than my school in making the kids feel comfortable and keeping the freshmen away from the juniors and seniors. It has 3 floors with the freshman mostly on the first floor, the sophomores mostly on the 2nd (some on the first), and the juniors and seniors are on the 3rd floor. Classes for freshman are in a pod where they can learn the layout without stressing. The principal is a great leader and wants 100% graduation and the kids to be involved. I don't have to visit it much but the times I have been there I find it to be a nice, respectful and fun school where kids can learn and thrive.
Submitted by parent on July 27, 2013

The communication level is ZERO. We were at this school 2 1/2 years and out of few times I called and left messages for various staff members, not ONE SINGLE time did I ever receive a call back. Not one. I always had to make a trip to the school to actually get a response. This was event coordinators, athletic department, prom coordinators, and once, even the principals office. There are a few teachers in Cleveland that are superior, but I think more of them get lost in the masses. I understand they are a newer school and are still trying to figure out the learning curve, but for example, high school graduation you are not allowed to bring in any kind of photo's or posters to congratulate your child while walking across the stage? They are not allowed to "toss" their caps, they are not allowed to cheer too loud...come on now. This is a once in a life time event for these students. Lighten up a little staff. Not so welcoming to new parents that want to be involved. Good things: new school and facility, front desk secretaries are outstanding at their job, great sports teams.
Submitted by parent on March 05, 2013

My son is in his 3rd year at Cleveland High School. It is a really great environment. My daughter had gone to Rio Rancho High and Cleveland by far exceeds Rio Rancho High.
Submitted by parent on February 11, 2013

My son has just started as a freshman at this school and we have been quite pleased. The facility is top notch, the way the classes are organized by floors (freshman on the bottom, sophomores on the 2nd floor and juniors and seniors on the top) has really eased the transition. My son loves his teachers and finds they are creative in teaching the material to keep it fun and engaging. I will say, he attended the Cyber Academy before attending here and now the curriculum is all review for him- it's pretty easy and he is getting 95-110 on everything. Fortunately, they offer a LOT of AP classes, and he is really enjoying having engineering offered to freshmen!
Submitted by parent on November 29, 2012

I am very surprised with the low reviews. My daughter is a freshman there and I always find the staff helpful. It is all in the ATTITUDE you give as to what you get. I do observations at schools all over Rio Rancho and especially the high schools and have never had an issue. It can be a bit unorganized but with only 2 high schools for all of these kids it can be overwhelming for the staff as well. And remember these are teenagers they are dealing with!
Submitted by other on October 17, 2012

Very unorganized and chaotic. The communication and planning is terrible and all information is received at the last possible minute through rumors and word of mouth. I graduated from here and am still dealing with them because they can't seem to get it together. The staff was, and still is, very rude to me whenever I need something. The only way I can get them to help me is to have a parent call or to have another teacher talk to the person I needed. This made preparing for graduation and college very frustrating.There were a select few that I could count on when it came to the staff and if it weren't for them I would have never received any help from the rest of them. Also, most of the staff are snobs and have no respect for their students. I was a good kid, got good grades and was very respectful and responsible but was treated like garbage. This school only cares about it's athletes and pushes all the other students under the rug. They definitely play favorites at this school and if your not a favorite, then good luck getting any kind of help or support as a student! They reward laziness, bad behavior and students who are "popular".