In 1958, Barbara Young Simms began to investigate the possibility of starting a girls day school in Albuquerque. In 1965, she secured land, established a board of trustees and formed the Sandía School, a nonsectarian school. In late January 1966, the Rev. Paul G. Saunders, an Episcopal priest, was selected headmaster and, later that year, the school opened. The year began with 75 students in grades 5 through 10, and finished with 82 students. In 1969, Orell Phillips served as interim headmaster while the school's board searched for a new head. In 1970, Mose Hale became third headmaster. Three years later, Sandía School became coeducational. In 1974, Elton Knutson was selected as fourth headmaster. The school began to refer to itself as Sandia Preparatory School and expanded to a coeducational school during the 1974-75 academic year. Fifth-grade classes were discontinued in the 1985-86 school year. For the next academic year, Dick Heath joined Sandia Prep as its fifth headmaster. Since its founding in 1966, Sandia Prep has grown from a girls' school serving 82 students in three buildings to a coeducational institution serving 670 students at its maximum in multiple buildings and facilities that fill a campus. The first graduating class in 1969 consisted of six girls, and has risen to roughly 100. Sandia Prep is "descended" from the original Sandía School, a private day and boarding school for girls founded by Ruth Hanna McCormick in 1932. Its first year, Sandía School held classes for five students and one teacher in a private house where Manzano Day School is now located. The school was formed in part to help prepare girls for further study or college in the Eastern United States. In 1937, the school moved to a new permanent campus. Mrs. Simms commissioned architect John Gaw Meem to design the school complex in the territorial style. By 1938, the school had 75 students, nine of whom were boarders, and 18 faculty. In 1942, due to World War II, Sandía School closed. A number of alumnae from the first Sandía School actively participated in the organization of the current Sandia Prep School.
Curriculum
Sandia Prep is an independent school and does not accept funding from the district, state, or federal government; therefore it is not restricted by policies put in place by those entities. They do not have to follow a prescribed curriculum, but instead are able to create a more rigorous curriculum. The school has a rotating schedule of six days lettered A-F. There are eight periods, six or seven of which are featured in a school day.
Facilities
Sandia Prep encompasses 30 acres, including 5 sports fields, 4 tennis courts, and a newly renovated track and soccer stadium. There are 16 campus buildings totaling 171,496 square feet. These buildings include over 50 classrooms and administrative offices, three computer labs, the SPACE, art studios, a photo lab, the Center for Learning Excellence, storage and offices for the Outdoor Leadership Program, Saunders Library, the Russell Student Center with the Prep Cafe, a dance room, a rehearsal room, and the 300+ seat McCall Family Theater. Athletic Facilities - Sandia Prep recently completed a $1 Million+ renovation of its track and soccer stadium. As well, the School has an additional soccer field, one baseball field, one softball field, and four tennis courts. The campus includes two gyms: the West Gym that seats 600 people in the bleachers and can be configured for four basketball courts or four volleyball courts and the Field House, which built in 2008, includes the 850-seat gymnasium, a weight room, multipurpose room, locker rooms, offices, and spacious lobby area. Observatory - Sandia Prep is the only high school in New Mexico that has its own observatory.
