
PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT NEWS
Forty-five New Mexico public school buildings appeared on the COVID-19 Watchlist in the week ending Friday, Dec. 18, signifying they had at least two Rapid Responses within a 14-day period.
Those schools are:
ALBUQUERQUE
- Cibola High
- Cleveland Middle
- Helen Cordero Primary
- James Monroe
- La Cueva High
- Reginald Chavez Elementary
ANTHONY
- Gadsden High
ARTESIA
- Artesia High
- Grand Heights Early Childhood
- Roselawn Elementary
BELEN
- BCS-Student Nutrition
- Gil Sanchez Elementary
- Rio Grande Elementary
CARLSBAD
- Carlsbad Intermediate
CLAYTON
- Alvis Elementary
- Clayton High
CLOVIS
- Clovis High
- Clovis High School Freshman Academy
ESPANOLA
- Española Valley High
EUNICE
- Mettie Jordan Elementary
FARMINGTON
- McCormick Elementary
- Piedra Vista High
FRUITLAND
- Ojo Amarillo Elementary
GALLUP
- Del Norte Elementary
- Gallup Central Alternative
- Hozho Academy
- Indian Hills Elementary
- Tobe Turpen Elementary
HATCH
- Hatch Valley High
HOBBS
- Sanger Elementary
KIRTLAND
- Central High
LAS CRUCES
- Las Cruces Public Schools administrative office
LAS VEGAS
- Las Vegas City School
LOVINGTON
- Ben Alexander Elementary
NEWCOMB
- Newcomb High
OJO CALIENTE
- Mesa Vista High
PORTALES
- Portales High
ROSWELL
- Missouri Ave Elementary
- Roswell High
RUIDOSO
- Ruidoso Middle
SANTA FE
- New Mexico Connections Academy
- Santa Fe High
SHIPROCK
- Eva B. Stokely Elementary
- Nizhoni Elementary
- Shiprock High
During that same period, no schools were placed on the Closure List.
The Watchlist, maintained by the New Mexico Environment Department, includes schools and businesses with two or more Rapid Responses within 14 days. Those with four or more Rapid Responses in 14 days are placed on the Closure List and required to close and, where appropriate, return instruction to remote-only learning.
A Rapid Response is a series of interventions designed to prevent COVID-19 spread, beginning when the New Mexico Department of Health notifies a school that an employee or student has a confirmed positive case and was on campus/in the facility during the infectious period. Read the complete COVID-19 Rapid Response Watchlist here.
If a public school is required to close because it has four or more Rapid Responses in a 14-day period, it must remain in remote-only learning mode until its county is in the green zone — a Department of Health distinction signifying acceptable control of the virus. See the map here.
Only the individual school that reached the four-in-14 threshold would be required to return to remote learning. That means a school district could have one school closed for in-person learning, another on the Watchlist, and others with no impact.