Los Alamos Reporter

Public Education Department Announces 10 Schools ON COVID-19 Watchlist

PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT NEWS

Ten New Mexico public school buildings appeared on the COVID-19 Watchlist in the holiday-shortened week ending Thursday, Dec. 31, signifying they had at least two Rapid Responses within a 14-day period. 

Those schools are:

BELEN

  • Gil Sanchez Elementary

FRUITLAND

  • Ojo Amarillo Elementary

KIRTLAND

  • Judy Nelson Elementary

RIO RANCHO

  • Cleveland High

ROSWELL

  • Berrendo Elementary
  • Goddard High School
  • Military Heights Elementary

SHIPROCK

  • Eva B. Stokely Elementary
  • Shiprock Transportation

WAGON MOUND

  • Wagon Mound 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.