PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
Twenty-four New Mexico school buildings appeared on the COVID-19 Watchlist in the week ending Friday, Feb. 26, signifying they had at least two Rapid Responses within a 14-day period.
Those school buildings are:
ALAMOGORDO
- Alamogordo High
- New Mexico School for the Blind
ALBUQUERQUE:
- Albuquerque High
- APS Student Transportation
- Hoover Middle
- Hope Christian High School
- Jimmy Carter Middle
- Lavaland Elementary
ARTESIA
- Grand Heights Early Childhood
CARLSBAD
- Carlsbad High
- Carlsbad Intermediate
- Desert Willow Elementary
DEMING
- Red Mountain Middle
HOBBS
- Mills Elementary
JEMEZ PUEBLO
- Jemez Valley Elementary
RIO RANCHO
- Cleveland High
- Ernest Stapleton Elementary
- Maggie Cordova Elementary
- Rio Rancho Elementary
- Rio Rancho High
- Sandia Vista Elementary
- Shining Stars Preschool
RUIDOSO
- Ruidoso High
SILVER CITY
- La Plata Middle
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 school has four rapid responses in a 14-day period, it must close and remain in remote-only learning mode for 14 days.
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.