Los Alamos Reporter

Public Education Department Says More Than 85,000 Students Now Receiving In-Person Learning

PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT NEWS

Fifteen New Mexico school districts and charter schools serving about 7,500 students expanded in-person learning the week beginning March 14, with 14 moving to full-reentry. They are:

MOVED TO FULL REENTRY:

  • Clayton
  • Cloudcroft
  • Dexter
  • Dora
  • Estancia (elementary only)
  • Estancia Valley Classical
  • Eunice
  • Jal
  • Logan
  • Maxwell
  • Moriarty (elementary only)
  • Mountainair
  • Tucumcari
  • Sandoval Academy Bilingual Academy

MOVED FROM REMOTE TO HYBRID:

  • Montessori Elementary and Middle School in Bernalillo

Altogether, 5 percent more students are learning in-person this week than last based on data reported to the Public Education Department, with 68% of school sites reporting. Here is a breakdown:

  • 85,000 out of 317,000 children in classrooms (26.9%)
  • 24,000 out of 51,000 school staff in buildings (46.5%)
  • 14 districts/charter schools in full reentry (7.5%)
  • 139 districts/charter schools in hybrid (74%)

The Public Education Department announced March 8 that all schools are expected to move to full reentry no later than April 5 because it is now safe to do so with protocols in place to limit viral spread. 

VACCINATIONS

All of New Mexico’s nearly 51,000 K-12 educators and school staff are being offered the vaccine between now and March 31. 

Until recently, the Department of Health vaccine registry did not distinguish between pre-K, K-12 and higher education so a precise count of K-12 educators who have been vaccinated is not available. However, about 46,000 (almost 77%) of the nearly 60,000 pre-K through college educators in the registry have received at least one shot, and 16,915 ( 28%) are fully vaccinated.

Surveillance testing of unvaccinated, asymptomatic school staff will continue until all school staff are fully vaccinated. For the week ending March 13, 7,481 on-site school staff members (31.6%) participated in surveillance testing. That is an increase from 7,355 (28.7%) the week previous.

The positivity rate for staff surveillance testing was stable at .1%.

RAPID RESPONSES

To date, no New Mexico public school has been ordered to close for 14 days and return, where appropriate, to remote learning due to COVID-19 spread signified by four or more Rapid Responses in a 14-day period.

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. 

Only the individual school that reached the four-in-14 threshold are required to return to remote learning. Other schools in the same district are not impacted.

In the week ending March 12, 16 school facilities appeared on the Environment Department’s Watchlist, signifying they had at least two Rapid Responses within a 14-day period. 

Those school buildings are:

ALAMOGORDO

  • Mountain View Middle

ALBUQUERQUE:

  • Albuquerque Academy
  • Public Academy for Performing Arts
  • Sandia Preparatory
  • St. Charles Borromeo School
  • Ventana Ranch Elementary

ARTESIA

  • Artesia Park Junior High 
  • Yucca Elementary

CARLSBAD

  • Carlsbad High
  • Carlsbad Intermediate 

CLOUDCROFT

  • Cloudcroft Elementary

FARMINGTON

  • Farmington High

MORIARTY

  • Moriarty Edgewood School Transportation

SANTA FE

  • St. Michaels High

SILVER CITY

  • La Plata Middle

TAOS

  • Taos High