PED News:
SANTA FE – The New Mexico Public Education Department (PED) announced today that 59 New Mexico public school buildings appeared on the COVID-19 Watchlist in the week ending today, Nov. 27.
A public school building being placed on the Watchlist signifies that it had at least two Rapid Responses within a 14-day period:
ALBUQUERQUE
- Bel-Air Elementary
- Chaparral Elementary
- Cibola High
- La Cueva High
- Mission Avenue Elementary
- Rio Grande High
- Robert F. Kennedy Charter
- Zia Elementary
- Sunset Mesa School
ANTHONY
- Gadsden Middle School
- Gadsden Independent School District Physical Plant
BELEN
- Belen Consolidated Schools Administrative Office
- Belen Middle School
CARLSBAD
- Carlsbad High
- Monterrey Elementary
CLOVIS
- Cameo Elementary
- La Casita Elementary
- Parkview Elementary
DEMING
- Deming Intermediate
- Red Mountain Middle School
ESPAÑOLA
- Española Valley High
- Eutimio Salazar Elementary
- Española Public School District administrative office
FARMINGTON
- Northeast Elementary
FRUITLAND
- Ojo Amarillo Elementary
GALLUP
- Del Norte Elementary
- Jefferson Elementary
- Twin Lakes Elementary
HOBBS
- Edison Elementary
- Hobbs High
- Hobbs Schools administrative offices
KIRTLAND
- Kirtland Central High School
- Kirtland Elementary
- Kirtland Middle
LAS CRUCES
- Las Cruces Public Schools administrative office
LOVINGTON
- Jefferson Middle
- Taylor Middle
MILAN
- Milan Elementary
MOUNTAINAIR
- Mountainair Elementary
NEWCOMB
- Newcomb High
PORTALES
- Brown Early Childhood Center
- Portales High
RIO RANCHO
- Vista Grande Elementary
ROSWELL
- Berrendo Elementary
- Berrendo Middle
- Monterrey Elementary
- Nancy Lopez Elementary
- Roswell High
- Sierra Middle
- Washington Avenue Elementary
SANTA FE
- Chaparral Elementary
- Nina Otera Community School
- Pojoaque Intermediate
SHIPROCK
- Career Prep Alternative
- Central Consolidated School
- Eva B. Stokely Elementary
TATUM
- Tatum Elementary
ZUNI
- Shiwi Ts’Ana Elementary
- Zuni Bus Barn
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.
