APS reverses course: Testing will be voluntary

Superintendent says it is still important

Spring-sport athletes in Albuquerque Public Schools may decline to be tested for COVID-19 without fear of having their playing privileges stripped from them.

That was the message Thursday from APS Superintendent Scott Elder in a letter he sent to principals and athletic directors of the district’s 13 high schools, informing them of APS’ abrupt change in policy.

“While we are within our rights to require testing, it wasn’t the state’s intent to penalize students who choose not to be tested,” Elder wrote in the letter obtained by the Journal. He also cited some public outcry as reason for the change.

“If surveillance testing (for COVID-19) helps, then we should participate. However, we don’t want to create unnecessary tension within our school communities,” Elder wrote.

He added: “Therefore, we will no longer require athletes to participate in surveillance testing. Instead, we will use an opt-in process similar to what we are using for the total student population.”

Thursday’s Journal outlined how APS was planning to tie testing to participation in a spring sport. A letter dated Monday, written by district AD Kenny Barreras and addressed to springsport athletes and their families, said the athletes in those five traditional spring sports — baseball, softball, track and field, golf and tennis — would be prohibited from playing if they declined to be tested for COVID.

But an email from New Mexico Activities Association executive director Sally Marquez, obtained by the Journal and sent to the state’s ADs earlier this month, explicitly said athletes “cannot be denied the opportunity to play” if they didn’t want to be tested.

“It is voluntary for students and they cannot be denied the opportunity to play if they refuse to be tested,” Marquez wrote to ADs on

April 12.

Elder said testing is still expected to begin next week, although athletes now have a choice they didn’t have when the week began.

“If this is causing tension in the community, it’s not worth it at this time,” Elder told the Journal Thursday. “I still think it is important, and we are going to strongly encourage it.”

The number of spring-sport athletes being tested will certainly be smaller, Elder said.

Barreras’ letter indicated that APS was going to test either 20 athletes at each high school or 25 percent of a school’s spring sports teams, whichever number was higher starting Monday and continuing each week through the end of the spring sports calendar on June 26.

Earlier this month, the Public Education Department instructed its schools to begin surveillance testing of students in extra-curricular activities, which includes sports.

Rio Rancho Public Schools is about to begin its testing program, which includes a random 10 percent of all current athletes (ongoing winter sports and spring sports) at both Cleveland and Rio Rancho. District AD Larry Chavez said he expects about 40 athletes at each school to be tested weekly.

Students 16 and older who show proof of being fully vaccinated, or those who have tested positive for COVID in the past 90 days are exempt from testing.