State announces education policy change as cases increase
Taos, Peñasco already online and largely unaffected
During a press conference Monday (Nov. 16), New Mexico Public Education Secretary Ryan Stewart said “now is the time” to refocus on essential learning activities in an effort to quell the spread of COVID-19 and reopen schools to in-person learning.
The press conference was streamed live via Facebook, and saw both positive and negative reactions from parents who tuned in to hear Stewart’s updates.
On Friday (Nov. 14), New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and state health officials announced a two-week shutdown, the state’s most rigorous public health restrictions to date. Education wasn’t mentioned in the governor’s latest health order, and this left many parents and educators with questions on what was next for the school districts across the state.
The Public Education Department has reported weekly updates of positive cases for COVID-19 in both students and staff, and they are on the rise. As of September current data shows 1,093 positive cases of children, and 1,267 positive cases in staff. This alarming increase has prompted a more vigilant response from school districts across the state.
Taos has seen 13 cases so far, with seven positive student cases and six staff.
“These next two weeks are critical for our ability to continue to offer in-person learning experiences for the entire state,” Stewart said.
Although there is still much uncertainty, Stewart said school districts that are teaching with a hybrid model of in-person and remote learning can continue to do so. At least for now. Taos Municipal School District and Peñasco Independent Schools, which have both opted to keep students in remote instruction at least through fall semester, will not be affected.
Questa Independent School District is currently in a hybrid learning model, but school administrators were to hold a board meeting Tuesday (Nov. 17) to determine the future of the semester.
“We have made protecting the current operating model of schools a priority – we haven’t had to roll those back yet,” Stewart continued. “But let’s be clear, if we don’t start to trend in the right direction, if we don’t start to get these case numbers down, get our positivity rates down, then we will be in a situation where we’ll have no choice but to move all schools to remote learning.”
One tool the PED is using to stop the spread of the deadly virus in its tracks is surveillance testing and contact tracing. Their weekly testing goal is to test at least 5 percent of hybrid-learning staff.
Currently, the positivity rate, or the percentage of all coronavirus tests that are positive, is at 11.88 percent, up from the previous four weeks.
“That’s a trend in the wrong direction, which means we have to redouble our efforts,” Stewart said. “Everybody in the system, everybody in the community to make sure that we’re getting these numbers back down and that we’re beating this virus once again.”
In a partnership with the New Mexico Environment Department, the Public Education Department will be adding schools to the Rapid Response COVID-19 Watchlist. Any business, organization and school with two or more rapid responses in the last 14 calendar days is included on the watchlist. Currently there are four businesses from Taos County on the list, but no schools.
Although being on the watchlist won’t affect a school’s ability to operate, it will better inform the public of positive cases in the community. The watchlist is also there to help state and local agencies evaluate whether schools are complying with COVID-safe practices and procedures.
But what if a school has four or more rapid responses within a 14-day period? That’s when the PED will step in and shut down the building.
“If you get up to four, that will be a requirement that you return to remote learning,” Stewart said, adding other schools in the district would not be impacted and could continue on their own operation model.
A positive COVID-19 case among employees or students who are already exclusively learning remotely will not initiate a rapid response. For example, a few positive cases at a school within Taos Municipal School District wouldn’t call for a shutdown, as all schools are already conducting remote learning through at least fall semester.
Once a school has made the switch to remote learning due to COVID-19 cases, it must remain in the remote model until the county it resides in is deemed “green” by the new standards issued in the latest health order.
During the Facebook live press conference, parents from all over New Mexico expressed their concerns about remote learning and the state of education as a whole in comments posted to the site.
Some wanted students back in the classroom.
Sara Hoffland McQuarie said, “Please get our kids back in school – my son is struggling mentally and emotionally.”
Josephine Baca commented, “What did the state think was going to happen in regard to attendance? All of my life all I hear is New Mexico is way behind. What makes the PED think that attendance would improve?”
Others thought the state should make all schools go online.
Natalia Cruz said, “You should shut schools down now ... there are parents not taking this seriously and school staff are being exposed! Who’s going to teach when you have sick teachers!”
Stewart stressed the importance of focusing on only the most “essential activities” to learning, and discouraged any in-person athletic practices and events, regardless of the ratio of students.
“If we’re going to keep our schools open it’s incumbent upon all of us to make the sacrifices and priorities we need to, to get these numbers back down and we need to do it for our kids,” he said. “And we need to do it to make sure that we are as a community working all together in service of making sure that we can stay safe, beat this virus and get back to where we need to be to reopen.”