Class is soon to be back session. New Mexico Public Education Secretary Ryan Stewart announced Monday all public and charter schools in the state can fully reopen campuses April 5. The state is phasing out hybrid-learning models, which combine in-person and remote learning, in favor of full-time classroom instruction.
It will be the first time New Mexico schools return to a traditional instruction model since the start of the pandemic a year ago.
The news came as the state Department of Health announced all educators and school staff — from early childhood professionals to K-12 personnel — will have the opportunity to receive at least their first shot of the COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the month under a Biden administration initiative designed to accelerate school openings.
Still, some local school leaders expressed concerns about the plan to fully reopen campuses. Stewart’s announcement also could complicate matters for Santa Fe Public Schools, which came to an agreement last week with the National Education Association-Santa Fe that requires teachers and staff members without special accommodations to return to campus after they are fully vaccinated.
Grace Mayer, an art teacher at Milagro Middle School and NEA-Santa Fe president, said the union made the agreement with the district in good faith and doesn’t intend to back out of it.
“We will try to maintain our local control and enforce the [memorandum of understanding] that gives us a little bit more time to vaccinate everybody fully,” Mayer said.
The New Mexico School Boards Association released a statement Monday saying its members felt blindsided by Stewart’s announcement. Association President Olivia Calabaza said she was concerned the state did not seek input from school boards.
However, Republican Party of New Mexico Chairman Steve Pearce called the full reopening of schools “long overdue.”
“It’s been a devastating experience, and students have fallen behind academically and socially,” Pearce said in a statement. “It will be hard to tell whether the Governor’s action will have a long-lasting impact on our state.”
Beginning this week, child care and school workers outside the Albuquerque area who have registered for the vaccine will be offered a dose, the Department of Health said in a news release. Next week, the inoculation program will move into the Albuquerque area, and March 22 it will be offered to educators who have newly registered or have not received a shot for some other reason.
In the meantime, the state will continue focusing its distribution efforts on health care workers, nursing home staff and residents, people 75 and older and those 16 and over who have medical conditions putting them at risk of a severe infection, Health Secretary Dr. Tracie Collins said in the statement.
She added health providers have so far vaccinated more than 15,000 educators.
