Handful of New Mexico schools head back to remote learning amid COVID spike

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Some New Mexico schools made the decision to move back to virtual learning last Friday.

Roswell Independent School District Superintendent Brian Luck said it’s unfortunate it happened so quickly, but as school gears up around the state he expects to see it more.

"Our hope was it wouldn’t of been in the 10th day of school that we would’ve been handing out our Chromebooks, but what did they do is it kind of jumpstarted everybody else’s plan to get those out," he said.

Goddard High School had a fourth rapid response, so sports and activities will also be canceled for the time being.

Carlsbad High School, on the other hand, switched to virtual learning as a proactive measure before they hit their fourth rapid response, and because they acted proactively, sports and activities are allowed during virtual learning

"We still have the capacity for them to stay in some type of in person environment also we have the ability to have groups in access of 5 to 1 with special education and have some flexibility there," said Gerry Washburn, Carlsbad Municipal Schools superintendent.

The district has also moved Carlsbad Intermediate School’s Leyba Campus to remote learning.

It’s important to note one rapid response doesn’t mean just one COVID case, it’s every COVID case reported in 24 hours, meaning it’s not just four students with COVID making schools switch to virtual.