ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - The largest school district in New Mexico has delayed the vote on how to move forward with schools reopening, and it has planned to revisit the discussion at a coming meeting.
The Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education met Wednesday to discuss a plan presented by Interim Superintendent Scott Elder that would have allowed kids to return in phases starting Feb. 22.
Elder is now expected to present a different plan that would likely focus on small groups of students. The district’s next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 17.
“I understand that (the members of the Board of Education) are not anxious at this point to return the majority of the staff without vaccines, so the parents that think all teachers are coming back, (that’s) not going to happen,” he said.
The state Department of Health has said K-12 school employees are currently ineligible for the COVID-19 vaccine unless they are in another priority subgroup.
The Albuquerque Teachers Federation union, which represents about 6,000 employees, called for in-person learning to be voluntary for staff until vaccines are widely available.
“We don’t want to keep anybody from starting in-person schooling if they’re ready to start, but there are a large number of people … who feel that the plan the board had approved where Bernalillo County would be in green for two weeks was a good plan,” union President Ellen Bernstein told the Albuquerque Journal. “They also feel like vaccinations are on the near horizon.”
A county will be considered “green” or at medium risk, if it has a COVID-19 test positivity rate of 5% or less and fewer than eight newly confirmed cases a day per 100,000 residents.
Meanwhile, New Mexico health officials reported 565 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and 17 more deaths Thursday, raising the state’s totals to 176,211 cases and 3,355 deaths since the pandemic started.
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