Enchantment State News

The State of New Mexico is taking steps to avoid disruption to a Christmas COVID-19 surge by starting the first two weeks of the upcoming semester with a halt to in-person learning.

The pause includes other activities such as athletics and other in-person learning activities. The Public Education Department (PED) has made a tweak to the plan. During the pause to in-person learning, which is Jan. 2-18, small groups of pre-K to third grade students with disabilities will be allowed to continue in-person learning, the Public Education Department reported in a press release.

It is hoped such actions will be a thing of the past as vaccines began to make their way to the public school level. PED has set aside $95 million for remediation efforts that will include a number of areas such as adding more counselors, instructional hours and professional development.

The first semester has been a learning experience carried over from the spring when the pandemic began to assert itself throughout the nation. There have been positive consequences that include increased interactions with parents in the educational process. There were also technological improvements as both teachers and students improved in literacy. It was aided by the expansion of broadband internet throughout the state. The state and its school districts were able to mobilize and ensure devices were available to every student so they would not be left behind.

“Parents have become partners in teaching like never before. I’ve heard many teachers say they’ve never been as closely connected to families about their children’s learning,” PED Secretary Ryan Stewart said, the press release reported. “New Mexico educators should be counted among the heroes of this pandemic for how quickly they’ve adapted and how hard they’ve worked to keep our children engaged and learning.”

When school began for the fall semester, there was 12,000 students unaccounted for having not enrolled for the new semester. To date, 5,000 have been crossed off the list to reasons such as homeschooling or enrolling elsewhere as the state efforts continue to find the rest of those students.