By COLLIN BINKLEY and MIKE STOBBE Associated Press The nation’s top public health agency said Friday that in-person schooling can resume safely with masks, social distancing and other strategies, and vaccination of teachers, while important, is not a prerequisite for reopening. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its long-awaited road map for getting students back to classrooms in …

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s largest teachers union is opposing legislation that would extend the school year to make up for learning that was lost during the coronavirus pandemic. Children are facing unprecedented setbacks amid online instruction, and court rulings are pressuring state leaders to improve student outcomes, which were some of the worst in the nation even …

CARLSBAD, N.M. (AP) — Carlsbad’s school board is voicing support for a proposal to convert the New Mexico State University branch campus in the southeastern New Mexico city into an independent community college. The board voted unanimously Tuesday in favor of a resolution supporting the proposed conversion, which local officials contend would benefit students, faculty, staff and the community, the …

FROM THE N.M. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION: Frequently Asked Questions When will my middle/high school open? The decision to expand in-person learning to secondary students is made by each local district or charter school’s governing board. The Public Education Department now permits all middle and high schools to reopen in a hybrid model beginning Feb. 8, as long as they meet …

SANTA FE — Middle and high school students are included in a decision announced Tuesday to expand in-person learning options beginning Feb. 8 for every district and charter school across New Mexico based on extensive preparations and protocols to assure student and educator safety. The Public Education Department’s updated guidance for expanded in-person learning, approved by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, …

In the ongoing battle against COVID-19, Hobbs Municipal Schools has added another layer in its armor with 2,261 MERV 13 air filters. The filters will replace the current air filters in each H-VAC system in each HMS school building. “Those filters are more dense so they trap the particles of the COVID-19 virus,” HMS Superintendent TJ Parks told the News-Sun. …

New Mexico schools have been ranked as last of all 50 states. With the closure of in-person learning the state is now worse. Public Education Department Secretary Ryan Stewart recently announced the state has no idea where 12,000 students who were enrolled in New Mexico schools just last year have gone. But while the state may not know, or doesn’t …

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Lawyers representing New Mexico students say the state’s attempts to provide internet access and learning devices to children is “woefully insufficient.” With in-person learning banned by state officials until mid-January and plans for hybrid learning scrapped for the vast majority of students earlier this year, the inability to access remote classes has been a challenge …

It’s ironic that computer gaming – an activity that many view as solitary – is the one thing keeping some Hobbs High School students in school during the COVID lockdown. While HHS hallways and classrooms are largely empty, several times each week a converted office in the 100 wing comes to socially-distanced life in groups of less than five students. …

Hobbs Municipal Schools elementary school students will return to 100% remote learning after Thanksgiving Break, according to an announcement made Thursday by HMS Superintendent TJ Parks. The move comes ahead of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s press conference today, where she is expected to enact further restrictions on the state. Citing an increasing number of COVID-19 cases in Lea County and …