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Superintendent of Hobbs Municipal Schools TJ Parks said the bond between communities in southeast New Mexico might prove the cure to the long, drawn out months battling COVID-19. The first case of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was identified in New Mexico in March 2019, prompting Parks, Carlsbad Municipal Schools (CMS) Superintendent Dr. Gerry Washburn and Artesia Public Schools (APS) Superintendent John Ross Null to deepen communication to work on behalf of their respective cities. Our communities have an awful lot in common. We have much more in common than we would from somebody in northern New Mexico. We share ideas, concerns and I think we ve had to come together because we re kind of all alone out here and I think without each other it would be more difficult to survive what we ve gone through, Parks said. ....
Carlsbad Municipal School District announced students at Carlsbad High School would return to a virtual learning environment only, as the school grapples with 13 cases of COVID-19 among staff and a shortage of substitute teachers. On Feb. 26, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Gerry Washburn alerted the public that 12 teachers and one substitute had entered quarantine as a result of the virus. Due to the severe shortage of substitute teachers we have made the difficult decision to return the high school to remote learning temporarily, he wrote. The remote learning began March 1 and extended to all grade levels of the high school. Though Carlsbad High School did make the New Mexico Environment Department COVID-9 watchlist with two rapid responses noted, the school was not ordered closed by the state, which requires four or more rapid responses to be considered for closure. ....