Picacho Middle principal speaks on COVID safe protocols prior to teachers positive test
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KFOX14) — Picacho Middle School in Las Cruces, which just reopened to students on Monday, has been closed down after a teacher tested positive for the virus.
This school was the first within the Las Cruces Public School district to reopen their doors to special education students.
KFOX14 spoke with the schools principal, Fred Montalvo, just two days ago, on Tuesday, about the re-opening. He walked us through the safety precautions they had in place.
“At this point we are bringing back a total of eight students per week,” Montalvo said.
Montalvo said while they were excited to welcome a small group of students back, the recent rise in COVID-19 cases did make it a nerve-racking situation.
“Our number one concern and our number one consideration was making sure that our environment in the classroom and the school, everything that we have available for our students, is safe and clean and as sanitary as possible,” Montalvo said.
On Tuesday, before the positive case was known, Montalvo said his team was prepared to mitigate the spread.
“We’ve taken precautions to make sure that there was no more than one, to two students in a classroom per day,” Montalvo said. “Our staff got, I’m not gonna say extensive training, but they were at least made aware of what’s proper, how to properly put on a gown, how to properly remove a face mask, how to do so without touching their face. Our nurses have been instrumental on making that successful.”
The schools re-opening plan shows their are two teachers and three education assistants working with students, Morgan Harding is one of them.
“We’re making sure that we have the double masks, and we have our gloves on, that way the kids can take off their masks when they’re outside,” Harding said.
She said the safety precautions and training put forth, made her feel confident enough to provide in-person learning.
“The district got plexiglass for my students, so that way we can interact and I can teach with a plexiglass barrier and hand materials underneath it to avoid contact,” Harding said. “We are all pulling together our own individual efforts to ensure the safety and wellbeing of these students.”
The district said the teacher who tested positive did have contact with students and other school staff. Everyone affected is being required to quarantine for 14 days.
Sign up to receive the top most interesting stories from in and around our community once a day to your inbox.