New Mexico Senator David Gallegos, who represents Southeastern New Mexico, has announced that he is going to introduce a bill to put the decision-making power to re-open schools in the hands of local school boards. Representative Jim Townsend has said that the House plans to introduce similar legislation.
According to the Santa Fe New Mexican, a new statewide survey showed that 52 percent of New Mexicans believe local school officials should decide when to resume in-person learning. Additionally, 66 percent of those polled said schools should be open or offer a hybrid of in-person and online learning, while 71 percent said they are concerned about their children or grandchildren falling behind in school.
However, almost half of those surveyed also expressed concern that their children or grandchildren would contract COVID-19 and bring it back home.
Sen. Gay Kernan has also observed that many students in her district are attending schools in Texas due to their struggles with online learning.
Certainly, any plan to re-open should make sure that procedures are in place to protect educators, students and families at home from the spread of COVID-19, but we believe such plans have been implemented in other communities across the country. We hope New Mexico legislators will take a good look at plans to add in person instruction in the immediate future.
There is a new study out from the Arrowhead Institute commissioned by Eddy County indicating that the revenue generated relative to state provided expenditures shows Eddy County to be the highest on a per capita basis. This 2015-2019 study concluded that Lea County is second. The two counties are well ahead of any other county in the state.
We are reviewing this data with Eddy County and will be going into more detail soon. Eddy County’s petroleum industry contributed $6.4 billion to state and local governments between 2012-2018.
We encourage state officials to give a lot of consideration to these numbers when making decisions related to key industries in Southeastern New Mexico.
There’s an upcoming forum providing tips on suicide prevention and offering additional support for everyone interested. At 10:30 a.m. Jan. 28, the New Mexico Department of Veterans services will be hosting a discussion on suicide prevention awareness. This discussion will feature Dr. Brenda Mayne, Suicide Prevention Coordinator and Christina Camacho, Suicide Prevention Case Manager. You can watch this event live at the NMDVS Facebook page at www.facebook.com/nmdvshealthcare2015/ The event will also be recorded and posted to the NMDVS web page.
Sincerely,
Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway