High School senior shares impact of school shutting down due to COVID-19 cases

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    ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (KOAT) — A student at Eldorado High called the school’s forced closure due to COVID-19 cases a “big disappointment.”

Eldorado High is the first public school in the state that’s been forced to close after more than 10 students and faculty tested positive.

“I think a lot of people are missing out,” said Joseph Leyba, a senior at Eldorado High. “I think I’m one of them.”

A senior year that’s anything but normal.

Joseph Leyba plays on the football team at Eldorado High. Their season took place in the spring, not fall and instead of a crowd of fans, there were near-empty stands. Now one week after the school is finally back open, the state shut it down.

“I was disappointed for all the people who were going back because I know a lot of my friends and a lot of other students were enjoying it,” Leyba said. “I know that was disappointing for them, but I wasn’t too surprised.”

He said he and his family saw this coming and that’s why he chose to continue learning remotely.

“I didn’t feel like going back and forth from the school,” said Leyba. “I didn’t anticipate them being open the rest of the year. I kind of knew they were going to close.”

“Having one school having to close because of the four rapid responses in a 14 day period – we’re definitely not ready to make new decisions based on that one school,” said Gregory Frostad, director of PED’s Safe and Healthy Schools Bureau.

Frostad with the New Mexico Public Education Department said they stand by their decision to reopen schools and continue to believe it’s safe to do so.

We asked him if there was any concern this could happen to other schools with more than a dozen on the state’s watchlist.

“When COVID-19 infections were much higher across the state, we were as high as 54 schools on our watchlist at that time. Our numbers have steadily decreased and that’s why we’ve seen it’s been safe to open because the numbers since November have been on a steady decline,” Frostad said.

But some may wonder what kind of impact all of this has on students, especially like Leyba who is in his final year of high school.

“This last year has been kind of a headache,” said Leyba. “It’s just been dealing with what kind of schedule are we on today? What’s the plan for this week?”

Our interview with PED took place before the state announced any voluntary closures.

Eldorado’s closure was mandatory and will last for the next two weeks.

The three schools closing voluntarily are:

• Mesa Alta Junior High in Bloomfield

• Central Primary in Bloomfield

• Socorro High School

Many of them citing multiple positive cases or too many potential COVID-19 exposures. They’re expected to reopen April 26.

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