Key Partners

The COVID guidelines below were for the 2020-2021 school year.

APS understands the important role our partners play in supporting our school communities. The health and safety of students and staff are always the priority of the district. This requires us to limit the number of adults on campuses and especially those within the physical proximity to students.

Related downloads:

Key Partners Re-entry Plan (PDF), dated March 15, 2021

About Outside Partnerships

If an outside partnership is approaching a school administrator with a request that is not addressed in the Key Partners section of the APS re-entry plan, principals can vet the partnership through the Student, Family, and Community Supports Division before allowing the partner access to the school or students. Please contact Kristine Meurer, Student, Family, and Community Supports Executive Director, by email at Kristine.meurer@aps.edu.

Critical Partnership Services

Critical Partners may be allowed, depending on space, to provide in person contact with students at the school site. Critical Partnership Services are defined as:

Community Mental Health Providers that are under contract with APS;
School-Based Health Centers; and
Out-of-School Time/School-Aged Childcare Programs and Early Childhood Programs.

Note: Critical partners are specific to partnership services that support students, it does not apply to vendors and state agencies requirements (such as Children, Youth and Family investigations and the New Mexico Department of Health Immunization clinics).

Critical Partnerships. These partnerships are allowed on campus, unless otherwise noted.
Partnership Service	Locations Allowed	Critical Information
Community Mental Health	Principal Discretion	Must have a contract with APS
School Based Health Centers	Previously Determined	Must have a contract with APS
Other Health Partners (Not requiring access to campus)	Not applicable.	Health and Wellness Teams may make referrals. Services are not provided on campus.
Out of School Time/ School Aged Childcare	Principal Discretion	District personnel will match schools with partners. There are extensive protocols for this service. Please review full Re-Entry Plan closely.
Early Childhood	Previously Determined	Provider should provide the Principal with COVID19 Safety Plan

Essential Partnership Services

Essential Partnership Services are defined as Basic Needs to include distribution of food, clothing and school supplies would be allowed on campus, but not in the school for only “grab and go”.

Essential Partnerships. These partnerships are allowed on campus with significant limitations.
Partnership Service	Locations Allowed	Critical Information
Community Supported Food Distribution	Outside "Grab & Go"	There are extensive protocols for this service. Please review Key Partners section of the Re-Entry Plan closely.
Other Basic Needs and Family Services	Outside "Grab & Go"	Grab and go distribution or virtually only depending on service

Other Partnership Services

Other Partnerships are defined as any other partnership not defined as Critical or Essential for example: volunteers, families, and other visitors. Other partnerships will have no or limited access to the school campus.

Other Partnerships. These partnerships are not allowed on campus, unless otherwise noted.
Partnership Service	Locations Allowed	Critical Information
Volunteers	Allowed on campus with significant limitations. Outside "grab and go" campus clean up, virtual (with restrictions)	Can support basic needs and education materials “grab and go” distribution or campus clean-up projects conducted when students are not present, and virtual projects ONLY.
Family Engagement	Allowed on campus with extreme limitations. Principal Discretion	No mass gatherings are allowable; meetings with families should be conducted virtually; if absolutely necessary, a meeting with one family can be conducted on campus by appointment only
Mentoring	Not applicable.	Mentoring services for students that are run by, or in conjunction with APS, will not occur until such time as the district can safely educate students without precautions. The district is in the process of developing structures, processes and partnership supports to facilitate mentorship of students.
Tutoring	Not applicable.	Tutoring with students will only be allowed virtually.
All Other Partnership Services (Not specified above)	Not applicable.	If you are approached by someone wanting to start a partnership and you are unsure of how to handle it, or if the partnership is allowable, prior to allowing the partner access to the school or students contact the Student, Family, and Community Supports Executive Director

This page was last updated on: July 22, 2020.