LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — Suzette Haywood intended to retire from her career as a teacher last year, but when the COVID-19 pandemic caused education to practically be turned upside down, she knew she couldn't call it quits.

"I didn't want to end on that kind of a note," Haywood told the Las Cruces Sun-News. "I did a virtual teaching (last semester), and I thought … 'I can't end the career I love like this.'"

Haywood, 53, has spent her 29 years of teaching between New Mexico, Virginia and Alaska. She began her career in Las Cruces and moved back to her hometown to teach kindergarten at Highland E...