President's Update: Spring 2021 Plan
I continue to be impressed by your resiliency and flexibility as we work remotely, interact through screens like never before, and support each other through shared, and often humorous, work-from-home experiences. The work you are doing to keep our campuses safe and the innovations brought forth in support of our programs is making a significant difference in our community and our students’ lives.
To the Shasta College Community:
I continue to be impressed by your resiliency and flexibility as we work remotely, interact through screens like never before, and support each other through shared, and often humorous, work-from-home experiences. The work you are doing to keep our campuses safe and the innovations brought forth in support of our programs is making a significant difference in our community and our students’ lives. I find it amazing that we are well into the start of our Fall Semester, and are now actively planning Spring 2021!
Although the current situation remains unpredictable, the latest information we are receiving from state and national agencies still suggests a potential rise in cases and hospitalizations in November/December. We also remain concerned about the high exposure rates in neighboring counties. In our evaluations for how to approach spring course offerings, we carefully considered the safety of our students and staff and the potential disruption a rise in cases for COVID-19 would cause during an active semester—as we saw last spring.
To provide our students and college community with the greatest sense of stability during these unpredictable times and to eliminate the disruption a mid-semester shift to online instruction would cause to staff and students, we’ve decided to have Spring 2021 courses primarily online. Simply put, what’s online this fall will stay online in Spring 2021; what’s in-person will stay in-person. We firmly believe that this plan will continue to keep our students and campus community safe and provide stability and the necessary time to plan for a successful spring semester. This plan is consistent and in-line with what many other California community colleges are developing, and it provides our students with the safest, least disruptive avenue to earning their degrees/certificates during this pandemic.
Our early decision to reduce in-person interactions and institute strict preventive protocols has helped reduce our potential exposure rate on campus. These decisions have also allowed us to gradually open more services to our students in a safe manner. As this situation evolves, and if conditions in December/January permit, there may be a possibility some online sections could return to in-person instruction.
Through your efforts, Shasta College continues to provide our students with the skills and training they need to achieve a better, more rewarding future for themselves and their families. I do not doubt that this period in Shasta College’s over 70 years of service will stand as a testament to our innovation, leadership, and support to our communities.
Thank you for all that you continue to do.
Joe Wyse
Superintendent/President