I hope you are well and finding ways to care for yourselves and others during these challenging times. I am writing today to share an overview of our current plan for reopening this fall semester.

As we have seen lately, there is no perfect approach to reopening. Our faculty and staff have made professional and personal adjustments in the interest of keeping our community and those around us safe. The following plan represents our best thinking as to how we can balance our safety concerns with the needs of our students and staff. It is important to note that our plan is based on what we know today. Conditions surrounding COVID-19 could change at any time, forcing us to reevaluate and alter our approach with little notice.

Our reopening decision was guided by the belief that the health and safety of our students, faculty and staff is paramount. However, with the proper protocols in place, we will be able to continue to offer an intellectually rigorous experience to our students.

Instruction

We made the decision to conduct our fall semester instruction primarily online and via distance education with some exceptions for a limited number of “impossible-to-convert” courses and programs. Students participating in the limited number of in-person classes will be required to wear facemasks, maintain proper physical distancing, and undergo temperature checks and health screenings.

I want to thank our students, faculty, and staff members who had to adjust quickly to a remote learning environment last semester. I believe that our ability to achieve our academic mission under the conditions we faced in the spring is a testament to the flexibility, creativity, and perseverance of our faculty and staff.

For those students who will not be coming to campus, we are confident that students will have a more satisfying and comprehensive experience in their online classes in the next academic year due to an ongoing and robust summer professional development program for our faculty.

College Operations

We also decided to open our campuses and sites this coming fall semester with some significant changes to how we operate. We will continue to conduct a majority of our administrative work remotely. However, some mission critical operations that cannot be conducted remotely will be conducted on site.

In an attempt to mitigate the effect on academic progress, and recognizing that socioeconomic circumstances may disadvantage certain students, the residence halls, dining facilities, child development center, and food pantries will be remain open. Our counseling, library and bookstore services will be offered virtually. All employees who come to any of our campuses and sites will be required to wear masks or face coverings in all public spaces and spaces used by multiple people.

This is an important decision for our CR family, one that aligns with our ongoing and collaborative decision-making process throughout this public health crisis. Our back-to-work protocol will prioritize the health and safety of our college and local communities and give us the flexibility we need to respond to the changing COVID-19 pandemic situation.

Athletics

The California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) approved a plan to move all fall sports into the spring season. For CR, this means that our basketball, cross-country, soccer, and women’s volleyball student athletes will start practice in mid-January and start competing in February. Our baseball, softball, and track and field teams are scheduled to start practice in late March before starting competition on April 10.

Residence Halls

We plan to implement mandatory symptom screening of our students who live on campus. In the residence halls, we have reserved housing space so that we can quarantine students who exhibit symptoms, are determined to have been at risk of exposure, or contract the virus. 

Last spring semester was different from any we had experience and, by all accounts, the next academic year will be no different. We know that the unpredictability of the pandemic will require us to be flexible and adaptable. We also know that while we cannot eliminate all of the risks associated with COVID-19 we will work together to mitigate them.

I want to thank the faculty, staff and administrators for doing all they can to provide the best quality educational experience for our students in the midst of this unprecedented challenge. We are looking forward to seeing students again, whether it is in person or virtually, in the Fall 2020 Semester.