“After careful consideration, Sierra College has made the difficult decision to plan for remote instruction for all District campuses for the fall 2020 semester,” the school announced on Facebook just past midnight. “There are a number of reasons we have made this decision, but the primary goal is to keep students, faculty, staff and community members safe.
“Making this decision early will allow us to better prepare for an online learning environment in the fall semester and gives faculty more time to prepare to teach in this format. Additionally, with the potential for a resurgence of the virus in the fall, students will not have to worry about making an abrupt transition from on-ground to remote learning.
“We understand that a small number of courses cannot be successfully transitioned to remote instruction and we will continue to work with those departments in finding alternatives, including hybrid offerings.
“We understand this situation is not ideal for anyone, but we hope by making this decision early we can prepare better for the fall semester and continue to help our students complete their educational goals as best we can. There are likely to be more questions over the coming weeks and we will work together to answer them as quickly as possible.”
Other colleges
“The coronavirus pandemic has left college leaders facing difficult decisions about when to reopen campuses and how to go about it,” according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. “The Chronicle is tracking individual colleges’ plans.
“Most colleges remain uncommitted on whether they’ll offer in-person classes in the fall or when they’ll decide. Some colleges have made their intentions more clear, and we’re listing them HERE.”
Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report 