Chancellor Judy C. Miner sent the following message via email to Foothill-De Anza district employees.
Sept. 14, 2020
Dear Colleagues,
Chancellor Eloy Oakley, head of the California Community Colleges, sent a message to CEOs on September 10 which included the following:
“I have spoken to several of you about plans you are considering for instruction in Spring ’21. I fully support that each college announce sooner rather than later that you will continue to be primarily online/remote for the remainder of the academic year. The more certainty we can provide our students and communities the better we will allow them to plan accordingly. This allows our faculty to be fully prepared for the remainder of the academic year. If things improve we can always bring students and staff back to campus. I can’t stress this enough, make the call soon. To reinforce this choice know that today Chancellor White announced that the CSU will continue to be online in the Spring and in my discussions with President Drake he is seriously contemplating doing the same. Once CSU and UC are committed in the Spring it will become increasing harder for our colleges to consider bringing non-CTE students back to campus.”
Chancellor Oakley’s message was aimed at colleges on the semester system, but the same need for certainty applies to us as well. If you attended my open office hour on September 9, you heard me say that we do need to plan on continuing to offer instruction and services remotely through Winter Quarter 2021. There will be extremely few exceptions to the work-from-home rule during this period, primarily involving allied health programs, child care, police, grounds, custodial, technology, business services, bookstore, and facilities staff coming to campus as needed. Students and staff will work onsite on a very limited basis with all safety precautions in place, including utilization of the contact tracing app that we are currently piloting. Plans for our Spring Quarter 2021 will likely be decided in January.
Striking a balance between the need for employee flexibility and services for students, the campuses will operate on a five-day schedule through Winter 2021, with the option for departments to operate on a four-day schedule based on approval from their administrator. Central Services departments will continue to operate on a four-day schedule, with the option to operate on a five-day schedule based on approval from their vice chancellor. Please be sure that your days and hours of service can be readily found and are clearly communicated.
It is impossible to adequately thank you for your resilience, creativity, and patience throughout the past six months. I reflect back on the inspiring year-end celebrations in June and am confident that we will continue to find ways to build and maintain a sense of community and connection for students and ourselves. Let’s be each other’s COVID Response Team!
Looking forward to seeing you for opening days.
Judy