Developing Story
This article was edited 10:10 a.m. March 12 due to an administrator being misquoted by the writer. The Executive Assistant to the superintendent/president Christina Link did not attend the faculty meeting and did not speak to the senate within the faculty meeting. The quote was taken out for clarity and accuracy.
This story was updated at 7:18 p.m. March 11 to reflect a letter that Superintendent/President Perri sent out to all staff.
This story was updated at 7:28 p.m. March 11 to reflect a letter that Martha McDonald, Ed.D., vice president of student services, sent out to the student body.
At the faculty senate meeting on March 11, Arvid Spor, the vice president of academic affairs, announced that Citrus College will be advising all faculty members to move their classes to a “remote delivery of instruction” system by March 23.
Starting on March 23, any class that has the potential to be held online will attempt to make the move to remote delivery. This is fully in the discretion of the instructor as only they have the authority to make the move. Deans will be advising, Spor told the senate.
The college will not be shutting down as lab courses and courses that can only be taught in a face-to-face manner will still be allowed to continue until further notice, Spor told the senate.
“Any course that can be taught fully online, those will be the classes that will be moved,” Spor said about which sections should be moved online.
Spor also said that if there is at least one case of Coronavirus on campus, then the college will move to close until further notice.
This was done in an attempt to contain the spread of COVID-19.
A “remote education system” will be to deliver educational material and lectures through video conferencing such as Zoom and use resources that Citrus already has such as Canvas and the student email system.
Classes will continue as normal until March 23. Following March 23, the college will be assessing the situation for classes still being held on campus.
The estimated date of return of all classes to campus will be April 20 if no cases of COVID-19 present themselves to any student or employee of the college, Spor said.
During the meeting, some members of the senate and other faculty members said that the move to push the classes online was unexpected and certain classes would be difficult to teach online. Dance classes were brought up as an example of a class that would be difficult to teach in an online setting.
Spor said one workaround for that situation was to ask students to record themselves doing their dance routines at home.
Many faculty members were left wondering how to make the move and whether they even should.
At 6:42 p.m. March 11, Superintendent/President Geraldine M. Perri, Ph.D. sent out an official memo to all staff stating the intended changes to the college. She reiterated that there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Citrus College.
At 7:28 p.m. March 11, Martha McDonald, Ed.D., the vice president of student services, sent out a memo to the entire student body warning them about the changes.
Staff reporter Ryan Uribe contributed to this story.
