Employee Message

 

McLennan Community College will extend Spring Break for all students until March 23. In order to provide services to our students, employees are expected to return to campus on March 16. However, we understand the serious nature of this rapidly evolving pandemic and employees’ concern for their family and their own health and safety. We encourage all employees to touch base with supervisors or the human resources office, with specific questions or concerns. We do not want to risk the health and safety of employees, but we do need employee help in moving forward with a plan for our students.

We are always committed to MCC’s educational goals; however, after weighing the possible consequences of our decisions, we have decided to transition all classes to an online platform for the rest of the Spring 2020 semester. Therefore, we will take next week to prepare our faculty and staff with the resources needed to make this transition while maintaining the quality education our students and community expect from us.

Last week, MCC’s Leadership Team decided to discontinue all international travel for our students and staff. This week, we are discontinuing any non-essential domestic travel on behalf of the College, particularly if it includes travel by plane.

Several members of our administrative staff and MCC’s Leadership Team have met over the past week to prepare for a variety of possible scenarios. Please understand that suspending classes and extending Spring Break is not an easy decision as students have placed their confidence in us to provide them the best education possible to prepare them for a successful future. It is not a decision we have taken lightly.

Our current plan as of March 13, 2020:

  • Continue to monitor what is happening with the virus;
  • Communicate the extension of Spring Break to students and employees by email and on MCC’s Coronavirus (COVID-19) website;
  • Provide instruction and resources for faculty to prepare their classes to be taught online for the rest of the semester;
  • Encourage self-reporting for employees and students who have traveled internationally or domestically from or to areas with community outbreaks of the COVID-19;
  • Continue maintaining clean spaces throughout campus, particularly high-touch surfaces;
  • Provide students with alternative computer resources on campus while maintaining social distancing protocol;
  • Encourage everyone to use best practices on personal health;
  • Cancel all public events and other large gatherings through the end of the semester with the possibility of rescheduling at another time;
  • Provide disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizer to faculty and staff in order to clean their workspaces;
  • Ask all employees to evaluate the necessity of any travel within the state or county as well as all non-essential group meetings; and
  • Provide resources for employees to maintain a continuity of services at a distance.

We plan to remain flexible and prepare for each scenario as it arises. We will vigilantly continuing monitoring national, state, and local health organizations’ advice and guidance as we continue. This means that other changes may be made. Please know that the Leadership Team will continue to weigh every decision carefully as we work to ensure health and safety as we move forward.

For more information from some of the organizations we are tracking:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

World Health Organization

Waco McLennan County Public Health District

Texas Department of State Health Services

If you have further questions with regard to McLennan Community College’s response to the Coronavirus, please visit our website at https://www.mclennan.edu/crisis-management/coronavirus-updates/ or email covid19@mclennan.edu.


Dr. Johnette McKown
President