Tyler Junior College issued the following announcement on March 17.
TJC’s foundation is grounded on student and community success.
TJC’s foundation is grounded on student and community success. The values of institutional excellence and integrity permeate throughout the institution, and at this time, similar to all of the nation’s junior/community colleges, TJC is having to balance access and success with the health and wellness of the College community. All reports indicate that it is important not to panic, but that it is of utmost importance to follow the guidelines established to help mitigate the risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
With this in mind, and having the best interests of the College community, students are asked to not return to on-site classes until Monday, March 30. In the meantime, limited online instruction will continue this week, and all existing online instruction will begin again on March 23. Students living on-campus in residence halls will be able to return on Sunday, March 29.
Employees who are able to work remotely, in coordination with their respective supervisors, may remain at home until March 30 to maximize social distance, but are not restricted from working on-site, provided they are healthy, symptom-free and have not been exposed to anyone who is ill.
TJC President Dr. Juan E. Mejia said, “TJC takes great pride in being nimble and responsive to the needs of students, business, industry and communities. We offer award-winning distance education opportunities and we are confident we can deliver world-class online learning where appropriate. However, much of the success of TJC does take into account the wonderful facilities — including specialized laboratories, high-tech vocational training equipment and state-of-the-art simulation spaces — co-curricular learning opportunities, student enrichment activities and community engagement. While we work toward moving more to online, we plan to be very thoughtful in ensuring we provide authentic learning experiences for our students. In some cases, this means we will not be able to shift instruction to a fully online modality as it is not optimum for many of our students or the overall role of TJC for East Texas.”
Mejia went on to say that the President’s Cabinet will continue to meet throughout the weeks to monitor the situation and adapt the plans as warranted. More efforts may be announced in the coming days as the College considers ways to best serve its students and the community.
Original source can be found here.
Alerts Sign-up