Because of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, Kansas City Kansas Community College has made the decision to transition to fully virtual classes for the rest of the semester.
Also, according to college officials, the spring commencement ceremony for students was canceled today.
“We will be looking at other ways to celebrate with our students,” Dr. Greg Mosier, college president, told the KCKCC Board of Trustees today.
The college campus remains closed for the rest of the week, with spring break extended until Sunday, March 29. Classes are to resume on Monday, March 30, but they will be online.
Dr. Mosier told the board that the college had been trying to make adjustments to keep a portion of hands-on learning for students who have laboratory classes.
However, Monday’s announcements from governments limited the number of students and participants to 10, and the college realized it would not be able to meet the hands-on needs, he said.
“We will be able to educate them in a different manner,” he said. The college will be moving to virtual delivery of classes on March 30.
Starting on Monday, students will have one more week away from classes, allowing the faculty and staff to get ready for the online classes, Dr. Mosier told the trustees. He said some of the faculty and staff have experience in online teaching and will help train the faculty who have not previously taught online.
The college has a COVID-19 page on its website, https://www.kckcc.edu/communications/covid19/index.html, and is continuing to send out information to students, he said.
“It’s a very fluid environment, and changing on the hour,” he said.
KCKCC has been following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, as well as state and local health officials, according to a KCKCC letter dated March 17.
All of the KCKCC locations will be closed Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week, he said.
Many KCKCC employees already are working from home using virtual technology, he added.
Dual enrollment classes taught by KCKCC instructors at local high schools will be online only, according to the letter. GED and English as a Second Language classes at Wyandotte High School will be postponed until further notice, according to the letter.
Students will be able to use the college website’s virtual assistance program instead of coming to the campus for a personal meeting during this time, according to the letter.
“This health emergency will pass and KCKCC is committed to provide the best service to our students and community for many years to come,” Dr. Mosier wrote in the letter.
The KCKCC Board of Trustees meeting is online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTf3a1vFVqg .
The Kansas City Kansas Community College Board of Trustees will hold a special meeting and regular meeting Tuesday, March 17.
The regular meeting is at 5 p.m., and it will be preceded by a special meeting at 3 p.m. March 17.
According to a note on the KCKCC website, because the campus is closed, the public will not be allowed to attend the board meeting.
According to the note, the meeting will be livestreamed. The meeting was listed at a YouTube address of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTf3a1vFVqg.
Kansas City Kansas Community College announced on Friday that it would be closed from March 14 to 22, and that there would be an extended spring break of March 23 to 29 for all students.
Then, from March 30 to April 10, classes will resume in either a virtual or hybrid delivery, according to a letter sent Friday from the college president, Dr. Greg Mosier, to students, employees and the community.
“For the remainder of the semester our goal is to limit the number of people (faculty and students, and community) physically on campus while ensuring students receive the critical information they need to be successful in their classes and in the future,” Dr. Mosier wrote in the letter.
All public and community events, as well as nonessential events on campus were canceled through May 20, according to the announcement.
Dual enrollment and concurrent enrollment classes at the high schools will continue as normal until a schedule change is announced at each individual school district, according to the announcement.
Only essential personnel will be on campus from March 14 to 29, according to the letter.
Instructors will be making the transition to online courses during the week of March 23 to 29. Classes that need hands-on instruction will be a hybrid of online and lab work. Faculty are receiving support to make the transition, according to the letter.
The COVID-19 situation will be re-evaluated to determine actions that need to be taken for the remainder of the semester on April 9, and students and employees will be notified on April 10, according to the letter.
Also, KCKCC has banned all work-related travel for employees on airlines, trains, ships and large public transportation until May 22.
The letter stated that final plans have not yet been determined for KCKCC’s commencement ceremonies on May 21.
For more information, visit https://www.kckcc.edu/communications/letter-to-all-03-13-2020.pdf.
