March 12, 2020

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to share additional information with you about the college’s response to COVID-19. This is rapidly evolving and we are making every effort to make decisions in the best interest of faculty, staff, students, and our broader community. In the last two days, many universities in our region including West Chester, Penn State, Penn and Princeton, have made the decision to move from face-to-face classes to remote instruction. We have made the decision at Bucks to do the same.

As of today, our plan is that staff will return to campus on Monday, March 23, following spring break.

While you are working remotely, please keep track of tasks that you are unable to do remotely. This will help us should the situation change quickly. We are doing our best to maintain business continuity for both students and staff; this includes tasks such as payroll, student registration, and keeping our technology up and running. Please share your unable-to-do-remotely task list with your supervisor at the end of next week.

Faculty will begin remote instruction beginning March 23 through April 30. The details are outlined below:

Hybrid & In-Person Classes

  • For students currently taking in-person and hybrid courses, classes will resume remotely beginning March 23. In some cases there may be a delay for up to a week to allow the faculty time to prepare. Faculty will notify students of any and all changes by March 23.

  • Classes will continue remotely, meaning all coursework and communication with be done via electronic devices through April 30. Faculty should be in touch with students as to what this means for a particular class and students have been asked to check Bucks email and their Canvas inbox for more information. 

  • Note that while some classes may be online in Canvas, others may take place "live" at the day and time the class is currently scheduled.

Online Classes

  • Current online classes will continue as planned, resuming March 23.

  • Online March modular courses will begin as scheduled on March 23.

Students have been told that they should only come to campus if necessary and with prior arrangements.

The Provost is working with faculty and Deans, especially regarding instruction that is difficult to move online, such as certain laboratory courses. Some off-site instruction will continue as long as those host facilities are open for our students. Faculty will receive a separate communication from the Provost about this transition.

We will be making decisions on a case-by-case basis for certain non-credit offerings. Athletics including practices are suspended and all campus events have been cancelled through April 30.

We want all of our students to be able to successfully complete the semester and for everyone to remain healthy. We continue to monitor the situation carefully and will continue to update you as new information becomes available. Please check your email and our COVID-19 web page regularly for updates.

We ask all staff to continue healthy practices that will minimize the possibility of the spread of the virus. If you are sick, please stay home. Managers are prepared to work with you so that you will not be adversely affected.

Sincerely,

Dr. Stephanie Shanblatt
President