WARWICK – There will be another semester of predominantly online learning at the Community College of Rhode Island.
CCRI President Meghan Hughes sent Wednesday a letter to the college community that the college will extend its mostly online-class protocol into the spring 2021 semester due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Hughes said CCRI is announcing its plan to have online classes in the spring at this time because the college needs time to finalize its academic plans for the next semester. Secondly, Hughes said, the gravity of the coronavirus itself also prompted CCRI to take this action.
“COVID-19 continues to spread, and public health experts predict a significant uptick in positive cases during the winter months,” Hughes said. “There is no vaccine, and there is unlikely to be one widely available anytime soon. Coinciding with the flu season, this will undoubtedly be a daunting challenge for all of us.”
Hughes also said that CCRI has “no reason to believe” that if students and staff come together for in-person learning, the college community would “be exempt from the same community spread that other colleges and universities are seeing this semester.”
“We cannot risk the health and safety of our students, faculty, staff or the larger community,” Hughes said.
CCRI has already been notably impacted by the pandemic. Along with declined enrollment, the college had to lay off both part-time and full-time employees over the last two months.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette. PBN reporter Alexa Gagosz contributed to this story.
