Dear TCC Community,

These past five months have certainly presented Tallahassee Community College and our students with tremendous challenges. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the College made the decision in March to quickly pivot to remote work and learning. Ever since then, our team has been working around the clock to prepare our campus for the eventual return of students.

This upcoming academic year will no doubt be unlike any other we have experienced. However, what has not changed is that the safety of our faculty, staff and students is important to us, and has remained our priority throughout all of our careful and comprehensive planning efforts. As we continue to follow the recommendations and reopening timetable of the reSTART reIMAGINE Taskforce, we also continue to monitor the circumstances surrounding the virus.

We have implemented extensive safety measures and procedures to minimize risk, prioritize health and safety considerations and enable an academic model that accommodates both remote learning and in-person instruction to better serve our students. We have taken extensive action as a result of the Taskforce recommendations including in the areas of testing, screening and surveillance, masks, cleaning and sanitizing, classroom restructuring, signage and much more. The full list of Taskforce recommendations and a timetable can be found at tcc.fl.edu/2020taskforce.

While fully remote working and learning was never intended to be a permanent replacement of our on-campus operations, I know that some of employees have talked to their supervisors or Human Resources concerning special arrangements due to concerns of being at risk for severe illness from COVID-19, or related hardships. HR is processing these requests diligently and will determine what can and should be done for each individual on a case-by-case basis. In the meantime, the College will be fully operational and in alignment with CDC guidelines in order to serve our students this fall.

I also want to encourage all of our faculty, staff and students to continue to stay up to date with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website and the list of COVID-19 symptoms as well as how to protect yourself and what to do if you are sick. Everyone should be completing the self-checker daily to help you make decisions about seeking appropriate medical care. Our own COVID-19 resource page and the Florida Department of Health Coronavirus Updates website are also updated regularly to provide you with additional information.

Finally, I hope you will be mindful of each other’s struggles as we navigate the coming weeks and months together. Ensuring the health, both physical and mental, of the campus community is a responsibility that we all share, and we are strongest when we work together. I have been so incredibly proud of the way in which our team has stepped up through unprecedented disruption. I am confident that we will continue to rise to the challenge as we have been for the past five months.

During these times of uncertainty and fear, when you cannot hug or even shake hands, we can still stand together as a community to both weather this storm and embrace the opportunities that times of great change can offer.

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View TCC’s safety protocols and actions taken over the past several months to operationalize the Task Force recommendations on our website at: tcc.fl.edu/SafetyProtocols.