{"id":2513,"date":"2021-01-28T14:37:23","date_gmt":"2021-01-28T22:37:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ltc\/?p=2513"},"modified":"2021-01-28T14:37:48","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T22:37:48","slug":"recast-remote-for-now-in-person-this-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ltc\/2021\/01\/recast-remote-for-now-in-person-this-fall\/","title":{"rendered":"Recast | Remote for Now, In Person this Fall"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From: <\/strong>Evergreen President’s Office <president@evergreen.edu>
Reply-To: <\/strong>Evergreen President’s Office <president@evergreen.edu>
Date: <\/strong>Thursday, January 28, 2021 at 2:15 PM<\/p>\n\n\n\n


January 28, 2021

Dear Staff and Faculty,
\u00a0
I hope you have had a successful start to winter quarter in these unprecedented times.\u00a0Your\u00a0ability to provide our students with strong remote support and\u00a0rich educational experiences\u00a0over these tough months continues to be inspirational.\u00a0I am\u00a0writing\u00a0now\u00a0to share plans with you about the remainder of this academic year and Evergreen\u2019s\u00a0goal\u00a0to offer\u00a0more\u00a0in-person instruction in Fall 2021.\u00a0\u00a0

State health officials and daily statistics confirm that\u00a0January has\u00a0been the\u00a0worst\u00a0period\u00a0of the COVID pandemic to date.\u00a0The good news is that as of\u00a0today,\u00a0Washington is reporting\u00a0a decrease of\u00a044\u00a0percent in new cases per day<\/a> from the average two weeks earlier.\u00a0After a slow start, the state has\u00a0recently\u00a0ramped up the administration of vaccinations.\u00a0At\u00a0the federal level, on January 21\u00a0President Biden directed the departments of education and health and human services to provide colleges with evidence-based guidance on\u00a0safely reopening for in-person learning.\u00a0\u00a0

Nevertheless, this positive momentum\u00a0and high-level guidance\u00a0is not likely to be enough to allow us to safely return to\u00a0significant levels of\u00a0in-person instruction\u00a0and operations\u00a0anytime soon.\u00a0Therefore, we plan to continue with largely remote teaching,\u00a0learning, and services,\u00a0for the rest of the academic year.\u00a0We hope to\u00a0introduce\u00a0more in-person services and support as health conditions and guidelines allow.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0

Employees who currently work remotely can expect to continue to do so\u00a0at least\u00a0through June 30, 2021, so long as it doesn\u2019t impede critical operations.\u00a0(This date aligns with current guidance provided by Gov. Inslee to state employees and with\u00a0plans at the University of Washington).\u00a0This doesn\u2019t\u00a0necessarily\u00a0mean we will all be back on July 1. Our return will be guided by public health conditions over the next several months.\u00a0And we will examine our decisions through an equity lens.\u00a0\u00a0

Faculty should consult with the curriculum\u00a0deans about modes of instruction and scheduling, and staff should consult with their supervisors if they have questions about their individual working arrangements. Employees can also\u00a0request accommodations\u202fthrough Human Resource Services. We ask that everyone please\u00a0continue\u00a0providing\u00a0flexibility and grace to all members of our Evergreen community, particularly those who have\u00a0critical\u00a0caregiving responsibilities.\u202f\u00a0

Meanwhile,\u00a0if vaccines are distributed effectively,\u00a0we all continue to wear masks, avoid gatherings and do our part to stay safe,\u00a0Evergreen\u00a0should be able\u00a0to\u00a0offer more in-person instruction and support for students in\u00a0Fall 2021.\u00a0I consider this vital. We know\u00a0remote learning disadvantages\u00a0many of\u00a0our\u00a0students, particularly those\u00a0from\u00a0underrepresented\u00a0and underserved\u00a0populations. And we know prospective students are mostly searching for an in-person campus experience for Fall 2021.\u00a0All of\u00a0our partner\u00a0four-year\u00a0public colleges in Washington have declared their\u00a0hopes to provide in-person instruction by then.\u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0
We know there are many important questions to resolve if we are to reach our goal. I am grateful to all in our community who have been so diligent in following health and safety rules\u00a0over the past year\u00a0as we pivoted to remote operations.\u00a0\u00a0We must continue along that path.\u00a0Although we will\u00a0remain\u00a0remote for the time being, our job now is to\u00a0plan,\u00a0work hard and prepare for better times ahead.\u00a0\u00a0

As we have more specifics to share, we will\u00a0do so.\u00a0I look forward to keeping you updated on this effort.\u00a0

Please stay safe,
\u00a0
George
George S. Bridges
President
The Evergreen State College
\u00a0 <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From: Evergreen President’s Office <president@evergreen.edu> Reply-To: Evergreen President’s Office <president@evergreen.edu> Date: Thursday, January 28, 2021 at 2:15 PM January 28,...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4996,"featured_media":1714,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[11,95],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ltc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ltc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ltc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ltc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4996"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ltc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2513"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ltc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2515,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ltc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513\/revisions\/2515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ltc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ltc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ltc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ltc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}