North Idaho College will transition to remote learning for a two-week period beginning Monday owing to an increase in COVID cases.
At the board meeting on Wednesday evening, interim President Michael Sebaaly stated that the aim is to limit general foot traffic on campus in order to reduce the spread of sickness.
The huge increase in COVID cases, according to Laura Rumpler, NIC’s chief communications officer, is placing a tremendous burden on the whole college community, and in order to keep students, teachers, and staff safe, they aim to decrease the amount of face-to-face encounters through Feb. 4.
“This plan will allow for COVID infections to subside and for the continuous delivery of instruction and support services.”Laura Rumpler, Chief Communications Officer, NIC
Rumpler stated that the next four days would be spent planning for the rolling transition so that professors may meet with students one more time before moving to remote learning. Rumpler added that for sessions that cannot pivot, such as laboratories and activity courses, provisions would be made to provide for physical separation at all times. Dual credit courses given in high schools will follow school district policies.
The NIC Children’s Center was closed on Saturday due to the absence of a large number of employees and children because of COVID. Rumpler stated that they aim to have a decrease in sickness and sufficient staffing to reopen the centre on Tuesday.
The college will also minimize the number of workers on campus by utilizing staff rotations in offices and remote work to allow for more physical separation. According to Rumpler, this will allow them to preserve employees’ well-being while also ensuring a presence of services on campus.
Following the resignation of previous trustee Michael Barnes, the board of trustees unanimously directed the administration to announce the vacancy and accept letters of interest by February 9.
Letters of interest should be submitted to the board of trustees via the president’s office.
At the board meeting on February 23, official public interviews with applicants will take place. At the next regularly scheduled board meeting, the temporary trustee will be sworn in.
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