MCC Daily Tribune

Intersession & Spring 2021 Update

Dear Faculty and Staff,

It is with deep gratitude and admiration, that I once again acknowledge your efforts to stay safe and overcome the many challenges we faced together during the fall 2020 semester. I am so proud of you.

Without your hard work, adherence to safety protocols, and participation in pooled (saliva) testing (if applicable), we would not have been able to support our students’ educational goals and offer limited in-person learning and services, while reducing the spread of COVID-19.

As in the fall, our number one priority during Spring Semester 2021 will be ensuring your safety and that of our community. This means that adherence to health and safety protocols and required COVID-19 screening and testing will resume on January 4, 2021, with the start of intersession and before the spring semester. Just as students, faculty and staff were required to test negative for COVID-19 prior to the close of this semester, SUNY mandates everyone to undergo COVID-19 testing before coming to campus in the new year. MCC will adhere to SUNY guidance as listed below:

All students and employees must submit a daily screening for 14 days prior to returning to campus. The College’s online COVID-19 Self-Assessment tool may be used for this purpose in order to automate reporting and tracking.
All students who will have a physical presence on campus during intersession and/or the spring semester must:
- Submit an attestation that they have completed a 7-day precautionary quarantine. (An optional exemption available for commuter students who work or for medical or health professions students designated as “essential workers.”)
- Present evidence of a negative COVID-19 test taken within three (3) days prior to return or participate in on-campus COVID-19 testing as soon as possible but no later than five (5) days of returning to campus.
- Present documentation of a positive diagnostic result for COVID-19 from the prior 3-month period.

More details about how this process will work will be shared via email and the MCC Updates & Resources web pages.

Following the break, Intersession 2021 will be fully online and remote from Jan. 4-20, with a few approved exceptions. Faculty, staff and students assigned to work on campus during intersession are required to participate in pooled testing 9:00-11:00 a.m. Monday, Jan. 4 or Wednesday, Jan. 13 (depending on your return date, no appointment necessary) as well as Monday, Jan. 25 or Tuesday, Jan. 26 at MCC’s Pooled Testing Center in the Warshof Conference Center, Flynn Campus Center (Monroe A/B). Upcoming pooled testing dates are available on the Pooled COVID-19 Testing web page.

If you plan to live on campus, take an in-person course or lab, or come to any MCC location for services or to work during the spring semester, you must participate in mandatory pooled testing 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Monday, Jan. 25 or Tuesday, Jan. 26 (no appointment necessary). If you choose to be tested by another provider, such as the New York State Department of Health drive-through COVID-19 testing site on the Brighton Campus, you must send proof of a negative test to MCC Human Resources Director Kristin Lowe at klowe5@monroecc.edu by Friday, Jan. 29.

With protecting your health and safety as our top priority, MCC will continue requiring that you wear masks, social distance, and practice good hand hygiene on campus. To extend this protection even further, we cancelled the winter and spring breaks in favor of a shorter, continuous spring semester. Planning for a virtual Commencement on May 20, 2021 is underway.

The attached What Students Should Know guide is also available on our website and provides an overview of how MCC will operate safely and support student success in 2021. It also lists ways we will stay connected as a college community and provides links to resources that promote mental health and wellness.

MCC’s Winter/Spring Semester 2021 Plan is pending SUNY approval and will be made available on our website as soon as possible.

With vaccinations underway in New York state and across our region, there is new hope that we will witness the beginning of the end of the coronavirus pandemic. However, we need to continue taking every measure possible to protect your health and safety. This is our overriding priority for a successful intersession and spring semester.

To say we are all looking forward to the break that starts on Thursday, Dec. 24 is an understatement. On behalf of MCC, I wish you and your family a safe, restful and healthy holiday season and New Year.

P.S. MCC will be closed beginning Dec. 24, 2020 through Jan. 3, 2021. (No campus/site access permitted.) The college will reopen on Monday, Jan. 4.

Attached Files:
What Students Should Know COVID-19 and Returning to CampusFINAL.pdf

Katherine Douglas
Office of the President
12/21/2020