IVCC president Jerry Corcoran sent a letter to faculty, staff and students on March 16 providing updates on the college’s response to COVID-19 and the decision to extend spring break for another week.

Here is Corcoran’s letter:

Dear IVCC Students, Faculty and Staff:

I am sharing with you the College’s plan in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. While we have no confirmed cases affecting IVCC employees or students, prevention of widespread transmission in our college community is our top concern. We are taking these actions out of an abundance of caution, with the well-being of our students and employees in mind.

The college is not closing. Our goal is to transition to alternative methods of providing coursework and programming to our students. All faculty and staff are working hard to make this happen with social distancing and safety standards being stressed along the way. Although our goal is to transfer face-to-face classes to Blackboard, or alternative delivery modes, this may not work for some laboratory classes; those will be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Fortunately, our currently scheduled online courses, to include online and the online portion of hybrid courses, will continue as scheduled beginning March 23 with no interruption. Further directions regarding hybrid courses will be posted by your respective instructor. Questions should be directed to your instructor or appropriate dean.

The ICCB has announced the closure of all funded Adult Education Programs beginning Tuesday, March 17 through Monday, March 30 with a presumed re-opening date of Tuesday, March 31. These dates are consistent with the Governor’s closings of K-12 schools

The college will remain open for students who need access to computers and the internet; however, we must practice social distancing in the labs and computer spaces.

We have amplified our cleaning and disinfecting efforts and have begun contingency planning in the event classes have to be canceled.

Student services will continue including tutoring, advising, library, and computer labs.

All athletic events for the rest of the academic year are cancelled, per NJCAA.

No student club activities will be held during this time.

Please follow the Center for Disease Control guidelines (https://www.cdc.gov/) which include avoiding crowded situations, remaining 6 feet away from others when possible, regular handwashing with soap and water, use of a hand sanitizer, avoid touching your face with unwashed hands, etc. Above all, if you feel sick stay home.

To the best of my knowledge, this situation is unprecedented resulting in major disruptions at all levels of society. I thank you for your patience and understanding as we navigate through uncharted territory. We will do our best to provide updates to this plan at our website: https://www.ivcc.edu/cancellations/corona_virus_update.php. This is an ever-evolving situation and I want to assure you that we will continue to monitor updates from the health department, ICCB and State of Illinois.

Similar to what Governor Pritzker said on Sunday, the IVCC Leadership Team is being forced to choose between making bad, or not-quite-as-bad decisions. One thing you can count on is we will always make decisions we feel are in everyone’s best interests; then, as my Dad used to say, move on.

Take care of yourself, your loved ones and your neighbors. The current situation will pass.

Sincerely,

Dr. Jerry Corcoran, President

Illinois Valley Community College

815 N. Orlando Smith Avenue

Oglesby, IL 61348