IMPORTANT: NECC and Coronavirus Preparation and Prevention – March 19, 2020

Good Evening, NECC Students, Staff, and Faculty—

This evening, as the Coronavirus pandemic continues to evolve and NECC, like colleges, companies, and communities across the Commonwealth continues to take precautions and make necessary changes to campus operations, please note the following important updates and reminders:

New Coronavirus Information Q&A Web Page

While you can find all of these announcements and a lot of other useful information on the college’s Coronavirus Information web page at www.necc.mass.edu/public-safety/coronavirus-information, we are in the process of sorting through some of the most commonly asked questions and making the answers easier to find, especially for students. Watch for that update in the next day or so.

For now, if you are a student with a question related to your classes, academic advising, tutoring, the library, financial aid, or anything at all that we can answer for you, just call (978) 556-3700 or email us at expectmore@necc.mass.edu.

Remote Work, Teaching, and Learning

NECC and all of the Massachusetts Community Colleges are fully committed to maximizing remote work, teaching, and learning opportunities for the foreseeable future as we seek to ensure the health and safety of our students, employees, and communities:

• On campus, in-person services, the hours of services, and the staffing available for services, are all now limited.
• For the remainder of this week, and through March 29, in-person services to students and the public will be limited on both the Haverhill and Lawrence campus to these hours:
  • Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
  • Wednesday 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
• The library already offers nearly all of its services online, and will be moving to an appointment-based approach to services that may require direct interaction, effective March 29.
• Last night, NECC Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs Bill Heineman sent some instructions for the upcoming “Remote Teaching and Learning Prep Week” to all faculty.

Many, many thanks to staff of the Center for Professional Development and Center for Instructional Technology for their Herculean efforts to prepare and schedule a variety of options to workshops, teleconferences, and coaching to prepare our courses for remote teaching and learning beginning March 30. Thanks, too, to all of the academic deans, department chairs, program coordinators, and faculty who are diligently ensuring, as much as possible, that our students are able to complete their courses this semester.

Campus Cleaning

NECC is working with our janitorial company (CSI) to continually monitor and address issues and cleanliness related to the campus. To date we have taken the following steps:

• Installed 75 additional hand sanitizers for the Haverhill and Lawrence Campus (45 additional hand sanitizers are on order).
• Hired additional staff on each campus to supplement current day cleaning efforts. This is designed to disinfect all high touch surfaces throughout the campus.
• Brought in additional staff over the past weekend to do a thorough cleaning of the college.
• Evening cleaning crews, in addition to regular cleaning services, are disinfecting doorknobs, wall switches, stair handrails, tables and other high traffic areas.
• The cleaning crew is using a product called Spartan TB-Cide Quat, specifically designed for use in hospitals, nursing homes, and schools, where infection control is of prime importance.
• CSI has provided all janitorial employees with training on pandemic/outbreak disinfection.

We will also be working to reduce the square footage of the college over the next few weeks to allow CSI to continue to focus on high traffic areas. As classrooms and office space are not being used due to remote and other accommodations, we will lock the room/space reducing use and the need for constant cleaning.

Reporting Illness

IMPORTANT: Please stay home if you are sick.

Additionally, so that we can protect the safety of the rest of our campus community:

If you are an employee suffering flu-like symptoms, or if you have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or been exposed to COVID-19, please contact Human Resources at hr@necc.mass.edu or (978) 556-3985.

If you are a student suffering flu-like symptoms, or if you have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or been exposed to COVID-19, please contact Student Affairs at jmezquita@necc.mass.edu or (978) 556-3735.

Personal information will be kept strictly confidential.

The Days Ahead

Please continue to check your NECC email for updates, and the NECC Coronavirus Information web page at www.necc.mass.edu/public-safety/coronavirus-information. The days ahead will be important ones—in the cycle of this pandemic, and for the preparations we are making. Thank you all for doing your part to protect yourself, and those around you. And thank you for your outstanding service to our students. Please be well.

–Lane

Lane A. Glenn President Northern Essex Community College

Check out “Running the Campus,” my blog featuring stories and perspectives on leadership, higher education, and going the extra mile: president.necc.mass.edu or connect with me on social media on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.