(Seguin) – TLU is rolling out its preliminary plans for the return to school for the 2020 Fall semester.
Dr. Debbie Cottrell, the president of Texas Lutheran University, says staff is currently working on releasing its official document outlining the specifics for both campus and online learning. She says this comprehensive reopening plan has students returning to the university next month in August.
“As of right now, we are planning on reopening our campus and having our students back but with some noticeable modifications and right now, our plan is to have about two-thirds of our classes face to face and about one-third online and that allows us to create more capacity with classrooms to spread things out to decrease density in the academic setting which will be safer and then in housing, we will reopen our residences halls but we will have single occupancy only which is a big shift for us but it’s again, a density issue type of safety,” said Cottrell.
Dr. Cottrell says of course, safety will be key in anything that they do to reopen school amid the COVID-19 pandemic. She says all safety guidelines will be in place and enforced until otherwise noted by TLU officials.
“We will have all kinds of signage and protocols. We will be following all the official guidelines from local and state and CDC authorities so lots of social distancing and of course, mask wearing and many other things that will keep the campus as safe as possible. We will even have to do some things differently and in some cases, not do things that we normally would but our focus is on delivering a quality, academic experience for our students as it always is with the particularly important layer right now of doing that in a safe way as we still come through this pandemic,” said Cottrell.
Again, at this time, TLU is planning for its fall academic calendar to remain as originally set, with classes beginning on Aug. 25 and ending on Dec. 9. They are also still planning on the observation of Fall Break and Thanksgiving holidays.
Unlike other higher learning institutions who have made adjustments in their calendars, Dr. Cottrell, in a written update to students, says based on its student population, along with other safety protocols believes that changing its semester calendar would not increase safety levels on the campus.
“And of course, we are planning as best as we can knowing that we might have to make some revisions as we see what continues to unfold,” said Cottrell.
All decisions and plans are said to be the results of months of discussions by the TLU COVID-19 Planning and Response Committee plus other COVID-19 work teams who have been steadily working on the plans to return to learning.
TLU officials say they hope to share even more details as it releases its comprehensive and updated “Looking Ahead: Our Plan for Summer and Fall 2020” document. That document is set to be released sometime this mid-July at tlu.edu.