Superintendent/President of Santa Barbara City College Dr. Utpal K. Goswami announced an update regarding plans for the Fall 2020 semester. Given current community conditions, classes will start fully online.
Initial plans for the Fall semester considered offering the majority of courses online, with a small percentage of classes conducted face-to-face. The College has been working diligently on those plans for several months. However, since Santa Barbara County has been on the State of California’s Monitoring List since June 6, 2020, SBCC has had to reassess its plans.
“We have been in ongoing, regular communication with our Santa Barbara County Public Health department and have determined that it is highly unlikely that our County will be able to make the needed progress in order to allow for face-to-face instruction to resume on August 24th [the first day of Fall semester],” wrote Goswami in an email to faculty and staff.
Although the plan is for all Fall courses to begin online, the College will be pursuing a very limited exemption for some of classes that support essential and critical infrastructure. The State of California allows, with approval from the local Public Health Agency, certain programs that support essential and critical infrastructure to meet in-person in order to fulfill specific requirements. Such classes would be limited in scope and follow strict health and safety guidelines. SBCC has nine Career Technology Education (CTE) programs that might meet this exemption. Over the next couple of weeks, SBCC hopes to work out details on possible exemptions in consultation with the Public Health Department.
Recognizing its responsibility to support students, faculty and staff, SBCC is dedicated to “flattening the curve” in order to make a difference in community transmission of the virus. For updates on the situation as it evolves, visit the SBCC website: www.sbcc.edu
