Daytona Beach, FL - While most of their classes have been online, Daytona State College announces that they're ready to bring back face-to-face classes.
It won't be a full return as the institution will, for the time being, only offer "hybrid courses." These types of classes, which will run for the half-semester of "Summer B," do have face-to-face time between teachers and students while also blending in elements from an online course.
However, since the state is still affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, one of the obvious concerns with bringing students back onto campus will be social distancing. But, Daytona State has already prepared for that.
"We're strategically locating them in our largest classrooms that hold 70 plus students," said Dr. Tom LoBasso, president of Daytona State College.
There will be caps placed on the classes, limiting them to 20 students only.
According to Dr. LoBasso, since the school began to move classes online in late March, staff have been preparing the campus for the inevitable return of students. Those changes included installing hand sanitizer stations at every elevator on campus.
The facilities staff at DSC also chipped in by creating their own homemade mounts for hand sanitizer stations that can be placed at other high traffic locations like the many building entrances found all over the campus.
Plexiglass barriers were also installed at student service areas, such as reception areas. And markers have been placed on the floor of the dining hall so students can stay six feet apart. Signs were also posted around the campus that display hygiene tips, reminders and new policies – such as a new guideline that limits the number of people in an elevator – that were created with social distancing in mind.
"Many many hours of planning went into slowly bringing students back to campus," commented Dr. LoBasso.
Soon, the staff at Daytona State will also have to think about the upcoming Fall semester. But, since time is not on their side, the school cannot wait to see how the Summer B portion of the semester does.
Instead, they're on a similar set-up to what students will see with these classes, meaning that the school will move into a more hybrid schedule than a regular full-time face-to-face class schedule. The school will also "thin out" the schedule to help reduce the number of students on campus.
"There will probably be more online opportunities than before while balancing and offering hybrid-type classes so students can get the face-to-face interaction," added Dr. LoBasso. "We did a survey and 62% of students (for the fall semester) indicated an interest in a face-to-face or a hybrid type of experience."
To help accommodate students while catering to social distancing guidelines, Dr. LoBasso said that the school has also converted parts of auxiliary buildings, such as their events center and the new L. Gale Lemerand Student Center, into additional classroom settings that can fit up to 24 students while maintaining a six-foot buffer area around them.
"We hope to announce what that looks like in the next couple of weeks for Fall," said Dr. LoBasso.
The school is also in the middle of waiting for guidance from their sports department's sanctioning body, the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), to see what they need to do in order to bring their sports back.
Dr. LoBasso told News Daytona Beach that they're hoping for an answer within the next couple of weeks. Regardless of what it is or how long it will be, the school is planning as if it is returning anyway.
Official plans for the Fall 2020 semester are not completed yet, but they should be announced soon. Students can expect to find out what the college planned through their Daytona State FalconMail email, the school's various social media feeds or the official Daytona State College website.
The Summer B face-to-face classes begin on June 29th.
