Mesa Community College set to have 50% in-person class occupancies this fall
Mesa Community College is looking to have 40-50% in-person course capacity for the upcoming fall semester.
“Rather than a focus on 50% capacity, we aim to provide access to 100% of our services,” said MCC’s Senior Associate Vice President Nora Reyes via email. MCC is optimizing how to provide services that best “align with student needs and preferences” during the transition.
District and college leadership have been meeting regularly throughout the pandemic to make sure MCC complied with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state guidelines, according to Reyes.
The decision to implement in-person courses was made because of a decrease in COVID-19 cases statewide. At its height this year, the Arizona Department of Health Services had confirmed 12,434 COVID-19 cases on January 4, followed by a reported 11,755 cases on January 5. According to the online ADHS Coronavirus database, numbers have lowered. On April 30, 665 cases were reported.
On March 22, the state announced Arizonans age 16 and older were eligible for the vaccine.
“With COVID statistics improving and in alignment with the aforementioned guidelines, MCC is targeting 40-50% in-person/hybrid course offerings for Fall 2021,” said Reyes.
The Red Mountain campus and the Southern and Dobson campus will still follow CDC guidelines for masks and social distancing this fall. And it hasn’t yet been decided which classes will have specific changes to the in-person format, and the Maricopa County Community College District wouldn’t provide these specific details.
When asked how the school and teachers are preparing for the fall, Reyes said, “We continue to monitor local and national COVID-19 data.”
Reyes added that schools continue to reassess and make adjustments to ensure staff and student safety on campus. But she has noticed there’s more “stability” moving forward and less need for “drastic changes that we’ve had to make earlier in the pandemic.”
“The biggest change is the addition of in-person offerings,” Reye said. “MCC is looking forward to a ‘better normal’ with the fall semester marking our new beginning. We are prepared to rise and soar, we are Thunderbirds!”
