Following a Board of Regents meeting held the morning of May 29, the Texas A&M System has approved and released a COVID-19 Response Plan for reopening member campuses and programs for the 2020-2021 school year.
The plan to reopen all system campuses will employ a mixture of face-to-face, remote and online instruction. A general guidance has been provided to all system campuses and can be found here, and this guidance can be tailored to an individual plan for reopening for system schools.
President Michael K. Young was quoted in a system-wide email stating some of the major changes.
“Weeks ago, we created several committees who have been working tirelessly to address questions from their unique perspectives,” Young said.
Changes to the fall semester include calls to social distancing by adjusting classroom capacity, longer class days to decrease campus congestion, adjustments to the academic calendar and a “phased-in” arrival to campus in August and January.
Guidance also includes that employees and students should be required to certify that they do not have COVID-19, symptoms of COVID-19 or have come into close contact with someone who has COVID-19.
Upon arrival to campus students, faculty and staff will be provided with a daily checklist to monitor symptoms and a training module for safe conduct regarding exposure to viruses will be required for all individuals on campus. By July 31, each system university
In the email Young said Aggies must stick together and all do their individual parts to make this a smooth transition into the fall semester.
“Even though the fall will require some new and different protocols, our values and traditions will continue to bring us together, whether it’s in-person or in spirit,” Young said.
More information about A&M’s 2020-2021 COVID-19 Response Plan can be found here.
This is a developing story and will be updated as we receive more information.