COVID-19 Presidential Update

Published on Mar 12, 2020

Dear Students,

With the threat of the COVID-19 in our region, I’d like to emphasize that Gateway’s top priorities are the health and wellbeing of our students, faculty and staff.

With that in mind, Gateway will be taking the following approach to delivering instruction:

Online classes currently in progress will continue as usual.
Online classes scheduled to start on Monday, March 16 (2nd 8- week session) will start as planned.
All face-to-face and hybrid courses delivered on campus will be cancelled March 16 and 17 and will be transitioning to online delivery. Converted face-to-face and hybrid courses will start on March 18.
Continue to watch your email for announcements about possible adjustments to clinicals, labs or other necessary requirements for course completion.

All Gateway Campuses will remain open during this period. We understand that this situation can create challenges for you. Our business and student support services will continue as usual, including admissions, advising, disability services, assessment center, and access to on-campus computer labs.

All non-essential college sponsored events will be canceled through April 6. We will monitor the situation to determine if this should be extended. Other events will be reviewed on an individual basis.

At this time, we are planning to resume face-to-face and hybrid classes on Monday, April 6. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and will make a determination about the rest of the semester by April 2.

As I stated in my email Tuesday, the CDC believes that the Coronavirus is thought to be transmitted primarily in two ways:

Through person-to-person contact when people are in close contact with one another (within about six feet) and through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes;
From contact with infected surfaces or objects by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes.

With that in mind, our Maintenance and Operations staff has taken the following measures to help prevent the spread of viruses here at Gateway:

Common areas are being cleaned/disinfected at least twice daily including door handles, bathroom fixtures and stalls, water fountains/dispensers, etc.
Hand sanitizer dispensers have been installed in hallways for easy access.
Classroom and meeting rooms, furnishings, and surfaces are being disinfected each night.

I would like to emphasize that proper habits for good health are vital at this time. Please do your part to control the spread of this virus by:

Washing your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
Using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer if soap and water are not available.
Avoiding contact with people who are obviously sick.
Covering your cough or sneeze with a tissue and then discard it in the trash.

Please know that this was not an easy decision to make. While moving our courses to an online format may be a dramatic step, we feel that it is Gateway’s duty to do our part to keep our students, faculty, staff and community safe as Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana have declared states of emergency due to the threat of Coronavirus.

Please check your Gateway/KCTCS email often for possible updates.

Thank you,

Dr. Fernando Figueroa
Gateway President