<p>McInnis</p>

McInnis

HAMLET — The Richmond Community College Board of Trustees on Monday voted unanimously to push back the start of the spring semester from Jan. 8, 2021 to Jan. 28 on the advice of local health officials regarding the expected spread of COVID-19 in mid-January.

Health Director Tommy Jarrell told RCC officials last week that the state’s current models are showing a post-Christmas spike in COVID-19 cases within the first two weeks of January. Last week, the Richmond County Board of Education voted to go back to virtual learning for all students through at least Jan. 29 based on the same predictions, with the point being that this will allow the Board to make a more informed decision about how to proceed in the future while keeping students and faculty safe from the virus.

RCC’s new schedule came out of a meeting with Superintendent Jeff Maples last week and is intended to be as closely aligned with Richmond County Schools’ schedule as possible, according to Dr. Dale McInnis, president of RCC. McInnis said RCC is pushing back the start of spring semester, rather than going to online-only as the schools have, because of the number of hands-on classes that rely greatly on in-person instruction and the challenges students have faced in the delivery of online instruction.

McInnis said that if cases are still increasing the week before Jan. 28, then RCC will go to online-only, which he referred to as a “last resort” for the college. Under the schedule the Trustees approved Monday, McInnis has the power to make adjustments as needed so long as the Trustees are kept informed.

Vaccines began being distributed in North Carolina Monday morning after receiving federal approval on Friday. Richmond County’s first responders, healthcare workers and long-term care workers will be vaccinated by mid-December, according to Janet Sims, dean of Allied Health and Human Services at RCC, while Health Department staff, including RCC’s nursing students, will receive the vaccine in mid-January.

Sims said that students will be offered the vaccine so that they can help with vaccinating members of the community, which she said could start as early as mid-January.

“Hopefully by the end of spring we will see a big turnaround in use of the vaccine,” Sims said in a conference call with the Trustees Monday morning.

McInnis added that time students spend helping with vaccinations will count as clinical hours for those who haven’t had access to clinical hours.

Kevin Parsons, vice president for Instruction at RCC, said that Jan. 28 was as late as the spring semester could start to still allow the college to catch up without delaying the fall 2021 semester.

“So that was the thought process: to still be able to get spring and summer done to where fall of 2021 — surely we hope this is behind us — and we’ll catch back up and be in a normal schedule,” Parsons said.

McInnis said that the completion of the Kenneth and Claudia Robinette Building in downtown Rockingham and the completion of the renovations to the Lee Building on the main campus will help spread out staff for a possible return to normal operations.

Thursday, Dec. 17 is the last day of classes for the fall 2020 semester.

Reach Gavin Stone at 910-817-2673 or [email protected]. To support the Richmond County Daily Journal, subscribe at https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/subscribe.