The SUNY system has approved a spring 2021 academic continuity plan for SUNY New Paltz. The approved plan can be reviewed at www.newpaltz.edu/newpaltzforward/.
The college’s approach in spring 2021 will be similar to its fall plan to offer a mix of in-person, hybrid and fully online courses (three-quarters remote and on-quarter seated or hybrid).
All students must complete a seven-day precautionary quarantine prior to any in-person presence on campus. Residence halls will open on January 17.
The spring semester will begin as scheduled on January 19. Nearly all course delivery will take place remotely prior to February 1. Courses scheduled as seated or hybrid courses will begin in-person instruction on February 1.
SUNY has approved a limited list of New Paltz courses that will begin in-person instruction on January 25, after meeting remotely the week before.
Students, faculty and staff who will have an on-campus presence will be required to complete daily health screenings two weeks prior to their first on-campus presence and report symptoms, exposures or travel as designated by SUNY policy.
The daily screening has been revised for spring to capture information regarding travel to non-contiguous states and an attestation that such travel results in the required quarantine. Also, at the end of the two-week period, a health screening will require an attestation that students have completed a precautionary seven-day quarantine.
SUNY is requiring students, faculty and staff to produce a negative Covid-19 test result taken within three days prior to their presence on campus, or to be tested within five days after coming to campus for the first time. This applies to anyone who plans to live, work or take classes on campus, or to use campus facilities such as the gym, library or dining hall.
The college will offer daily (Monday-Friday) on-campus Covid-19 testing from January 19 through February 4. Anyone who chooses to submit test results from an off-campus facility must do so within five days of arrival on campus.
To discourage travel, SUNY has mandated that spring break be cancelled and days off during the semester must fall on midweek days. New Paltz will end the semester two days earlier and has scheduled three individual “Mind, Body, Spirit” days on Tuesday, February 23, Wednesday, March 24 and Thursday, April 15.
Commencement exercises ordinarily occurring at or near the close of spring 2021 semester will be considered in accordance with state guidance. Campuses should begin to plan and message virtual commencements and/or safely distanced methods of recognition and degree dissemination for their graduates. New Paltz plans will be contingent on state health department guidance at the time of commencement.
The in-person population will be subject to mandatory Covid-19 surveillance testing, with options for on-campus tests or results from off-campus facilities.
The college will be prepared with a plan to temporarily Pause and Pivot to fully remote instruction if so directed.
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