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Las Positas College in Livermore plans to reopen the campus for the fall 2021 semester with in-person, online and hybrid schedules to offer more flexibility for students.
According to the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District (CLPCCD), both Las Positas and its sister campus Chabot College in Hayward will have more hybrid online/in-person classes for the fall than they have had since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
“As COVID-19 cases decline across the country and in our region, we feel very comfortable allowing more classes to be held on-ground on both campuses,” CLPCCD Chancellor Ronald Gerhard said in a statement. “This hybrid format will allow our students to cautiously enjoy some of the benefits of learning in a traditional setting, while reaping the rewards of a distance learning environment during the pandemic.”
Safety protocols as recommended by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration will be in place for all in-person meetings of classes at Las Positas and Chabot, CLPCCD officials said.
“The campus really made a decision to come back slowly and to leave room to not go full bore in the fall so that we could abide by any lingering social distancing guidance that might still be in place,” said Las Positas English professor Michelle Cruz Gonzales, who will be teaching courses completely online this fall.
“We do know and realize that many students do want to come back face-to-face and want to be at school full-time but many have found that online classes work for them,” she added.
This mixed learning structure is not completely new to the campus. While Las Positas transitioned to mostly online instruction this past school year in response to the pandemic, some courses considered essential by the state have already been taking place in hybrid format.
The decision to allow students to return to the local community college campuses came days ahead of an announcement from Bay Area health officials calling for California schools of all levels to open for full-time, in-person learning this fall.
Officers from Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Sonoma and the city of Berkeley issued a joint statement last week in support of allowing schools throughout the state to reopen.
“The lack of in-person learning has disrupted education, weakened the social supports provided by school communities, negatively impacted mental health, and prevented participation in the rituals and shared milestones that tie our communities together,” the group said.
Fall classes for Las Positas and Chabot are set to start on Aug. 18. Registration is currently open, however, CLPCCD said that class schedules are subject to change to maintain compliance with COVID-19 state and county guidelines.
For updated course offerings and more information, visit laspositascollege.edu.
