|
Memorandum
TO: All Teaching Faculty
FROM: Provost Larkin
RE: H1N1 flu and class attendance
DATE: September 18, 2009
Although we have no documented cases of the H1N1 flu in this
county or on our campus, we are prepared to help those of you who
are affected by the flu. We are following the guidelines from the
Center for Disease Control in preparing for a few cases or for a
major outbreak of flu on our campus. Students and employees will be
receiving a communication instructing them on infection control
processes and steps to follow in the event of an illness.
Paraphrasing that letter, students will be told to:
- Make arrangements to have someone take them home rather than
remaining on campus, if possible.
- Stay in isolation, refrain from attending classes and campus
events, have meals brought to them, and wear a mask when going
to community bathrooms in the residence halls.
- Resume normal activity 7 days after the onset of the first
symptom OR if you have a fever, after your temperature is normal
for 24 hours.
Faculty will receive notification from Student Development for
the students with flu like symptoms who have notified appropriate
College officials that they have either gone home or who have chosen
to isolate themselves in their local residence.
Because it is important for students who are ill with H1N1 to
stay in their rooms or go home, we should not penalize them for
failure to attend class. We urge you to consider developing
alternative assignments for such students, so that they do not fall
unduly behind as they recover from illness. While alternative
assignments may not be possible for every course, please be as
flexible as possible in these unusual circumstances. We also urge
you not to require students to provide written excuses for their
absence.
We all hope that the H1N1 flu season will be minimally disruptive of
our instructional efforts. The College will do whatever it can to
try to prevent a massive outbreak of illness, including delivering a
vaccine when it becomes available. We believe, however, that it is
prudent to plan responses as best we can before a potential crisis
and I urge you to do so. Thank you for your cooperation.
Please refer to the College website,
http://www.oneonta.edu for
updates.
|
