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At a press conference earlier today, Governor Kay Ivey issued a statewide Safer at Home order which begins Thursday, April 30 at 5 p.m. and expires Friday, May 15 at 5:00 p.m.

Safer at Home Order
Safer at Home Info Sheet
FAQs about Beaches

With an emphasis on health and safety and an awareness that the COVID-19 impact varies from community to community, Chancellor Baker asked each college president to determine the plans for their college to offer classes in the upcoming summer term. The full memo is available here.

Chancellor Baker announced today that online instruction will continue at all of its campuses through the remainder of the spring semester.

“Every decision concerning the operations of Alabama’s community colleges is being made with the health and safety of our students, faculty, staff, and administrators at the forefront,” said ACCS Chancellor Jimmy H. Baker. “While we couldn’t have imagined what this semester would look like for our colleges, I am incredibly grateful for the creativity, resilience, and commitment to learning shown by our faculty, staff, and students during this difficult time.”

Find the full release here and the official memo here.

Chancellor Baker directs all ACCS colleges to cancel or reschedule all traditional graduation ceremonies scheduled for this semester as they would involved large gatherings of people. The memo is available here.

Governor Kay Ivey and the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) on Thursday issued a statewide health order to aid in Alabama’s efforts to contain the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19).

The full order is available here.

Governor Kay Ivey gave authorization for all state agency directors to advise their employees to work from home if possible. Please note, this does not include agencies dealing with public safety, direct care, and other essential services. These vital services will continue to be available to Alabama’s citizens.

Chancellor Baker issued a memo Sunday evening encouraging college Presidents to begin plans to transition their employees off campus.

We continue to encourage all ACCS students, faculty, staff, and administrators to:

• Social distance and limit attendance at large gatherings
• Stay home if any symptom of illness, like fever or cough are present
• Wash hands with soap and hot water often
• Avoid touching nose, mouth, and eyes

The Alabama Community College System (ACCS) will temporarily discontinue on campus instruction at 23 institutions across the state for the period of March 17 – April 3. Many ACCS institutions have a scheduled Spring Break during this time and students may be asked to extend this break period. This will allow the colleges faculty, staff, and administration to develop a plan for alternative instructional efforts.  All events scheduled at the state’s community colleges during this time frame are also cancelled. While classes will not be taking place, ACCS colleges will continue normal operations. Colleges with dormitories will continue to provide basic services to the students who are housed on campus with no alternative options.

Alternative instruction plans are being developed by each ACCS college. These plans will be communicated directly to students by their respective institutions next week.

The Alabama Community College Conference (ACCC) has extended the suspension of all regular season competition for all teams through April 3.

The full press release is available here.

Chancellor Baker issued three memos to ACCS colleges and System Office staff regarding travel, leave, and college responses teams and instructional efforts. A summary of each directive is below. The full memo contents can be found under ‘Messages from the Chancellor’.

Travel– All college-sponsored, supported or work related out-of-state travel and all system office work related out-of-state travel is canceled until further notice. This prohibition includes international travel.

All personnel planning college work related, or system office work related in-state travel are encouraged to consider whether meetings and other events can be successfully and effectively conducted via alternative meeting methods (e.g. Skype, ZOOM, teleconference, etc.).

College Response Teams/Instructional Efforts – Directs each college to develop a response team. ACCS colleges are advised to develop an instructional continuity plan to be activated in the event a college needs to be closed due to COVID-19. Consideration should be given to minimize instructional disruptions and shift the delivery of face-to-face methods to minimize interruption of student learning.

Leave– If employees who are on work related assignments are placed under mandatory quarantine due to COVID-9, their sick leave accounts will not be charged for the period of their quarantine.

If an employee tests positive for COVID-19, or the employee’s child or dependent tests positive and the employee must stay home to provide care, then that employee should stay at home for 14 days and should not be charged sick, annual or personal leave. It is important that anyone with a positive test isolates and removes himself or herself from the population for the quarantine period.

Encourage faculty to consider alternative attendance policies for students who can present verifiable doctor’s excuses for illness.