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We're Ready for you!

An August 14th update from President Doran

Dear Bay Path Students:

This is an exciting time at Bay Path as we welcome students to the fall semester! Many of you have already enrolled in online classes, others will be joining us on campus at the Ryan Center later this month and at our Longmeadow Campus in early September, and still many other undergraduate and graduate students will continue to take classes online.

No matter how you are joining us, we are ready and excited!

Being ready means that we have been hard at work to provide a safe learning environment for all of us. I’ve included a few details below and you’ll be getting comprehensive information over the coming days and weeks.

But being ready also means that we are doing everything possible to make sure your Bay Path experience is a good one.  True, some things have changed—and they must—in response to the pandemic. But what hasn’t changed is even more important: our commitment to serving you. The student support services that are an important part of your educational journey, like advising, tutoring, and career development are all in place. And in our shared spirit of carpe diem, we are planning virtual events to engage and inspire the entire Bay Path community.  

If you are taking classes online, you’ll find the learning experience to be enriching, with plenty of support to help you succeed. If your courses are on campus, you’ll find smaller classes in sanitized facilities—and if weather permits, maybe even a few classes on our beautiful lawn. Whether online or on-ground, Bay Path faculty are ready to help you make the most of your education.

As we began formulating our COVID-19 plans for the fall semester, we developed a set of guiding principles to inform our decision making. As the fourth guiding principle states, our ability to teach and learn together in a safe environment requires that all members of our community lean on one another and follow established guidelines consistently and compassionately. 

Here are a few examples of what this will mean:

Testing:  will be mandatory for all students, faculty and staff who plan to be on campus for any reason.  Following the initial test, each individual will be tested at least every two weeks thereafter. More specific information about testing and how to schedule a test will be made available in the next several days. 

Please know that the test is an observed lower nasal swab.  It’s simple, quick, doesn’t hurt a bit. In fact I was tested today and you can watch how easy it is by clicking here.

Daily symptom tracking:  will also be mandatory. All faculty, staff, and students who are living on campus or coming to campus for any reason, will utilize an app (we will provide the link) for tracking symptoms daily. Aggregate data (no personal information) for tracking will be stored and made available on our portal so we can all stay current on health trends on our campus.

Training: Information regarding testing and symptom tracking will be part of the mandatory training modules that all community members, including students, must complete prior to arriving on campus. You will receive details about the training process soon.

This is, indeed, a community-wide undertaking, one in which we all share responsibility. There will be reminders all over campus of how we must take best care and precautions, like this:

Remember, “We all share and accept the responsibility for keeping ourselves and each other healthy.”

It will be a joy to greet you! In the meantime, my best to you and your family.

Sincerely,
Sandra J. Doran, J.D.
President