Dear Campus Community,

I wanted to share some very important updates regarding our Fall and Spring Semesters, Winter Session, Athletics and the Child Development Centers.

Updates on Fall 2020 Semester

As a reminder, Fall Semester will be mostly online, with some essential labs in CTE and Health Sciences, which will be conducted in-person on campus. The term “essential” has been defined by the current Long Beach City COVID-19 order. Essential areas include health care, food preparation and construction.

Extensive and detailed plans for these labs have been developed by many people across the College – faculty, deans, administrators, Academic Affairs, Facilities, and Business Services. I want to thank everyone who contributed to the planning. The plans have been customized for each individual lab and include:

• An assessment of square footage of available classrooms for physical distancing purposes. Some labs may use more than one room to ensure physical distancing.
• Instructions to faculty and students on what kind of personal protective equipment (PPE) is required and to reminders to maintain physical distancing.
• Instructions on where students should park, what restroom to use, the required pathway where to walk from the parking lot to their classroom, and arrival time to ensure that students will enter the classrooms at staggered times.
• A check-in area where staff will inquire if students have any possible COVID-19 symptoms.
• Plexiglass barriers have been installed in some classrooms.
• Protocols on how to clean tools between classes/students, and when and how staff will disinfect the classroom and equipment.

We are currently taking best practices from the Spring 2020 labs that were completed over the summer and are applying them for Fall.  Fall plans for these labs will be shared when they are approved. 

Winter 2021 Session Will Be Online

Long Beach City College’s Winter 2021 Session will be held online. With this announcement, we will have to make several changes for the Winter schedule. We will keep you informed on the updated schedule.

Spring 2021 Semester

With the news of Winter Session, I’m sure you are all wondering what is happening for Spring 2021 Semester. At this time, there has been no decision made about Spring 2021. I know that we are all anxious to hear when we will return to campus, but LBCC makes all of its health and safety decisions in accordance with state and local health orders. The safety of our campus community is our number one priority.

Fall Athletics Moving to Spring

The California Community College Athletic Association announced recently that all Fall 2020 sports will be moved to the Spring 2021 Semester. Student athletes for Fall sports will now condition in the Fall and will compete during the Spring. In addition, the season will be reduced by 25 percent. Please note that these plans may change dependent on state and local health guidelines.

Child Development Centers

We hoped that we would be able to re-open our Child Development Centers (CDC) located at the Liberal Arts Campus and Pacific Coast Campus at the end of August. LBCC knows that many of our students, faculty and staff depend on the CDCs for childcare. But with the recent spikes in COVID-19 cases, we will be meeting soon to re-assess if it is possible to re-open the CDC next month. We will keep you updated.

Thank you in advance for your understanding as we work to ensure the safety and well-being of all students and colleagues of Long Beach City College. I know that these past four months have been extremely challenging for everyone – both professionally and personally. But I’m so proud of our students, faculty, and staff for coming together during these incredibly unusual times.

Vikings strong!

Sincerely,

Lou Anne Bynum
Interim Superintendent-President
Long Beach Community College District