The Dallas County Community College District will run classes almost completely online this fall. The seven-school system extended virtual education because of COVID-19.
Dallas’ community college campuses include Brookhaven, Eastfield, Mountain View, Cedar Valley, Pleasant Grove, North Lake and El Centro colleges.
Chancellor Joe May says the number of students is so large that the safest way to teach them is to reach them online.
“With 160,000 students serving 40,000 students any day," said May, “the ability to guarantee that we’re able to screen students coming on campus, they’re not demonstrating symptoms of the disease that could infect others, we want to make sure that we’re putting their safety and health first.”
May said some technical and career courses demand face-to-face instruction, and that’s how they’ll be taught — maintaining a safe distance following CDC guidelines. The extra space they require will be available because online students won’t be in the buildings.
And Dallas isn’t alone. Most schools in community college systems of Houston, Big Bend and Los Angeles, for example, will also teach virtually this fall.
Got a tip? Email Reporter Bill Zeeble at bzeeble@kera.org . You can follow him on Twitter @bzeeble.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gifttoday. Thank you.
