Students to return to Winthrop for fall semester, Clinton to remain online, officials say
Winthrop University is planning to bring students back on campus in the fall. Clinton College will hold classes online for the fall semester. York Tech will bring some students back and Rock Hill Schools is still working out its plan for the fall, officials announced at a city meeting Wednesday.
At the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center, representatives from the four institutions announced updates on how the school year will look in August as the pandemic continues its sweep.
Some schools have solidified plans, while some are still figuring out details, but all four Rock Hill institutions agreed that the school year will be different.
Winthrop University
Classes at Winthrop will begin August 25, said Adrienne McCormick, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. Class sizes will be reduced, 20% of classes will be online and about 600 classes will be offered as a hybrid class, which will include an online and in-person portion, McCormick said.
“We are also planning on being very flexible with students who must remain remote, but need courses that we are planning to offer in person, so those students will be able to have remote access, even when there is an in-person classroom environment,” McCormick said.
Students will be expected to wear masks and Winthrop will provide at least one reusable mask to every student, McCormick said. The university does not currently have a testing plan, she said.
“We’re modifying our student code of conduct and we’ll be making sure that if you’re in a classroom in person, you will be wearing a mask,” McCormick said.
The number of vacations will be reduced to limit travel to and from campus, and classes will end the week of Thanksgiving, McCormick said. Also, occupancy in residence halls will be reduced, she said.
The university will bring staff and faculty back in phases, McCormick said. Essential employees returned in June, and Winthrop officials plan to have about 50% of the university’s workforce back on campus starting July 6 and have most workers fully returned by July 27, she said.
Winthrop will have a small number of students return to campus for summer session D classes, which begins July 13. There will be fewer than five classes offered during the summer session, McCormick said.
Clinton College
Clinton College, an historically black college in Rock Hill, will not have students return to campus in the fall, but officials said they hope students can return for the spring, college President Lester A. McCorn said.
“It was very agonizing for us because our students rely on the community that Clinton gives them,” he said. “Many of them come from very challenging backgrounds. So to up route them from campus was very difficult.”
Staff will come back in phases starting July 15, he said. And the college will bring small groups of students to campus for a one day orientation program in July, McCorn said.
Returning students will come to campus the week of July 27. Students will be socially distanced and will be allowed to bring two family members to the orientation. New students will come the week of Aug. 3, he said.
“One of the reasons this is so difficult — for those of us that know about the HBCU experience — freshman week is everything,” McCorn said. “It is when you become exposed to the culture, the history, the heritage, the values of what it means to be an HBCU. It is there where you are connected to this larger world.”
He said the orientation will be a simulation of freshman week and students will be introduced to the college’s new online platform.
Rock Hill Schools
Rock Hill Schools has not made a decision for the fall but has assembled a 53-member task force, which includes a representative from each division within the school district and each school, that will make final recommendations next week on a plan to return, Superintendent Bill Cook said.
Each district in the state must notify its students and families 20 days before the start of the school year, Cook said. The recommendations will be presented to the school board on July 13, he said.
The task force formed eight subcommittees, including some focused on athletics, transportation, related arts and a possible additional outbreak, Cook said. The group will expand in phases to include community members and parents, he said.
The district will begin returning to school for summer opportunities in July and has identified 1,600 students that “could benefit from additional summer support,” Cook said.
“We have five sites at the elementary school for students in grades 1 through 3 that we have invited and I’m looking forward to working more closely with,” he said.
The elementary school students will meet in person Monday through Thursday, Cook said. Middle and high schools students will do a combination of in-person and online lessons, Cook said. Faculty will wear masks, but students have the option to wear masks during summer school, Cook said.
York Technical College
Fall classes at York Tech will include a combination of in-person, hybrid and online courses, college President Greg Rutherford said. But most classes will be online, he said.
Students enrolled in select career and technical programs, such as lab or shop courses, will be offered in person. For courses that do not require in-person engagement, classes will be taught as a hybrid course, Rutherford said.
York Tech will bring staff and faculty back in phases, Rutherford said. The institution will require students to wear masks on campus and ask people to do temperature checks every day, and class sizes will be reduced, he said.
“We analyzed every last possibility that we can think of,” Rutherford said. “And we’re doing what we believe is the most effective and sustainable.”
