NIC response to governors re-open plan

Greetings everyone,

Happy Friday to you all. I hope this note finds you well and enjoying this wonderful spring weather. I had the opportunity to be on campus earlier this week, and it's absolutely stunning. Thank you to our grounds crew for keeping NIC green and beautiful.

As many of you have already heard, the governor announced yesterday his plan to re-open Idaho in four stages, beginning May 1. In each of the first three phases of the governor's plan, employers are advised to:

Continue to encourage telework, whenever possible and feasible with business operations.

Return employees to work in phases, if physical distancing, personal protections and sanitation are feasible.

Based on this guidance, we will largely continue with our current remote work arrangements through Stage Three of the governor's plan (June 12). Beginning May 16 (Stage Two of the governor's plan), college operations that cannot be effectively conducted remotely, but can be performed with physical distancing, personal protections and sanitation, will resume in-person on a limited basis. This will allow some students to return to physical learning spaces for those classes and programs that require hands-on learning, which is a commitment we have made to help them finish their coursework.

I want to stress, the governor’s plan expressly commits to re-evaluation, every two weeks, to determine if criteria specified in the plan are being met and if it is feasible to move from one stage to the next.

Likewise, we will adjust our planning and actions to follow the results and guidance from the state’s evaluations.

Thank you, again, for your individual and collective efforts to make our current reality work. We are not only navigating our new norm, we're learning, adjusting and getting better at it with each passing day.

My best to you and those close to you.

Rick MacLennan, President