Message from School Psychology program faculty- March 10
I know we're all well aware of what's been happening with respect to COVID-19 across the world, country, and state. Earlier today, UCR leadership sent out an email with the firmest plan yet on how the campus plans to move forward with its daily operations. I wanted to write to all of you directly to put this in the context of our program, and provide an initial set of information on our current plan. I also want to provide you with info I've gathered from NASP and other sources regarding programs across the country and our current status.
0. The most important thing to know: if you are sick, stay home. Let your prac supervisor and instructors know, but stay home.
1. Classes
- Meetings for class this week are at the discretion of your instructor: if you haven't heard otherwise from your instructor, please plan on attending class in person.
- Winter-quarter finals and the first week of Spring quarter (March 30 to April 3) will be held virtually campus-wide. Prepare for some real quality Zoom time.
- Instructors of courses at UCR have been asked to prepare to teach virtually for the entirety of Spring quarter, although as of now, the only concrete plan is for the first week of Spring quarter to be taught virtually.
2. Practicum
- At the moment, practicum is continuing to follow the plans and schedules of your placements. But your districts are all definitely having internal conversations about their plans with respect to closures. If they close school, they close school, and you won't go to prac. If you have an underlying health condition (heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, kidney disease, or weakened immune system) and are concerned about your continued presence in a school setting, please contact me.
- Some school psych programs in the U.S. have discussed participating in prac virtually. This is something that would happen at the district's discretion if and when virtual school becomes something your district institutes.
- The loss of prac hours in the event of school closures is not expected to impact your ability to complete the program or otherwise complete your certification and licensure requirements. NASP has provided specific recommendations around interns: they have stated basically that since a full school year is way more than the minimum requirement of 1200 hours and since you can accumulate not-on-site hours at your discretion (e.g., report writing at home, etc), they don't expect this to adversely affect interns. Please remember that this is affecting every school psych program. We're all in the same boat.
3. Other milestones
- Since written exams happen remotely anyways, as of now, they are scheduled to occur as planned.
- I don't think any defenses are pending between now and April 3, but if they are, please email me directly.
UCR and the GSOE will definitely be making additional plans and communications, so please read each of these in your email as they arrive.
None of us have dealt with something like this before. But we are here to support you, especially now. If you need something, tell us. I mean it. We're all in this together.
With sincere regards,
Austin, Rondy, Wes, and Katie