Blurb: President Gribbons offers answers on commencement and athletics

Barry Gribbons held a Town Hall on March 1 and answered a variety of questions ranging from graduation and when the campus will reopen.

By Justyn Frutiz, Staff Writer

At last Monday’s Town Hall, Valley College President Barry Gribbons addressed a plethora of issues during the event on YouTube like reopening the school, commencement ceremonies, and athletics.

Questions came fast and few and far between during this relatively short town hall. One question was about how the commencement ceremonies for the students looking to celebrate their degrees and certification would happen.

“Commencement will need to be virtual this year,” Gribbons said, “but we are looking at opportunities to make it really a special event and ways of honoring our graduates. Recognizing all their hard work.”

Another question that seemed to be on a lot of students in the live chat is when and how the school would handle reopening the school.

Gribbons answered, “We are still in the planning process for the fall semester. A lot of that will depend on what tier the county is in. Right now the county is in the purple tier. We do expect the county to move to the red tier soon as we have seen a large drop in the number of cases … At the red, orange, and yellow tiers we will be able to have more in person instruction. Of course we will be following the Los Angeles Department of Health and the CDC and all of their plans.”

Other questions pertained to athletics and facilities like the track field. A specific question a student had was when athletes would be allowed to practice and play at Valley.

“We will be able to, when in the red tier, allow our student athletes back on campus for conditioning and there will be a testing program associated with the student athletes coming back to campus.”

Gribbons also added that there are no competitions for athletes currently and the school would do its best to schedule some games for teams.

LA County is still in the purple tier, but is widely expected to be in the red tier by the middle of next week, according to Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.