Hurricane Eta Announcements

If you have been following the weather over the past several days, you’re familiar with Hurricane Eta’s unpredictable path.  Meteorologists with the state and the National Weather Service concur that Eta will produce significant rainfall and tropical winds on the northern two-thirds of the Florida peninsula.  The Beacon Critical Response Team (CRT) convened earlier and, with safety as our foremost priority, the College is taking the following actions:

1. All scheduled classes and appointments for Thursday, November 12, will be conducted remotely, as the campus will be secured and closed for in-person business;
2. Class schedules and appointments with Learning Specialists, Counselors, and the like should be maintained remotely via Zoom and/or Canvas unless otherwise contacted by the assigned faculty or staff member;
3. We are asking that on-campus students remain in the safety of their residences.  Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks will be delivered to a central location for each residential community;
4. Essential personnel, such as residential staff, safety officers, transportation, dining service providers, and facilities, will be on campus on Thursday;
5. We ask parents to join us in cautioning against any travel off campus during the period of the storm;
6. If the storm interrupts power, internet service and electric power may be disrupted. This may interfere with the remote learning process, so we ask for your understanding.  Our faculty and staff are aware of this and will remain as flexible as possible. Should an interruption occur, the  College has plans to provide all essential services; and
7. As is the College’s custom, we regularly will update the Beacon community as storm conditions warrant.
8. In closing, storms such as Eta in our region are not unusual. As per the safety measures outlined in the “Responsible Community Initiative,” we do not intend to approve any requests for students to leave campus — even in the company of their parents.  We greatly appreciate your understanding.

Given the current weather forecast, we expect this to be a one-day event only.  It is the College’s plans to re-open on campus as usual Friday.  If this plan changes, Beacon will notify the community via its social media platforms and the College’s website by 3:00 p.m. Thursday.