Clarkson Employees – Potsdam Campus (all others copied for reference)
St. Lawrence County has declared a State of Emergency and effective 12:01 am on Monday, March 16 all public schools in the County will be closed We understand that this may be through April 20, 2020. Based on current information, there are no reported cases of COVID19 in the Clarkson Community or the County.
For employees with school-aged children, we understand that your children are a high priority.
These next few weeks will be personally challenging for many members of our Clarkson community, our friends and our neighbors beyond the workplace challenges that we are addressing with our students. We recognize the need for flexibility to fulfill our responsibilities at home as well as at work.
For employees impacted by this news, please communicate with your supervisor if you will not be in the office as planned on Monday just as you would on any other absence. This will be an extra paid time-off day for our employees with school-aged children. We recognize that you may have needs beyond the obvious childcare needs and we will work with individual employees.
Many offices have been preparing for work-from-home scenarios. Human Resources and the administration will be briefing supervisors more on best practices to deploy during the national, New York State and now St. Lawrence County state of emergency and providing further alternatives. Some information around the County’s response and local K-12 plans remain fluid and we should also be prepared to adapt to the situation as their plans evolve.
There will be more communication when we can further coordinate with other regional employers and assess the status further. If you have any questions, please start with clarksonhr@clarkson.edu and in turn those will be fielded for common responses back to the campus.
Thank you and you can expect continued updates as we all progress through these unprecedented times.
President Tony Collins
