Campus Update July 23
Good morning everyone,
The news this week from the Waco-McLennan County Public Health District to delay the physical reopening of public and non-religious private schools until after Labor Day caught us all off guard. This has likely challenged many of your plans if you have child care responsibilities which some of you as parents or grandparents do have. Life has possibly always been hard for some of you, and since the middle of March, you have been tested and tried in a way you never thought possible. Responding to the decisions on school opening is one of the challenges. Some of you are also anxious and fearful about COVID-19.
I have three assurances for you. (1) Led by Frank Patterson, a seasoned emergency and crisis response professional, the Emergency Operations Core team monitors the pandemic every day in some way. The goal is to make the best decisions about campus openings and moving between phases as we can. (2) The decisions about whether to go online totally and what academic services we need to provide to students are guided by recommendations from Dr. Fred Hills and the instructional leadership to the Leadership Team. Dr. Hills will be providing more details today to faculty about the set of criteria they are using for their recommendation as well as other important information. (3) Supervisors have been asked to work fairly, compassionately, and individually with employees to develop departmental plans for employee safety, while covering College needs for operation. Our solutions may not be perfect, but together, we will do our best work.
As a reminder, the Return to Campus Plan provides the roadmap back, and the Guidelines for On-Campus COVID-19 Operations has been developed as a guide in aiding in the prevention and transmission of COVID-19 among students and employees. The document further informs us as to how to react quickly should a case be identified on our campus. These documents are updated periodically and are found on our COVID-19 web page.
Our current plan is to continue with our next phase beginning on August 3, but decisions remain fluid, and the virus is not predictable. I have been asked how decisions are made to move to different phases, to slow down, or possibly to return to earlier phases. The Return to Campus Plan now includes what triggers decisions in transitioning to a previous phase. You will find a repeat of that information below:
- Local or state orders related to an outbreak;
- School-based cases of COVID-19 for decontamination and contact tracing, (may include the lack of, or inability to maintain supplies needed to perform all necessary cleaning, hygiene, and PPE for sustained campus operation);
- Significant absenteeism of staff and students; OR
- Consultation/Recommendation from the Waco-McLennan County Public Health District and/or the Director of Emergency & Risk Management to the President of the College in response to a localized community transmission outbreak:
- An upward trajectory of documented cases within a 14-day period and hospital capacities concerns OR
- Upward trajectory of positive tests as a percent of total tests within a 14-day period (flat or increasing volume of tests) and hospital capacities concerns
The main thing we have to do is to continue communicating. Please know that the Leadership Team cares and does want to hear from you. Next week, on July 30th, we have scheduled a virtual Coffee and Conversations. You should see an invitation for that soon. It will be a webinar using Zoom with a live video stream for others; those on Zoom will be able to ask questions via the chat feature. Please ask questions and let us hear from you. Thank you for your partnership during this challenging time. Together, we will maneuver these days. McLennan Together . . .
Johnette
Johnette McKown
President
McLennan Community College