Good Morning:
I’m writing because you are scheduled to teach at least one course/lab with an in-person component this fall. Both your dean and I will be providing at least weekly communication between now and September in an effort to help you start the semester smoothly and anticipate the various requirements in-person teaching will entail.
Here is an overview of the plan to ensure students are prepared to comply with safety requirements and be successful in your course(s):
- Student Safety Agreement—Every student enrolled in a class/lab with an in-person component will be required to acknowledge and agree to comply with safety measures. The PDF includes the text of this agreement. In the coming days a version of this agreement will be posted to the Canvas Commons with instructions for you to make it into an initial assignment/quiz for your course(s). This way, students will be required to complete it, you will have confirmation within Canvas they have completed it, and students will know it is a prerequisite to the first in-person session.
- Symptom Tracker—An online symptom tracker has been developed for use by all employees and students who will be coming to campus at any point during the fall semester. Students will be able to answer COVID-related health questions on their phone and will then be able to display a green check symbol to you as evidence of having ‘passed’ the screening. Students will need to take this assessment before every in-person class/lab. Since you will be determining which subsets of your roster(s) will be coming at which times, you can use Canvas and student emails to provide the link the day prior to those sessions. Information on what to do if a student does not ‘pass’ or does not take the tracker assessment, as well as answers to many other questions, are included in the FAQ.
- Accommodations—To ensure students do not attend in-person sessions if ill (whether with COVID-19 or other illnesses) and to accommodate students who may be (or live with someone who is) immunocompromised, you cannot mandate student attendance at in-person sessions or penalize students in any way for not attending one or more in-person sessions. As noted in the FAQ and the Safety Agreement, the Student Accessibility Services office will work with you and the student to identify reasonable accommodations for these and related issues.
We have also established a time during Flex Week for faculty teaching in-person to get questions answered and concerns addressed. You will receive a separate invitation to this session, but it will be held from 3:30-4:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 20.
Next week’s email will have additional information on these and other topics. In the meantime, if you have questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact your dean or me—but please do not ‘reply-all.’ We will compile questions of general interest and include information on them in subsequent emails.
Thank you for your attention to these important considerations as you prepare for the fall semester.
Jonathan
Jonathan Eldridge
Assistant Superintendent/Vice President of Student Learning and Success
College of Marin
Office: (415) 485-9618
jeldridge@marin.edu