San Mateo County community colleges prep for reopening

Trustees previously adopted a COVID-19 Recovery Plan Framework for returning to in-person classes which proposed requiring all staff and students to be fully vaccinated. At that meeting, trustees also supported mandating vaccines for students and staff while honoring religious and health exemptions identified by federal or state policy and directed staff to return with a policy at a later date. 

District Chancellor Michael Claire presented the draft policy to the board last Wednesday, pulling from a similar vaccine policy adopted by the Foothill-De Anza Community College District. 

The policy, as proposed, requires all staff and educators who access campuses, district facilities and the district office to be fully vaccinated from COVID-19. Employees who conduct in-person off-site work will also be required to be vaccinated. 

Students will similarly be expected to be fully vaccinated if they attend classes or programs, participate in any activities or use services on campus. Students and staff who receive exemptions or decline to state their vaccination status will likely be required to abide by safety measures outlined by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health. 

While most trustees withheld comments on the policy, signaling silent approval, Petrides praised the recommendation for providing clarity on a frequently changing issue. 

“I feel like it gives us that flexibility so we won’t have to keep revisiting this,” she said. 

Trustees will formally adopt the policy at its next meeting July 28. The policy will take effect by the start of fall semester Aug. 16 or when a COVID-19 vaccine receives full Food and Drug Administration approval, whichever is later. 

The COVID-19 Recovery Plan Framework calls for maximizing schedules to allow for as many in-person classes as possible. A goal was set to have at least 30% in-person options with a full return slated for Jan. 3, 2022. But during public comment, trustees were met with calls to protect online courses for students who’ve planned their lives around remote options while faculty members implored officials to keep as many classes as they can from being canceled.

The plan states employee schedules will be built to accommodate logistics and student and business needs while noting effects of the policies will be negotiated through the district’s collective bargaining units. As student support services return to campuses in the fall, students will still have access to remote services.

The district has held multiple meetings and town halls to field campus community concerns for returning to in-person classes, Claire said, noting building ventilation was a main concern for many. 

Michelle Rudovkey, director of maintenance and operations, said each structure is fitted with complex ventilation systems that operate differently than the next. Speaking generally, she said the systems are running up to standard and are routinely monitored. 

“When we’re looking at the whole campus communities, they’re like little mini-cities,” she said. 

Ventilation systems in new campus buildings are operating well and with energy efficiency. Systems in modernized buildings have been updated as seen fit while those “legacy buildings,” or those yet to be modernized are fully operational, she said. 

While ventilation will help minimize the spread of the virus on campuses and in facilities, Claire stressed the importance of vaccinations. He lauded the county’s strong vaccine progress which shows nearly 90% of residents ages 16 and older have been vaccinated and shared optimism for the district’s own efforts to push the Peninsula toward 100% vaccinated. 

“Ventilation is a strategy,” Claire said. “But it is the vaccination that is the strategy that is going to protect everyone.” 

sierra@smdailyjournal.com 

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