In the face of rapidly rising COVID-19 case numbers, Glen Oaks Community College (GOCC) is stepping up its response by minimizing in-person interactions on its Centreville Campus. College President David Devier and other administrators provided an update during a regular meeting of the GOCC Board of Trustees Thursday morning, and Devier provided a further update through a statement issued later on Thursday after additional decisions were made.

During Thursday’s meeting, Devier said, “to say the least, the world has changed dramatically in the last two weeks.” Devier said the college’s task force has met several times to make plans, only to have to revise them again a few days later. As of Thursday morning, nearly all instruction had moved online, and residents left in on-campus housing were significantly reduced to a number in the low 40s.

Vice President of Student Services Tonya Howden said three employees have tested positive for COVID-19, as have 13 students. Another 37 students have been quarantined as a result of close contact with those who have tested positive. “Those are the ones we know about,” Howden said. She said the number does not include dual-enrolled students who do not come to the campus for classes.

Howden said staff was reduced to a “skeleton crew,” with only one person per department reporting to the campus. Vice President of Academics Michael Goldin said 80 percent of classes had at least some online components, and 60 percent of them were fully online, up from a previous split where about one-third each were online, face-to-face, or hybrid. Goldin said most faculty have been extremely cooperative and proactive in making online instruction work, despite the additional workload doing so produces.

At Thursday’s meeting, Devier said, “I can’t sit here this morning and say for sure, though I think we are reaching a tipping point.” However, by Thursday afternoon, Executive Director for Communications and Marketing Valorie Juergens released a bulletin including a statement from Devier which read, in part, “after the board meeting today, I pulled together the Vice Presidents, Athletics, Housing, and Public Relations to discuss the COVID situation. We determined that we need to go to truly minimum staffing next Monday.”

Starting Monday, the college will send most remaining in on-campus housing home for the remainder of the semester. On-campus instruction will be reduced to labs only, and test proctoring arrangements will be determined. Devier said, “this form of operation is similar to how we were in July and early August.” Devier said the feeling among those who convened after Thursdays meeting was that the facts of the COVID-19 situation make the adjustments mandatory. Devier said the changes are likely to continue at least through January 1.

Strategic Plan Updates Adopted

Also at Thursday’s meeting, trustees voted to adopt an update to the GOCC Strategic Plan. The changes come as a result of discussions during the board’s annual retreat, which took place at the college last month. In her Thursday afternoon bulletin, Juergens said the “2021-23 Strategic Plan as adopted “reflects the current state of goals and objectives to guide the college at all levels and across all functions.” The updated plan “reflects the most significant revisions made to the document since its inception in 2015,” Juergens said.

A major part of the revisions is the addition of language clarifying and deepening the college’s commitment to certain values. Previously, the document included three goals related to “student success, growth in stability and innovation, and expansion of collaborative relationships,” Juergens said. The newly adopted revisions add a fourth goal “to reflect the institution’s commitment to becoming a community model in the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

Within that goal, the plan details several objectives. They include “the administration of a comprehensive campus climate survey, hosting of a community event related to diversity, an increase in African American/Black high school student enrollment, and an emphasis in employee recruitment plans aimed at diversifying faculty and staff to better reflect the student population.”

The plan also includes a commitment to offering a Summer College program for elementary school children, as well as migrating the college’s enterprise resource planning program to a cloud-based system. It also calls for completion of the first phase of the college’s Capital Outlay Plan, which calls for “renovation of the north side of campus, inluding the Learning Commons, technology labs, and art studio, as well as upgrades to the building’s structural components and information technology,” Juergens said.

Also in GOCC Business:

• Tom Winkelman of the firm Rehmann Auditors presented a detailed summary of GOCC’s 2019-2020 Fiscal Year Audit, which the Board of Trustees subsequently voted to adopt. Winkelman reported a clean audit, and said no adjustments were necessary. An additional item detailing Federal coronavirus funding the college has received and spent will be added to the audit once Rehmann receives guidance from the Federal Government on how to report it properly.
• Trustees also voted to update GOCC’s Bulleting Board and Digital Messaging Policy to reflect increasing reliance on digital communications, particularly through recently placed digital imaging monitor screens around the campus, but also reflecting increased reliance on email and other online communications with fewer students on campus because of the pandemic.
• One other vote on Thursday authorized a measure recommended by GOCC’s Finance Committee to move forward. Under the measure, GOCC’s Ellucian software and associated data will migrate to a cloud-based system for increased security. Ellucian is used to manage and operate a variety of interconnected systems for the college. After some discussion over the efficacy of other programs, Information Technology Director Evan Dembskey said continuing with the Ellucian platform was the best option because it works well for the college, is set up for colleges of GOCC’s size, and migrating to another system would take years and be considerably more expensive.

Dave Vago is a writer and columnist for Watershed Voice. A Philadelphia native with roots in Three Rivers, Vago is a planning consultant to history and community development organizations and is the former Executive Director of the Three Rivers DDA/Main Street program.