[Wsssc] FW: COVID-19 Update for April 23, 2020

Fri Apr 24 07:15:37 PDT 2020

Colleagues: here is the second of the twice-weekly updates from SBCTC. It addresses some of the 10th day counting issues we discussed yesterday, among other updates.

                             [Joe]
[Compass]
Joe Holliday
Director, Student Services
Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
jholliday at sbctc.edu<mailto:jholliday at sbctc.edu>* o: 360-704-4334 * f: 360-704-4418
sbctc.edu<https://www.sbctc.edu/> * Twitter: @SBCTCWashington<https://twitter.com/SBCTCWashington> * Facebook: @WASBCTC<https://www.facebook.com/wasbctc/>

SBCTC Vision:

"Leading with racial equity, our colleges maximize student potential and transform lives within a culture of belonging that advances racial, social, and economic justice in service to our diverse communities."

From: Carli Schiffner <cschiffner at sbctc.edu>
Sent: Friday, April 24, 2020 5:48 AM
To: INSTCOMM at LISTSERV.CENTRALIA.EDU
Cc: Darby Kaikkonen <dkaikkonen at sbctc.edu>; Joe Holliday <jholliday at sbctc.edu>
Subject: FW: COVID-19 Update for April 23, 2020

From: John Boesenberg <jboesenberg at sbctc.edu<mailto:jboesenberg at sbctc.edu>>
Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2020 4:50 PM
To: Carli Schiffner <cschiffner at sbctc.edu<mailto:cschiffner at sbctc.edu>>; Laura McDowell <lmcdowell at sbctc.edu<mailto:lmcdowell at sbctc.edu>>; Grant Rodeheaver <grodeheaver at sbctc.edu<mailto:grodeheaver at sbctc.edu>>
Subject: FW: COVID-19 Update for April 23, 2020

Please forward to your commissions.  Thanks.
John Boesenberg, Deputy Executive Director
Business Operations
360-704-4303; jboesenberg at sbctc.edu<mailto:jboesenberg at sbctc.edu>

From: John Boesenberg
Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2020 4:48 PM
To: Amit Singh (amit.singh at edcc.edu<mailto:amit.singh at edcc.edu>) <amit.singh at edcc.edu<mailto:amit.singh at edcc.edu>>; Amy Morrison (amy.morrison at lwtech.edu<mailto:amy.morrison at lwtech.edu>) <amy.morrison at lwtech.edu<mailto:amy.morrison at lwtech.edu>>; Arlen Harris <aharris at sbctc.edu<mailto:aharris at sbctc.edu>>; Beth Gordon <bgordon at sbctc.edu<mailto:bgordon at sbctc.edu>>; Bob Mohrbacher - Centralia (bob.mohrbacher at centralia.edu<mailto:bob.mohrbacher at centralia.edu>) <bob.mohrbacher at centralia.edu<mailto:bob.mohrbacher at centralia.edu>>; Carli Schiffner <cschiffner at sbctc.edu<mailto:cschiffner at sbctc.edu>>; Chad Hickox (chad.hickox at wwcc.edu<mailto:chad.hickox at wwcc.edu>) <chad.hickox at wwcc.edu<mailto:chad.hickox at wwcc.edu>>; Cherie Berthon <cberthon at sbctc.edu<mailto:cberthon at sbctc.edu>>; Cheryl Roberts <cheryl.roberts at shoreline.edu<mailto:cheryl.roberts at shoreline.edu>>; Chris Bailey (cbailey at lowercolumbia.edu<mailto:cbailey at lowercolumbia.edu>) <cbailey at lowercolumbia.edu<mailto:cbailey at lowercolumbia.edu>>; Christine Johnson (christine.johnson at ccs.spokane.edu<mailto:christine.johnson at ccs.spokane.edu>) <christine.johnson at ccs.spokane.edu<mailto:christine.johnson at ccs.spokane.edu>>; Daria Willis (dwillis at everettcc.edu<mailto:dwillis at everettcc.edu>) <dwillis at everettcc.edu<mailto:dwillis at everettcc.edu>>; Eric Murray (emurray at cascadia.edu<mailto:emurray at cascadia.edu>) <emurray at cascadia.edu<mailto:emurray at cascadia.edu>>; Grant Rodeheaver <grodeheaver at sbctc.edu<mailto:grodeheaver at sbctc.edu>>; Ivan Harrell (iharrell at tacomacc.edu<mailto:iharrell at tacomacc.edu>) <iharrell at tacomacc.edu<mailto:iharrell at tacomacc.edu>>; Jan Yoshiwara <jyoshiwara at sbctc.edu<mailto:jyoshiwara at sbctc.edu>>; Jim Minkler (jim.minkler at ghc.edu<mailto:jim.minkler at ghc.edu>) <jim.minkler at ghc.edu<mailto:jim.minkler at ghc.edu>>; Jim Richardson (jrichardson at wvc.edu<mailto:jrichardson at wvc.edu>) <Jrichardson at wvc.edu<mailto:Jrichardson at wvc.edu>>; John Mosby (jmosby at highline.edu<mailto:jmosby at highline.edu>) <jmosby at highline.edu<mailto:jmosby at highline.edu>>; Joyce Loveday (joyce.loveday at cptc.edu<mailto:joyce.loveday at cptc.edu>) <joyce.loveday at cptc.edu<mailto:joyce.loveday at cptc.edu>>; Julie Walter <jwalter at sbctc.edu<mailto:jwalter at sbctc.edu>>; Julie White - Pierce College Fort Steilacoom (juwhite at pierce.ctc.edu<mailto:juwhite at pierce.ctc.edu>) <juwhite at pierce.ctc.edu<mailto:juwhite at pierce.ctc.edu>>; Kathi Hiyane-Brown (khiyane-brown at whatcom.edu<mailto:khiyane-brown at whatcom.edu>) <khiyane-brown at whatcom.edu<mailto:khiyane-brown at whatcom.edu>>; Kevin Brockbank (Kevin.brockbank at scc.spokane.edu<mailto:Kevin.brockbank at scc.spokane.edu>) <Kevin.brockbank at scc.spokane.edu<mailto:Kevin.brockbank at scc.spokane.edu>>; Kevin McCarthy (kmccarthy at rtc.edu<mailto:kmccarthy at rtc.edu>) <kmccarthy at rtc.edu<mailto:kmccarthy at rtc.edu>>; Kim Perry - Bellingham Tech (kperry at btc.edu<mailto:kperry at btc.edu>) <kperry at btc.edu<mailto:kperry at btc.edu>>; Kim Tanaka <ktanaka at sbctc.edu<mailto:ktanaka at sbctc.edu>>; Kimberlee Messina (Kimberlee.Messina at sfcc.spokane.edu<mailto:Kimberlee.Messina at sfcc.spokane.edu>) <Kimberlee.Messina at sfcc.spokane.edu<mailto:Kimberlee.Messina at sfcc.spokane.edu>>; Kristen Jones (kristen.jones at bellevuecolleg.edu<mailto:kristen.jones at bellevuecolleg.edu>) <kristen.jones at bellevuecollege.edu<mailto:kristen.jones at bellevuecollege.edu>>; Kurt Buttleman (kurt.buttleman at seattlecolleges.edu<mailto:kurt.buttleman at seattlecolleges.edu>) <Kurt.Buttleman at seattlecolleges.edu<mailto:Kurt.Buttleman at seattlecolleges.edu>>; Laura McDowell <lmcdowell at sbctc.edu<mailto:lmcdowell at sbctc.edu>>; Lin Zhou - Bates (lzhou at batestech.edu<mailto:lzhou at batestech.edu>) <lzhou at batestech.edu<mailto:lzhou at batestech.edu>>; Linda Kaminski <lkaminski at yvcc.edu<mailto:lkaminski at yvcc.edu>>; Luke Robins (lrobins at pencol.edu<mailto:lrobins at pencol.edu>) <lrobins at pencol.edu<mailto:lrobins at pencol.edu>>; Marty Cavalluzzi - Olympic <mcavalluzzi at olympic.edu<mailto:mcavalluzzi at olympic.edu>>; Michele Johnson <mjohnson at pierce.ctc.edu<mailto:mjohnson at pierce.ctc.edu>>; Rebekah Woods (rwoods at columbiabasin.edu<mailto:rwoods at columbiabasin.edu>) <rwoods at columbiabasin.edu<mailto:rwoods at columbiabasin.edu>>; Rosie Rimando-Chareunsap - South Seattle (Rosie.Rimando at seattlecolleges.edu<mailto:Rosie.Rimando at seattlecolleges.edu>) <Rosie.Rimando at seattlecolleges.edu<mailto:Rosie.Rimando at seattlecolleges.edu>>; Sandra Fowler-Hill (sfowler-hill at clark.edu<mailto:sfowler-hill at clark.edu>) <sfowler-hill at clark.edu<mailto:sfowler-hill at clark.edu>>; Sheila Edwards Lange - Seattle Central (Sheila.EdwardsLange at seattlecolleges.edu<mailto:Sheila.EdwardsLange at seattlecolleges.edu>) <Sheila.EdwardsLange at seattlecolleges.edu<mailto:Sheila.EdwardsLange at seattlecolleges.edu>>; Shouan Pan (shouan.pan at seattlecolleges.edu<mailto:shouan.pan at seattlecolleges.edu>) <shouan.pan at seattlecolleges.edu<mailto:shouan.pan at seattlecolleges.edu>>; Suzanne Johnson (sjohnson at greenriver.edu<mailto:sjohnson at greenriver.edu>) <sjohnson at greenriver.edu<mailto:sjohnson at greenriver.edu>>; Terry Leas (terryl at bigbend.edu<mailto:terryl at bigbend.edu>) <terryl at bigbend.edu<mailto:terryl at bigbend.edu>>; Tim Stokes (tstokes at spscc.edu<mailto:tstokes at spscc.edu>) <tstokes at spscc.edu<mailto:tstokes at spscc.edu>>; Tom Keegan (thomas.keegan at skagit.edu<mailto:thomas.keegan at skagit.edu>) <thomas.keegan at skagit.edu<mailto:thomas.keegan at skagit.edu>>; Wayne Doty <wdoty at sbctc.edu<mailto:wdoty at sbctc.edu>>
Subject: COVID-19 Update for April 23, 2020

These updates are now being sent on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  If you have questions, however, please feel free to call John Boesenberg or any other State Board staff member who could best respond.
The information listed below has come-up since Tuesday's message was sent.  It will be shared with the WACTC Commissions.  Additional information/details may be accessed through our Google Drive at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1PnHhItWpvNhUhhxrCq5LSzxjenmVS5nw
*       General Information:

  *   During a press conference held on Wednesday (April 21), Governor Inslee provided general information on his plan for recovery and reopening.  See https://medium.com/wagovernor/inslee-announces-washingtons-covid-19-recovery-plan-4daa8aaf022a).  Summarizing, if data allows, he hopes to reopen the state economy in phases that can be "dialed" up or back, depending upon the data showing a continued decrease or increase of COVID-19. Although he left the door open for some restrictions being lifted before May 4, he made the point that most will not and that some restrictions will likely be in place for weeks or months.

  *   Return to work.  In general, it is likely that the state will be "re-opened" in phases in reverse order of its closure.  State Board is working with Governor's staff and other higher education representatives to ensure higher education is included in phase one.  The proposal is developing along the lines already discussed by WACTC:
?  Classes that are already online will stay online for spring quarter
?  The hands on, equipment intensive portion of courses would begin meeting after May 4 - adhering to social distancing and cleaning protocols.
*       PPE will likely be required.  Clarification on type of PPE (i.e., cloth masks?) and cleaning standards is being sought. As colleges have donated much of their PPE, this may be a challenge.
*       This may increase local pressure as colleges evaluate programs that may qualify for re-opening based upon the criteria established by the Governor.
The duration of each phase is unknown, but could be at least a month or longer.  This guesstimate is based on the time needed to assess the impact of the re-opening on the occurrence of the disease (i.e., two weeks for symptoms to show and time to collect and evaluate the data).

  *   Plans for fall.  Colleges are pivoting towards thinking about and planning for fall quarter.  Some have made the decision to continue teaching most of their courses remotely; some are hoping for face-to-face, but preparing to continue online; and, some are still discussing.

*       Operating and Capital Budgets

  *   Enrollment and 10th day counting.  As colleges work to accommodate students and coordinate tuition payment schedules with CARES Act funding, questions have been asked regarding the 10th day enrollment reporting. State Board staff reviewed policies and practices related to enrollment reporting and found:
?  On the policy side:  State Board policies provide for counting students who have paid their tuition, who have had their tuition waived or who have a payment plan in place by the 10th day of the quarter.  A commitment from a student to pay by a certain date (regardless of fund source) would be a payment plan and would result in the student being included in the 10th day count.
?  On the reporting side:  The State Board reporting unit will not exclude students from FTES counting based on no tuition payment.

  *   Today's edition of Inside Higher Ed included an article on the formula used to allocate CARES Act funds. The articles discusses experts' belief that  the formula used to divvy up coronavirus stimulus funds left institutions that serve the most needy students, including community/technical colleges, under-resourced.  See https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/04/23/community-colleges-regional-publics-lost-formula-cares-act-funds?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=5515e31afc-DNU_2019_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-5515e31afc-197830289&mc_cid=5515e31afc&mc_eid=67b38cef7e

*       Employment
o   In response to a question, several colleges shared plans to use the Institutional CARES Act funds to reimburse themselves for costs related to transitioning from in-class to on-line instruction.  This includes stipends paid to faculty for work necessary to convert coursework, tests, etc. to online.  DOE indicates there needs to be a clear nexus to significant changes to the delivery of instruction due to COVID-19 and the cost.
o   The Employment Security Department has responded to several questions related to UI benefits:
o   Employees are now eligible to receive $600 of federal unemployment benefits in addition to the state unemployment benefit.  Although Washington's public Higher education institutions are self-insured, the additional $600 in federal unemployment benefits will be paid for by the federal government. Colleges that are self-insured will only pay for the standard, state unemployment claim.

o   Colleges/universities are allowing furloughed employees to work or use paid time off (8 hours per month) to maintain health care benefits.  This does not disqualify the employee for UI benefits.  However, the employee will be required to report the wage that they receive, for the week that they worked or the week that the 8 hours of leave was applied. There is a calculation on the gross total dollar amount that will deduct a portion of that from their weekly claim.  That is, claimants must report any payments they receive during the week they are applicable and an amount will be deducted from the weekly benefit amount.  See the earnings deduction chart<https://esdorchardstorage.blob.core.windows.net/esdwa/Default/ESDWAGOV/Forms-and-Publications/ESD-earnings-deduction-chart.pdf>.  For example:

Sally received sick leave for Monday and Tuesday and is filing a claim for the week. Sally needs to report the number of hours and how much she was paid when she files. These payments are deductible from Sally's weekly benefit amount.

  *   The Employment Security Department released unemployment claim numbers earlier today.  New claims for unemployment benefits drop, but remain at record levels
?  During the week of April 12-18, there were 82,435 initial and 605,514 total claims for unemployment benefits, according to the Employment Security Department (ESD). While initial claims declined 42 percent from the previous week, the total claims continued to grow.

 "It is hard to imagine that the fifth highest week of claims in Washington state history could be considered the calm before the storm, but that is certainly what we saw last week," said Employment Security Commissioner, Suzi LeVine. "Although remaining at historic levels, the initial claims dropped last week before the tsunami of applications began this week when we launched the expanded benefit applications under the federal CARES Act."

Below is a seven-week summary of statewide initial claims filed since the start of the COVID-19 crisis: [Seven week summary claims table for April 12-18 release]

*       Instruction/Student Services
o   An article in yesterday's (April 22) Inside Higher Ed discusses DACA students' ineligibility for CARES Act emergency grants.  See https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/04/22/daca-students-excluded-emergency-stimulus-grants?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=be8f8da570-DNU_2019_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-be8f8da570-197830289&mc_cid=be8f8da570&mc_eid=67b38cef7e

*      Issues being worked (These items were included in the April 16th  Update)
o   Fees.  College collect student fees to pay for a variety of consumables and services utilized by students. Because each college has authority to collect student fees, the purpose and fee amount varies by district. The original intent for collecting some fees may have affected/repurposed as colleges transitioned to entirely/mostly remote instruction spring quarter. For example, chemistry lab fees, initially intended to pay for consumable lab chemicals may be repurposed to pay for consumable lab kits. The AG's Office has been asked to provide a list of considerations or principles colleges can use to evaluate their fees in light of the current situation.

o   State Board staff is discussing the ability for Running Start students to participate in courses moved from spring to summer quarter due to COVID.

o   State Board staff is working with federal contacts to get clarity on use of CARES Act funds for ABE/ESL students (i.e., "ability to benefit").

o   State Board staff has worked with IC to identify Medical Assisting, Phlebotomy and Respiratory Therapy as allied health programs that, in addition to Nursing, are "essential" during this pandemic. The Governor's office is aware of this concern and conversations are continuing.

*      Event Cancellations/Changes (Newly Added/Updated in RED)

     *   Dual Credit Summit, March 16-17 cancelled and being rescheduled for fall 2020 (Looking at October 5/6, 2020)
     *   ATL Retreat, March 26-27, cancelled.
     *   Dean Community of Practice, March session cancelled.
     *   Bridge to College meetings have been converted to virtual convenings.
     *   Guided Pathway Work Plan review, March 12-13, is converting to an online modality (details to follow).
     *   Annual Students of Color conference April 23-25 Yakima cancelled
     *   All Student Services conference April 29-May 1 Tacoma, Student Services Commission has been re-scheduled to May 3-6, 2021.
     *   Team Teacher training at Centralia College, March13, 2020, Cancelled
     *   COABE Conference has been Cancelled/Postponed (Originally scheduled for 4/5-4/8, postponed till summer)
     *   AACC has been cancelled.
     *   Council for Basic Skills April Meeting has been cancelled
     *   Intercollegiate Relations Committee (ICRC) is spring meeting cancelled (4/16-17)
     *   AEAC has been cancelled Spring qtr.
     *   Articulation and Transfer Council spring meeting (April 23-24) moved to Zoom.
     *   Spring ATL (May 6-8) has been cancelled.
     *   Faculty of Color Mentorship Program spring retreat (May 15) has been cancelled.
     *   Spring Math Conference (April 30 - May 2)  has been cancelled.
     *   College EBT Retailer Application Webinar scheduled for 4/8/2020 - postponed
     *   Workforce Education Council, April 30 - May 1 - cancelled.
     *   Early Childhood Teacher Preparation Council, April 30 - May 1 - cancelled.
     *   Workforce Connections Forum, scheduled for May 18-19th, has been rescheduled to August 25-26th.
     *   HRMC meeting scheduled for May has been cancelled.
     *   Spring CEDD Corrections Education Deans and Directors quarterly meeting is moved to a virtual meeting on Zoom  It starts at 9:00 AM  to 4:00 PM on May 19, 2020 and 9:00 AM - Noon on May 20, 2020.
     *   PIC has changed its meeting from May 14 and 15 at Lake Washington to May 14 via Zoom.
     *   Rendezvous 2020, July 27-29 - Cancelled

John Boesenberg, Deputy Executive Director
Business Operations
360-704-4303; jboesenberg at sbctc.edu<mailto:jboesenberg at sbctc.edu>

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