[Wsssc] Are You Requiring Students to Show COVID-19 Vaccination Documentation?

[Matthew Campbell]

‘Allo, all.

Yes! For Fall, we required all students in an in-person and/or hybrid class to verify their attestation through the following methods:

  1.  Vaccination
     *   Purgeable upload process in our student portal (myPierce)(we review, record in ctcLink, then mark as reviewed and we have a set timeline to delete), OR
     *   Verification form with vax card and ID in-person at Campus Safety (we had tables for the first week or so of the term as well)
  2.  Religious exemption
     *   Purgeable upload of signed religious exemption form (imagine the one for employees but structured for students (I believe we only denied if it was incomplete or the answer to the first question that affirmed a strongly held religious belief…), OR
     *   Dropping the form at Campus Safety (then scanned and sent to a special email account that multiple folks could access to review)
  3.  Medical exemption
     *   Purgeable upload of form completed by medical provider to student portal, OR
     *   Dropping the document at Campus Safety (then hand-delivered to our med exemption go team)

We have a consistent process for reviewing exemptions. To be clear, the “accommodation” is permitting unvaccinated folks to come to campus which would otherwise be restricted under the governor’s proclamation. We then have additional requirements for religious exemptions (masking, distancing, potential for testing, different standards if exposed such as required quarantine (at least from campus)). Medical exemptions are also reviewed by ADS, as the medical condition may prompt other accommodations (or even limit access due to inability for us to provide a safe environment).
One of our student success deans (who is also the Section 504 coordinator) approved medical exemptions; Ilder and I approve religious ones. We had a small team of folks who could then enter the verification data into ctcLink.

It was also important to us to not have medical information in email (vax card images, medical exemption forms); given our back-up/record retention systems, it is nearly impossible to expunge those documents.

Process, forms, and FAQ can be viewed here: https://www.pierce.ctc.edu/vaccinated-campus

We also have a fairly robust Tableau dashboard to manage this on an ongoing basis. In the dashboard, I can pull reports of every student’s attestation and verification status. This report includes their modality (and I can actually pull a report that includes their specific class and instructor information, which supports outreach to students (personal phone call, text, email, robocall) and faculty …and I can track both enrollment and status with a data extract that occurs at least every hour). And we set timeline for dropping non-completers (though also supported re-enrollment if they completed).

For Winter, we are (at this time) requiring a minimum of attestation for all students (including online) and continuing the requirement of verification for any in-person/hybrid course. The main difference is that we are now including a registration block on each class, by modality, that will prevent registration until the process is complete.

Do it again? Hard to say. I think our college community appreciates the verification step. Given that we have 12-15% with an exemption, and given that everyone is masked and distanced, there probably isn’t a substantial practical impact in the classroom or service space, though it’s certainly possible that we motivated a lot of people to get vaccinated.

It was/is/will be a lot of work. We did not hire additional folks to do this work. I do think that the registration hold element will greatly reduce the workload as a substantial amount of the work was managing the list and reaching out repeatedly to support getting folks to start/complete the process.

Weeeeeeee….

Thanks,
Matt

Matthew Campbell, Ed.D. (he/him/his)
Vice President, Learning & Student Success
Pierce College Puyallup



From: wsssc <wsssc-bounces at lists.ctc.edu> on behalf of WSSSC <wsssc at lists.ctc.edu>
Reply-To: Christina Castorena <christina.castorena at edmonds.edu>
Date: Thursday, October 21, 2021 at 8:06 AM
To: WSSSC <wsssc at lists.ctc.edu>
Subject: [Wsssc] Are You Requiring Students to Show COVID-19 Vaccination Documentation?

CAUTION: This email originated from outside Pierce College. Do not click links or open attachments unless you have confirmed this is an authentic message from sender and know the content is safe. If you are unsure, contact the Help Desk at 253-964-6373 or email Helpdesk at pierce.ctc.edu
Dear Fellow WSSSC'ers,

If you are a college that is requiring students to show/upload documentation to verify that they have been vaccinated, would you be willing to share 1) how are you doing this, 2) who is responsible for collecting/reviewing this information and 3) did this require additional staffing, and finally 4) are you happy with your decision to do this or would you recommend not doing this?

We have not required students to show documentation, only to attest. But, our faculty are hearing that "other ctc's are requiring students to show documentation" and our leadership team is rethinking what we might do for winter quarter.

Please respond all or to me directly if you prefer.

Thank you!
Christina

Christina Castorena, M.Ed. (she/her/hers)
Vice President for Student Success
425.640.1668
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