Julius Sokenu: Thank you Mary. Hi, everyone. It's a pleasure to be able to connect with you this afternoon, through this Zoom meeting. Our hope is that we will continue to do this on a weekly basis
throughout the process in which we are staying safer at home. I want to start off by thanking each of you for all the work that you've been doing over the past few weeks in making sure that we continue to help our students not only meet their goals, but that they're doing it safely.
I'm going to say some thank you's and call outs to folks who helped us transition online. And I think at the forefront of that work
is our folks from the IT from our IT area Informational Technology folks and not only helping us transition
the instruction component, but they're also transitioning the operations of the college, online and for folks who are working remotely. Thank you to Dan and his team.
They have what in countless hours, really countless hours in making sure that we're able to conduct business as usual in this new normal.
I also want to thank our faculty who have been working tirelessly, not only to make sure that instruction is available to students and some instruction that is a challenge to transition online and folks have been doing that work,
and they've been supported by our DE Committee, I want to thank our Instructional Technologist Tracie Bosket and our new Instructional Technologist Michael Ashton, who is helping support this this this live streaming activity. I also want to thank
dean Matt Calfin and Dr. Matt Calfin and who's vision and leadership of this group has been
incredibly, has contributed to the success of these transitions.
I also want to go ahead and thank our Academic Senate President as well as our Classified Senate President their leadership, their mentoring, their questions, their
care and nurture of their constituency groups has helped us move our agenda forward and I thank you both for your leadership in helping us accomplish what we have done so far.
I want to say special shout out to our deans who have been not only focused and determined and compassionate
in this work, but also they have not only helped move the agenda forward, but they continue to be available to both the faculty and to those of us in the executive level on an ongoing basis.
I thank you, thank you, thank you for that work. I also want to thank our Registrar Dave Anter, department chairs.
I do want to thank our Counseling faculty and shout out to Jodi and the Counseling faculty. I appreciate the work that you've done to move counseling to an online environment in doing it with such
empathy and doing it with such commitment to making sure that our students are put first. And that their learning and the support of their learning continues in this new environment. I do want to also call out the work that Kim Korinke and Financial Aid folks who have been doing
in making sure that our students who are
at this point in time are really struggling with as some of, you know, the economy's practically at a standstill and there are students who have been impacted by this.
Students have lost their jobs, their families or their parents have lost their jobs and they're trying to keep going. And we're encouraging them to keep going.
And the work that Kim and her staff have done around emergency funds for our students who might be in needed who might have been impacted by the economic
consequences of this virus, is to be celebrated, and we need to thank them. I do want to thank the whole matric team.
That brain thrust of of students service professionals who are making sure that we're not only meeting, we're not only meeting the
needs our students, just in terms of getting them through processes, but that we started from knowing that students need a human connection and human touch as they do this work. Also want to thank folks from
Outreach, Alejandra and Claudia. I want to thank our staff in those offices as they help to support our students. I'm going to sort of talk about and just
talk with you about some key
areas and then what we'll do is we'll take questions and questions have been posted to the chat and the chat is being facilitated as I speak.
I want to just remind folks that we've gone from an online for an own ground environment to an online environment and that our students need ongoing support. And I thank those of you who are doing this on a daily basis through Zoom or through Canvas or through phone calls in your
at various times of the day and you're connecting to students and keeping them in their
in their area of study. Our goal was the first of all, to make sure that students are safe and then to make sure that they continue their education. We know that some students have dropped as a result of the Covid-19
epidemic and our student support and Student Services folks are reaching out to those students
and our Registrar we're reaching out to those students to make sure that we identify why they dropped and how we can help support them so that they continue their education.
We also have a student help desk. Shout out to Shandor and the five students who are helping about staff that
student help desk so that our students can go ahead and ask questions that help them navigate the technology and that is extremely important as we continue to provide services and instruction to our students. I also want to
ask the faculty if you are identify students who are not engaging who no longer coming to class
or who are coming to class, but they're not doing the work, and they need support, if you could please communicate that
to your chairs, to your deans, so that then the deans can forward that to our student support and services area so that they can reach out to those students.
We know that as we go through this epidemic that our lives are changing, and that part of what we want to do is to meet students where they're at and meeting students where they're at means reaching out to them more often than not. We know that faculty are the first
contact that students make, and that they continue to make. So we appreciate your helping us identify individuals who are not participating.
Our student support service folks, particularly our matriculation team will be drafting a template where you can insert information by students when you would like to have them follow up with.
As I mentioned, we through our Financial Aid Office have developed
an emergency fund for which is can qualify and for students who are having a challenge, you know, meeting basic needs, and who are having a challenge really continuing with the education because of the impact of Covid-19,
Moorpark College Financial Aid has already gotten about 100 applicants for
scholarships to help support them. They are reviewing those and
probably responding back to them as quickly as they can.
Also, in terms of supporting our students, we have 75 computers that are available for loan to students and those are available by I'm contacting our help desk,
our IT help desk at mchelpdesk@vcccd.edu, MC help desk at Vcccd.edu or you can call them at 805-534-660. So students who've been approved to
receive a loaner computer will be able to do so by scheduling appointments to pick them up on campus.
Excuse me. In addition, it is important for us to know that the semester continues and we're scheduled to have final exams as they've already been scheduled.
So please re-confirm for your students that we do have final exams as scheduled and in a couple of disciplines, where the disruption from the Covid-19
virus has extended their semester, those instructors will be communicating with the students. That leads me to a conversation around
difficult to convert classes. We have quite a few difficult to converse classes, mostly in the sciences,
some in the performing arts, some in the visual arts, and particularly for the ones and some in career technical education, particularly for the Career Technical Education and the Allied Health
courses, we need to get approval from Ventura County Public Health to allow those students to return to campus and continue their education in an on ground setting.
And so we have developed a plan that was
developed by our faculty in our sciences programs and that plan has now gone to Ventura County Public Health and we're awaiting their feedback as to
whether or not they will approve us to do so. And once that happens, that information will be shared with those programs and then will go to their students. And we will then identify how we will engage
on an on ground context with social distance and practices in place.
In terms of our hirings, we continue with hirings for our dean, as well as faculty hiring doing those through Zoom for first level interviews and the second level interviews, the presidential interviews will be conducted in person.
If you're a member of those committees and you are one of those who will be invited to participate in the
presidential interview, you can call in.
If you are a member of, a co-chair of the committee, you can call in and we'll work around how that will unfold.
But I do want to conduct those final interviews, particularly for the deans in person. We'll be hiring someone both the teams and the faculty who we hope will be here for, you know, the extent of their careers. So having to meet them in person is of significance.
In terms of
student staff. We continue to support our student staff,
some have had their work assignments moved online alongside the offices for which they support and others are on campus, working with those who are essential employees who are on campus. And our commitment is to keep doing that and helping support our student staff.
We are very, we are interested in a committed to finding out from students how this Covid-19 epidemic is impacting them and impacting their work, their schoolwork, and their lives.
Our office of Institutional Effectiveness will be participating in conducting a survey of our students.
And this survey is based on one that's been developed by Cabrillo College and other colleges within the system are utilizing. So
you will be hearing more about that as that survey is fine tuned and all three colleges in the district are interested in participating in that survey as well.
In terms of
let's see planning for returning to college to campus. So I know folks have been asking you know exactly when we return to campus and as we know, as of yesterday, President Trump extended stay at home safe for
order to April 30. And we know that our state
order is through April, I believe it's April 20th. And so we are working with the State Chancellor's Office as well as Chancellor
Gillespie will be working with our local school districts to identify what on, you know, first of all, when our stay
our stay at home order might end, but also to sort of I align our practices with that of our local school districts, so that folks are not disadvantaged in that process.
I think it's important for us to note that we've moved all the instruction and the bulk of our services online for the rest of the semester. So that will most likely, that will not change that we will complete this semester delivering our instruction online and and working
from an online or remote
venue until things change, I guess. But for the instruction that will for certainly remain.
I think it's also important for us as we talk about when we return to campus to figure out what that might look like at the cabinet level we're beginning to have conversations as to what the transition might look like. Excuse me.
What that transition might look like moving forward. That conversation just began, and so I will update you as we develop and evolve that over the next couple of weeks. I know that like you,
like me, many of you were disappointed that
the commencement ceremony was cancelled for this year. The in person commencement ceremony was cancelled for this year.
We know that for many of our students who've worked really hard over this past few years, and who were looking to celebrate their accomplishments at a commencement ceremony on May 15, that this is a disappointment. Our goal is to work with
our student government, as well as with our Student Activities Specialist and as well as with our district to identify what alternative
maybe virtual type of celebration can happen in May to acknowledge the
accomplishments of our students. So please stay tuned for that information, should be coming in the next couple of weeks. Let's see, what else do I want to share?
Final exams. We talked about technology.
Return to campus. Services.
It is important to know that we have, as I said, we're not only supporting students
who are impacted by this virus through grants, but we're also our Career Transfer Center is also supporting students, they'll be posting about 1500 part time jobs on
the Career Center website for students who are looking for temporary employment and some of these temporary employment opportunities that are become available to us through our
industry partners.
Our Career Transfer Center, the transfer part of that effort is also working on making sure that our students are prepared for transfer and they're
conducting transfer basics workshop, as well as other kinds of workshops to help set students up and prepare them for transferring in the fall. Please go to the Career Transfer Center website for information as that will help our students to
prepare for the next step in their academic and career journey.
Let's see what else do I want to share? Commencement.
Withdrawals and refunds. I know that we've been getting questions from students regarding withdrawals and refunds.
And we, as I said in my email to the faculty and the staff and I know there are some student leaders on this call, so an email will be going out to students
later on today that will have all of this information in it as well. But in terms of our students, we are looking at ways in which we can provide those students credit if they...
First of all, we don't want to, we want to encourage students to continue the instruction and not drop or withdraw and that's because they're all kinds of implications to dropping.
There's financial implications. For students for international students there are visa and immigration locations.
For those students who are athletes, there are eligibility implications. So we want to make sure that students are well informed before they make decisions to drop.
And so we ask them that they connect with their academic counselors, they connect with their program specialists, that they clearly have a, you know, a conversation with Financial Aid if they're offered financial aid, so that they are
aware of what the implications of dropping might be. And then once, you know, once that happens, then we are looking at probably been able to provide them with,
you know, a credit
or refund for dropping if that is the case. We would like to be able to also develop a plan for them to return back to the college
when they make that decision.
In terms of
parking, I know there's lots of questions, questions about, will we refund student's parking since they're not on campus to park. And the plan at this point is to credit students for parking that is not utilized and so
the goal is to build a plan process for doing so. And most likely they will get credit and they can then apply that credit for the next semester that they return to campus to enroll in classes.
We do know that for some of our students and even some of our staff there is a challenge in terms of having internet connectivity and internet access. We are in the process of discussing what it might mean if we could
allow students to come on campus and utilize the WiFi, that is available in some of our locations so that they can park in a parking lot,
social distancing, of course, stay in their cars and utilize the WiFi. I know students are concerned about using up their data points on through their
phone service provider and so that conversation is being fine tuned and you should be hearing from
me as to what decision we, how we roll out that and what decision we make in the next week or so.
I'm going to sort of take a break and sort of open this up. I know that we've had questions been answered by folks and I appreciate that, but if there are particular trends that
we're seeing, particular trends that that you need to have questions, answers to address right now, I am available to do so.
Mary Rees: Julius there's been quite a few questions relating to both summer courses as well as when do students register.
Julius: Okay. So, very good questions. So in terms of summer of 90 to 95% of our summer offerings will be online. You can see why as we are navigating this pandemic. It is clear that we still need to
observe the social distancing protocols and so we will
we have planned to offer 90 to 95% of our summer schedule online now. That is not to say that if things change that we will not,
you know, then,
you know, make changes
accordingly, and so we leave this open with the opportunity that if things do change, then we may be able to then add sections on ground to the schedule. But for now, the plan is to make sure that our summer
instruction is online for the most of it.
In terms of registering for summer and fall, that registration will begin for our special populations students April 20, April 20, and then for the general population I believe it's April 27, continuing students April 27.
And our
registrar and Admissions and Records Office have already put that calendar of that together, alongside our colleagues in the sister colleges and that information
is now has been made its way to students. Students can go back and check. They will still stay in the same status as they had prior to the Covid-19 disruption,
and we are encouraging students to register for the summer and for the fall, in particular for some of our students
who are struggling right now that they might be able to
continue their education, then.
Are there any other questions?
I see that there questions that have been posed in the chat. Are there any things that
would be helpful for me to further?
Mary: Julius we had several questions about training for Canvas and when that full Canvas training will start.
Julius: Canvas is that...
Hello?
Can folks hear me?
You can hear me now. Okay, so,
we are continuing training for our faculty and staff. By the way we also have training opportunities for staff that's been defined by staff
and so it's important for us to acknowledge the need of our classified professionals. In terms of training
I'm going to defer to Matt and the DE team, in terms of when they intend to begin that. But our goal is to make sure that faculty who are teaching online
in the summer, get the full package of training that is necessary for them to continue to develop the competency in doing so, and for them to have the opportunity to continue to share with a community of practice that comes with that kind of ongoing professional development.
And I just see that Matt has said that they will offer DE certification training starting after spring break. So thank you, Matt. So after spring break the DE certification training will begin.
And yes, the pantry is open, from what I'm seeing. So we're continuing
to provide meals and support to individuals who are
who are in need of assistance.
So I see a question about who should a faculty member notify if a student of theirs tests positive for the Covid-19 virus. Please make sure that you communicate that information to the dean,
so that he or she can then follow up the process. We've had so far is that information is communicated to the dean.
The doing communicates that information to me and to our members of exec team I'm sorry to our vice presidents and the members of the exec team, and then we share that information with the Chancellor, so that we can then
mobilize a response as quickly as swiftly as possible.
Okay, see what if a class is scheduled.
Okay. So, someone has an EW and the pass no pass. As for the EW grades
the college district, the office of Larry Buckley, Dr. Larry Buckley our Vice Chancellor for Educational Services is drafting a form that we can use that will capture
the EW grade, that will capture the pass no pass request, and that will capture withdrawals. So that's been developed and we're hopefully hoping to be able to release that information next week. As you know, the State Chancellor's Office
has authorized colleges to when students who have been registered prior to when we went off online, when students who've been registered as of that time, if they choose to
withdraw as a result of the Covid-19 epidemic, whether it's because they got sick or there's a financial strain on them, that we are allowed to provide them an EW.
And that EW is not punitive, it will not count against their financial aid and it will not count against their GPA. So
that is an option that is open to all students if they so choose to do so.
We are trying our very best to make sure that students stay enrolled and not drop
but that is one option as far as the pass no pass, there is our region, the CEO region of college presidents that we belong to has
petitioned the State Chancellor's Office to
enter into a conversation with the UCs, actually with the UC's because the CSU's will already
allow us to do, they'll already accept a pass no pass, but the UC's had not. So we're entering to that conversation. And as of today, Dr Gillespie's writing a memo to
Chancellor Oakley asking if they will also add to that conversation that the UC's accept online labs in the sciences and in other areas, as they review students applications for transfer purposes. So those are in
progress as we speak.
And it's important to note that we submitted an addendum to the State Chancellor's Office so as to be able to offer classes online and that they are planning to extend that through the summer
at least, and maybe even to the fall, but they are planning to extend that definitely for us to be able to deliver summer instruction.
Mary: Julius there's also a question about the Child Development Center,
and also about the counselors, there's a lot.
Julius: Okay, what are the questions about the Child Development Center?
Mary: When it will be open for bringing children on campus.
Julius: Okay. So again, we want to make sure that our community is safe. We want to make sure that if we do bring
the children of the child development center back to campus that they are protected and their caregivers are protected. And so as a college district we are currently talking about aligning that with when the decision is made by the county
to
release the county from the emergency declaration. That conversation is ongoing. But right now, our commitment is to make sure that we
keep the children, their families as well as our staff safe. And so we are not, we have not identified a particular day to have the Child Development Center open for the students to return to campus.
Mary: There was also question about when counselors will be returning and how students should get in touch with counselors.
Julius: Okay, so in terms of when counselors will be returning to campus, is that the question?
Mary: Yes, please.
Julius: Okay, at this point we are treating counselors, like we're treating other faculty members. There has been no stated date for counselors to return to campus or faculty to return to campus and deliver instruction on campus as of yet. So, that is
that will be part of the conversation that Dr. Gillespie has with the State Chancellor's Office and also with our partners.
Our commitment right now is to make sure that we keep everyone safe and in line with the state's stay at home safer ordinance and so we are not looking at moving counselors on campus at this point in time.
Our goal is to make sure that everyone is as safe as possible.
Mary: Can you tell them, explain how students would make appointments with counselors?
Julius: Well, so we know that they can go to the Counseling web page. And on that web page, the information is very explicitly stated there, but also for many of us, for our students, the easiest way to access our services is to go on to our Moorpark College website and then you click on
the student services area and when you click on that link, that link will take you to every single service and it gives you
their phone number, it gives you the contact persons to be able to engage with, and that then allows students to connect with Counseling. There's also on our Moorpark College page,
you will see a student help and a student question and it has the raider logo, if students click on that they can go ahead and post questions that they get directed to the campus into the various services that they need.
And those services can then engage students. They can also call Counseling,
and the Counseling line and they will have
Counseling faculty and Counseling assistant staff who will address their need.
Mary: Julius, two other questions. One, dealing with how to pick up mail, the mail room what the process is there.
Julius: Yes.
Mary: And what to do if you need to come onto campus for some reason.
Julius: Okay, so in terms of picking up mail. I know that we had this conversation,
I think was the Coronavirus workgroup on Friday, that we had this conversation as to how we build out a plan for folks to come on campus to pick up mail.
I know, Jennifer. Dr. Jennifer Clark our Vice President of Business and her staff in her office are working on a template so that folks can
schedule to come pick up mail on campus, and then that a process for doing that will be available and that when people do that, that we're practicing safe social distancing in doing so. But that is in conversation, and once we have that
detail outlined you will get, the college community will get an email from from Jennifer. Jennifer, do you want to add to that?
Mary: Jennifer did respond in the chat, that she had posted directions outside the mail room. They're going to ask people to social distance as they wait as spreading out the six feet,
and come in that side door and she does have instructions
posted out there, she
wrote in the chat. [Jennifer Clark]: Oh, yeah. Sorry, I was trying to unmute my mic and
I managed to get it unmuted. And yeah, that's correct. And then as far as scheduling we'll have to work on that process. But for now, we're just putting up a sign that basically reminds people just to go one at a time into the room.
[Julius]: Okay. [Jennifer]: Yeah.
Julius: So that was one and then Mary had another question about people coming on campus, other than picking up mail?
Mary: Yes, some people were wondering if they can come by their offices, stop by if they need to come on campus, what the process should be.
Julius: So I think it's really important for us, if we are going to a flatten the curve that folks stay home and be safe.
I don't think I can say that enough. I don't think that our healthcare professionals can say that enough. And so that's where I that's where we start.
You know, we emphasize the fact that coming onto campus, unless it's really necessary. If it's something you need to be able to continue to deliver service to students. If it's something that you need to be able to,
you know, develop your course content, then sure, you know, you can come on campus and do that. But what you do is if we allow everyone to do that, then you create an opportunity
or you create a context where we may not be following the social distancing and protocols and we may be further endangering ourselves.
You know what is very telling, to me, is if you look at the number of cases of Covid-19 in Ventura County. It went from about 30 about 10 days ago and we're now 109 as of yesterday, if I remember correctly. And
that exponential growth speaks to the importance of making sure that we are safe and that we stay home and that we observe the social distancing protocols. So I would say coming to campus
right now should not be a priority unless you have to. And if you have to, that you observe the social distancing protocols. There's practically no one in capitalists are going into your office, picking up whatever you need to pick up and leave
is okay. But I am concerned that when we start having lots of people on campus and people are walking about in they're going into offices
that we further expose ourselves to the dangers of this virus, which we not know much about as of yet. And what we do know about it as of yet tells us that it is airborne and so I would ask the folks please be the be safe, that the
tread with caution. And if you do not need to be on campus, please don't come on campus.
Mary: Julius did you also have that only essential personnel were on campus, and if you were coming for other reasons you needed to notify...
Julius: So in an email that I sent out last week, I believe, is that if folks are coming on campus, please notify your supervisor. Please let them know that you're coming on campus so that way we are protecting you.
Campus Police is on campus, making sure that our
campus is safe and we are trying our very best to make sure that we monitor the transition in and out of campus. So
I really would recommend that folks stay at home if they are non essential and what they're coming to campus for can be done later on, please, please, please do stay home.
Mary: And of course, the non essential defined by our emergency plan, rather than the huge essential work of all?
Julius: Correct. Correct. And,
you know, one of the things we've been very successful at is being able to transition folks to remote work and being able to
my belief is that being able to transition folks to remote work will save our college community and our larger community and exposure. And the more we can keep that going, and the more we observe that the more we're able to
maintain the health and well being of our community, but also reduce the impact of this
virus on our community.
Are there other questions or any other comments?
Mary: Julius there seems to be a little bit of confusion about the blanket addendum
that approves courses that are not approved at the state for DE to allow those and then a separate question about getting DE certified in order to teach those courses.
Julius: Okay, so what's, what's the confusion about the blanket DE addendum?
Mary: Just assuming that if you get approval, that it's also covers the instructor not requiring DE certification.
Julius: The blanket approval is for the college to offer these courses. It doesn't cover the instructor. It's for the college to be able to offer the courses. The assumptions that we have instructors who are who have
and that will make, will create the perfect, will provide the professional development opportunities for instructors to be able to deliver the course, but
the blanket addendum does not cover instructors who are not trained or prepared to deliver the course using the course management systems or the software that
is being utilized. So the blanket addendum just allows us to offer our classes that we can
using an online environment. That's all it does. That's what it does at this point in time. We are still required to provide professional development for folks to to utilize either Canvas or to utilize Zoom.
To be able to offer instruction, in the summer, our goal is to provide as many opportunities with DE certification as possible. That's our goal. We want to make sure that our faculty receive the most
relevant and current professional development in the most training in delivering instruction through virtual platforms and online. That's our goal.
And we are trying. We will try our very best to provide as much of that training and that professional development over the next couple of weeks. The challenge is that
there is such demand and we appreciate the work that has been done by the faculty who are already DE certified and who are helping their colleagues
to, you know, ramp up their skills. We appreciate that work and we depend on that work, but that is not to say that we do not then keep providing ongoing training and professional development to folks,
so that they can be fully DE certified will continue to do the DE certification and would like to migrate as much of our faculty who are teaching online to that mode because we know folks need that training, they need that professional
development, they need that community of practice to be able to
enhance their delivery of instruction and online environment.
Mary: Julius there looks to be still a little bit of confusion about after spring break.
[Julius] Yes. [Mary]: Students do not return to to the campus. Classes continue online. [Julius]: Yes. [Mary]: Faculty continue to teach online, after spring break, until the end of the semester.
Julius: That is the commitment. Yes.
Mary: I think we've covered most, the transcript will be up from the Zoom, as well as all the chat questions.
Thank you Julius and I want to let people know we've had over 200 people here on the Zoom meeting today. This is absolutely fantastic.
And when will your next Zoom be Julius?
Julius: So our goal is to do them every Monday at noon and our goal is to keep conversation going. So between now and then, if there are questions that you have
please feel free to send them to me, please feel free to go ahead and send them to our your dean, or your department chair, or your supervisor, and so we can collect those and then we can address them
as they come. The reality of this, as you all know, is that things are changing rapidly. And so we are all trying our very best to sort of stay, I guess, you know,
afloat. I guess that's the expression, right? And so that in itself is really the context in which we exist. So if I say something today and then I come back next Monday and it's changed, that's because we're working with the realities
of the epidemic and the realities of our systems, trying to make sense of this. There's so much that we're constantly working on.
And I know for a fact that you're all dealing with this in your own lives. You know, trying to juggle parenting and working from home and just the challenges and they anxieties that are associated with this. So I ask everyone to please
take care of yourselves, you know. It is very important for you to get rest. It is very important for you to sleep, eat correctly. It's very important for you to
stay connected to your loved ones. I appreciate you. I appreciate the work that you do for this college and we will survive this together. We will survive this together. Thank you.
Mary: Thank you Julius. We will talk to you all again soon.
[Julius]: Thanks, Mary. [Mary]: Have a great day.