Will Fresno-area community colleges require vaccinations? Here’s how the fall will work
The decision of whether to require COVID-19 vaccinations for community college students in the Fresno area will be decided over the coming months, State Center Community College officials announced at a board meeting on Tuesday.
That decision could differ from one college district to the next, unlike the uniform announcement made for the University of California and California State University on April 22 that vaccinations would be mandated, as long as at least one is FDA approved by the fall.
The California Community College system has 116 schools across the state, and many different districts, making the decision complex, said Fresno City College President Carole Goldsmith.
“They have one board, unlike us,” she said. “We have elected boards throughout multiple districts. Chancellor (Eloy Ortiz) Oakley came out and gave us some guidance that he fully expects districts to do whatever they can do to ensure the safety of everyone returning to our campuses.”
Student Brighton Tompkins spoke to the board in support of mandating vaccines.
“I think that our district has the responsibility to take action to protect our communities throughout the Central Valley,” Tompkins said, “and I think that we followed in the footsteps of the UCs and CSUs before when the pandemic was just getting started, and I think it’s critical that we follow them yet again.”
State Center officials at the meeting unveiled a preliminary fall plan for each of its schools — Fresno City College, Clovis and Madera Community Colleges, and Reedley College.
All four colleges plan to return much more of their faculty, staff, and students in the fall.
Plans for fall 2021
Goldsmith is calling the fall a “transitional semester,” she said. After hearing from students about what they want, the college is leaving many options for online learning in place.
“Many of our students are parents, so we know as we come back in the fall ... every K-12 (school) is doing things a little bit different, and our parents who are students also need to do job one, which is maybe stay at home and take care of the little ones.”
The child development centers on campuses will be significantly reduced in capacity, with only 10 toddlers and 10 school-age children allowed at the Reedley campus in the fall. Madera Community President Angel Reyna said his center is currently limited to five or six toddlers.
Each campus has a goal of up to how many students it will return. Fresno City plans for between 33 and 55% of its classes to be in-person in the fall, Madera 40%, Reedley 50%, and Clovis 30%, college presidents said.
Administrators say there are still problems that must be fixed so all students have access to resources.
Both Madera Community and its satellite campus in Oakhurst are in rural areas, Reyna said, which limits internet access.
“The broadband issue in Madera County and rural colleges is definitely an issue,” he said, “Some hotspots work better than others. It depends on the carrier, (and) we’ve had to navigate and adjust accordingly. We’re trying to utilize our campus as a space for students to use, should there be broadband issues in the future.”
Both Madera, Fresno City, and Clovis Community want to expand WiFi access into their parking lots and other areas.
“We’re receiving such a large amount of money from the CARES funds and the HEERF funds that have come to us, the one-time monies related to COVID, that we’re trying to make sure that we use them for things that will help us as we move through this, and one of those things is improving the WiFi around our college,” said Clovis Community President Lori Bennett.
The Reedley College gym has been a mass vaccination site, but “we are hoping to reclaim that shortly and begin to better support our athletic efforts for this coming year,” said President Jerry Buckley. “We are planning at this point on bringing back all teams, dependent, of course, upon conditions as we approach the fall semester.”
Reedley, the only State Center campus to offer dorms to its students, will only have its residence hall at 50% capacity, or 75 students, Buckley said.
When the pandemic forced nearly all students online last year, many colleges were allowed to hold some career and technical education courses on campus, such as mechanics and healthcare. But Clovis Community doesn’t have many CTE courses, said Bennett, which means it had the fewest students on campus.
With fewer restrictions in the fall, the college wants to bring some general education courses in-person for those who have struggled. GE courses, such as English, math, and history, have been thought to be the easiest to transition to an online format, meaning many will stay online in the fall at some colleges.
“We looked at courses that have lower success rates online, we’ve looked at things that are typically freshmen courses, so those high school seniors who have struggled through a year of COVID can actually come and take a class on campus here if they choose to,” Bennett said.
“Then we’re looking at a variety of classes that will help with student engagement, like art and athletics and choir and music and other things that are hands-on. So we’re trying in a very small way to bring back as much as we can, given the constraints on the number of students that you can put into the classroom.”
Bennett said according to a student survey conducted by the college, 40% of students said they still wanted to take online classes, 30% said they wanted to fully return to campus, and 30% wanted a hybrid plan of both online and in-person.
Faculty and staff will also be phased in and returned to a normal in-person pre-pandemic schedule by fall, administrators said.
In July, employees will begin staggered schedules, coming in for either two or three days a week. When school begins in August, employees will be on campus, “consistent with health department guidelines.”
Tuesday was also the first time interim Chancellor Doug Houston was part of the meeting. Houston was appointed in March to lead the district temporarily until a successor is found for Paul Parnell, who is retiring.
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