The Academic Operations Team (AOT), in consultation and coordination with the Tuesday Group, the COVID Core Team, and the Return to Campus Operations Team, is making academic preparations for the beginning of Fall Term. Here we outline our plans and approach for enabling the smooth return to teaching and an approximate timeline for making decisions and completing tasks. At the same time, we are beginning the process of planning for possible adjustments to academics that we anticipate may need to be implemented, depending on the number of cases of COVID-19 that emerge on campus. Before diving into more academic specifics, here is an outline of the current testing, quarantine, isolation, and contact tracing plans.
Testing
Please see the August 10 edition of the Weekly Pandemic Update for a description of faculty testing. Faculty who intend to teach some component in person have already been invited to available testing dates. Faculty who are teaching online but who intend to occasionally or regularly come to campus will also be invited to the available testing dates. Faculty are also able to register for a second test date.
Carolyn Livingston shared an email to students about their return to campus with all faculty and staff on August 11, which is summarized here. Students will be tested the day they arrive on campus: Sep. 4 for RAs, New Student Week leaders, and international students; Sep. 8 for first year students; and Sep. 9 & 10 for returning students. While waiting for results, students will be expected to remain on campus and mingle only with a small and designated “social hub” (to aid with contact tracing), and all meals will be “grab and go.” In addition, they will be expected to report daily symptoms and adhere to Carleton’s Covenant upon arrival to campus and throughout fall term, which specifies physical distancing and mask-wearing requirements.
All students’ test results for the first test will be returned before the first day of class. Students’ second test will be administered seven days after the first test in order to reduce false negative results and capture infections that could have taken place while they were in transit. Most students will have received the results from the second test before the first day of class. Because we will not have the results from both tests for all students before the first day of class, some faculty may decide that they want to begin their classes online, and/or meet with them in person outdoors.
Quarantine, Isolation, and Contact Tracing
Students, faculty, and staff who test positive for COVID-19 will immediately begin isolation. Students who test positive will be isolated for a minimum of 10 days in campus housing designated for this purpose. Faculty and staff will be expected to isolate at home. All positive cases will be expected to report close contacts that they have had since the 48 hours before they were tested. Close contacts will be required to quarantine for two weeks. Masking will not change whether or not someone needs to go into quarantine, but it is very likely to decrease the likelihood of becoming infected and even the severity of the illness should one become infected.
The difference between isolation and quarantine is that separation from people who are not ill (i.e. in a living situation) is required for isolation; quarantine requires that individuals stay home and minimize their contact with others. Many students will be able to quarantine in their rooms, and those who cannot will be moved to designated quarters. For example, if there is a positive case in a campus house, the entire house will quarantine together. Faculty and staff are expected to quarantine at home.
For someone to be considered a close contact, we are using the CDC guidance of 15 or more minutes within 6 feet. If the space is small and/or poorly ventilated, then the time in proximity is lowered to 10 or more minutes. Because the seating in classrooms is six feet apart, a positive case in your class does not automatically lead to quarantine for the rest of the class or even those in seats closest to that individual. Quarantine would only be required if the student in question was actively coughing on people or moving around a lot and getting closer to others. Faculty will be asked in the first week of the term to provide seat assignments to the Contact Tracing Team, headed by Janet Lewis Muth, to aid in the identification of possible close contacts.
Due to HIPAA regulations, faculty cannot be informed of the reason for a student’s absence in their class. Nevertheless, students will be encouraged to communicate with faculty about the length of time they anticipate being absent from a class, so that faculty are in a position to help them adjust to remote or more independent learning. The degree to which students feel supported in their learning while quarantining or in isolation will impact the likelihood that they report their close contacts and comply with the restriction of movement that is necessary to contain COVID-19. Now, more than ever, it is important for us all to reinforce the message that if someone is not well, they should stay home. More details about the academic support process will be forthcoming from the Student Case Process Team, led by Cathy Carlson. Andrew Fisher is the Associate Dean who is part of this team.
Classrooms
The Classroom Committee is preparing classrooms and classroom assignments for those who are teaching some component of their courses in-person. In addition to developing six-foot physically distanced seating arrangements, Facilities is optimizing classroom ventilation rates. The plan is to occupy rooms during every other class period (except for periods that are already separated by Common Time or a dinner break), allowing for air exchanges and incidental surface cleaning by incoming or outgoing students to take place in between classes. Faculty will be asked to keep seat assignments, or in-person group assignments, on file with the Contact Tracing Team and update them as needed during the term.
Some spaces, such as the Weitz Cinema and Kracum Auditorium, are being repurposed as classrooms. While these have excellent projection and voice amplification for faculty, the seats do not have desks and there are no chalkboards or whiteboards in these rooms. For these spaces, we are providing lap desks for students. These will be left at the seats for students to wipe down before or after class. The Academic Technologists will help faculty to use a tablet and software, or find an alternate substitute for writing on the board.
Classroom technology is somewhat limited by the lack of availability of some equipment. Once room assignments are announced (target date is August 14), faculty will have an opportunity to discuss with ITS the technological approaches that will work best in their classrooms. The LTC and ITS will also hold classroom simulations and additional training sessions, as announced in the August 10 email from Victoria Morse and Wiebke Kuhn.
There will be a few outdoor classrooms, most with tent coverings, that will be scheduled like regular classrooms. Because they are ventilated by the outdoors, they will be used for consecutive class periods. To the greatest extent possible, faculty who expressed a desire for an outdoor classroom on their classroom preference form will have their classes scheduled in these spaces. In addition, we will attempt to identify a back-up indoor classroom for their use, unless they plan to transition to online learning in the event that weather precludes them from meeting outdoors.
The outdoor classrooms will be decidedly low-tech, with sound amplification and a chalkboard providing the supplementary tools for communicating with students. During the times that the outdoor classrooms are not scheduled for use by a class, they will be available for one-time scheduling through Carleton’s EMS system. In addition, there will be a few tented spaces for smaller groups to gather, which will similarly be schedulable through EMS. Faculty will also be free to hold their classes outdoors when the weather is fine. We intend to have additional folding chairs and picnic tables distributed on campus for informal meetings and office hours. More details about this furniture will be forthcoming.
Classrooms will be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected at least once per day. If there is an increase in disease incidence, this cleaning rate may become more frequent. Hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes or spray and towels will be provided at classroom entrances and/or in classrooms. Cleaning supplies specific to the classroom computer keyboard and touchscreen will also be provided. More details regarding classroom cleaning will be posted and linked on the Carleton website.
Below is the current list of topics and timeline that the AOT, in coordination with other groups, are working on to prepare for the fall.
Upcoming Milestones
- August 14: Classroom capacities finalized and furniture layouts completed
- August 14: Faculty teaching some component of their class in person will receive an initial classroom assignment.
- August 13–21: The LTC and ITS will hold mock classes in Leighton and Boliou classrooms.
- After August 21:
- More detailed plans for outdoor classrooms
- Classroom layouts and seat numbering
- Classroom technology descriptions, including those prepared for recording and/or filming
- Classroom ingress/egress protocols
- Classroom cleaning protocols
- After August 31:
- Training materials for classroom and building ingress/egress, seat assignments and possible attendance protocols
- Training for using the classroom technologies in assigned rooms
- Syllabus statement models for students who become ill or quarantined
- Student study/zoom spaces prepared
- Ongoing during the Fall term:
- Ongoing support from the LTC; please contact Victoria Morse.
- Ongoing support from AT on specific topics and through daily drop-in hours
Scenario Planning—ongoing
The AOT has also begun to discuss scenarios for which we should prepare. Using guidance from public health expert consultants, Carleton is developing metrics for monitoring the seriousness of the incidence of COVID-19 on campus and determining an appropriate response to changes in those metrics. We also expect to provide additional guidance to faculty for when they have an ill or quarantined student in their class, as well as when a larger percentage of students is unable to attend class. In addition, we should be prepared for when a faculty member becomes ill or is quarantined.
All of these topics are being addressed by the AOT, in consultation with the COVID Core team, the Dean of the College, and the Dean of Students. We welcome your questions and comments.