Continuity Team Updates for the Week of July 13th

Dear FSU Community,

Below are the Continuity Team updates for the week of 7/13. For anyone who may have missed yesterday’s announcement on the cancellation of the fall varsity athletic season, you can find out more here. The community is invited to continue sending in thoughts and feedback to c19suggestions@framingham.edu.

Key Dates Moving Forward:

July 15th to August 15th:

  • Periodic repopulation as needed for ongoing work requirements and to prepare for August Repopulation (e.g. safety preparations, install plexiglas, staff scheduling, rearrange furniture, relocations, etc…).
  • All signage established on campus.
  • Employee health & safety training conducted.
  • Telework agreements re-reviewed by supervisors to verify validity for fall 2020.

August 1st – Deadline for first-year students to withdraw from housing without penalty.

August 3rd – Student bills due date.

August 10th – Student drop for Non-payment of bills.

Week of August 16th - Deans and VPs will determine and authorize on-campus and off-campus remote service hours and the level of staffing for each area.  These schedules will be publicized via the web and on office hours.

August 26th –  Move-in date – residential life staff.

August 27th – Move-in date(s) – residential students.

September 2nd – First day of the Fall semester.

Continuity Team Updates for the Week of July 13:

Academic Affairs Continuity Team:

  • There were 71 attendees on each of the two days of the Faculty Un-Conference that was held on Wednesday and Thursday. The event included some wonderful conversations and many seemed to really appreciate the opportunity to talk together.

Administrative Services Continuity Team

  • The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) has announced a new "Small Repairs Capital Program" that is meant to assist campuses in funding smaller facilities repair projects in this period of fiscal constraint. (These funds were redirected from DCAMM's Major Projects Program as no new projects will be selected for FY21.)  FSU's FY21 allocation from this Small Repairs program is $975K.  Further, DCAMM is permitting use of these funds as a substitute for campus matching funds for the DCAMM Critical Repairs Program as well as for allocation to previously planned locally-funded projects.  Together, the "match use" and the "local projects use" directed funding will result in $600K in planned FY21 local spending to be reallocated to this "Small Repairs" program.  Allocation of the remaining $375K will be made to other BPC-identified capital projects that did not previously receive support through the spring ranking exercise. 
  • The Administrative Services Continuity Team (ASCT) reviewed the Plan for Return to Learning and Work and the Danforth Museum Reopening Plan. This upcoming week, the ASCT will review the Residence Halls, Dining, and Bookstore reopening plans.

Broad Spectrum Continuity Team:

  • The group received updates on the developing plans for COVID-19 student testing (asymptomatic) through an outside contractor.
  • A Contact Tracing subcommittee will continue its work and make recommendations regarding approaches to implement contact tracing in the fall.
  • There is still no final decision on fall athletics pending the State University Council of Presidents review of recommendations.  There is a tentative plan to open up the FSU track for contactless walking for the general public in early August and perhaps certain playing fields for contracted use in late July.  The current phase of Massachusetts Re-Opening allow for both of these activities at this time.  In ALL cases signage and other material regarding COVID-19 precautions will be posted and required.

Enrollment Management Continuity Team: 

  • The Enrollment Management Continuity Team reviewed the status of ongoing projects this week, including the creation of a Remote Learning video and efforts to convert print brochures to web-friendly documents. Moving forward the team will be meeting on an "as needed" basis rather than every week.

Instructional Continuity Team:

  • The team did a joint walk-through of the "Orientation for Online Learners" slide deck content used during live presentations, in order to prompt a discussion and generate suggestions for producing a similar 1-hour orientation designed specifically to help students prepare to participate in hybrid courses during COVID-19. 
  • The technology available to loan to students was discussed briefly during the limited time remaining toward the very end of our meeting. A worksheet (for internal use) has been posted to the communications channel within Microsoft Teams for the Instructional Continuity team to review so that we get agreement on what we are prepared to loan out, the sufficiency of the available inventory, and the (single) designated administrative office charged with managing the inventory and deciding which students qualify for eligibility. 
  • An Instructional Support Worksheet for faculty will be discussed at the next meeting.

Student Programs and Support Continuity Team:

  • Student Employment – We are looking to find current student positions that may not need to be filled in the fall because of campus changes and convert those positions into potential tech peer tutors who would function to help students with their remote learning technical challenges--understanding how to do things in Blackboard, working with Zoom, etc.
  • Fall Plans for Office/Departments-- An email that contained a list of offices that support student life on campus and their fall plans was emailed out to the campus community on Tuesday, July 14 a day later than planned so as not to conflict with the mailing of student bills. Most of the feedback has been positive, but there is still some concern about how we convey that there will be services provided to students and that there are offices open, but may be open only by appointment.
  • Student Community Agreements – the Dean of Students (DOS) office is working on community agreements for students to sign. Amendments are being added to student policies and the handbook about mask wearing as well.

Student Support Services Access information—The VP of Enrollment and Student Development office is going to be working on a video presentation about what the fall will look like on campus, which will include protocols for spaces that are open as well as walking people through how to sign up for appointments.