News Links | May 12, 2020
System News | Opinion
Ready for recovery
... Amit Singh, president of Edmonds College in Washington state, plans to deliver a similar message to the countywide economic
and workforce recovery task force on which he serves. There’s a short- and long-term
approach to determining workforce needs, he said. Snohomish County, where Edmonds
is located, has seen the largest number of unemployment filings come from the manufacturing,
constructions, retail and healthcare sectors, respectively, and it is imperative to
help those workers find jobs, Singh said.
Community College Daily, May 12, 2020
Commentary: EvCC’s virtual doors open to serve students, others
Everett Community College has been providing opportunities for students for nearly 80 years, through the good
times and bad. In times of crisis and economic uncertainty, the work we do to fulfill
our mission becomes even more critical. Over the past month, I have been encouraged
every day that as we navigate this current crisis our employees and fellow students
have risen to the occasion.
Everett Herald, May 11, 2020
GHC nursing program adapting in face of pandemic
When a whole new approach was prescribed for teaching during a pandemic, the Grays Harbor College nursing department handled it — stat. “We worked all through spring break to get
this done so we won’t have to extend our end students into the summer. My faculty
has worked really hard to move into online format to reach out to our students,” said
Carol O’Neal, GHC’s associate dean of nursing.
The Daily World, May 8, 3030
Highline College Foundation launches COVID-19 student support fund
The Highline College Foundation recently launched the COVID-19 Student Support Fund
in an effort to raise money to help Highline College students financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since March, Highline College
has received an increase in requests for emergency assistance funding to support individual
students. Many of these students have been laid off, had their work hours drastically
cut and/or find themselves in need of expensive childcare while public schools remain
closed.
Federal Way Mirror, May 8, 2020
Opinion | WVC President Jim Richardson: COVID-19 and a changed Wenatchee Valley College
The world has changed quite a lot in the past few months, and Wenatchee Valley College has changed with it. On March 3, before COVID-19 had been declared a pandemic, we
discovered that a WVC student was being tested for COVID-19. While the test results
were negative, within two weeks our service district would see its first cases. By
March 13, WVC would be tasked by the governor’s office to move all classes online
and by March 18 our campuses would close to students and the public for the first
time.
Wenatchee World, May 7, 2020
Walla Walla Community College looking inward to fill top spot
Walla Walla Community College’s board of trustees announced Wednesday it is considering asking acting President Chad
Hickox to fill the role permanently. Hickox, who was vice president of Instruction
and then executive vice president at WWCC, was appointed to his current position after
the resignation of the late Derek Brandes in March. Brandes left the job to pursue
treatment for cancer.
Union-Bulletin, May 7, 2020
Dr. Tawny Dotson of CPTC chosen for national presidential fellowship for community college leaders
The Aspen Institute College Excellence Program today announced that Dr. Tawny M. Dotson,
Vice President for Instruction at Clover Park Technical College, is one of 40 leaders selected for the 2020-21 class of the Aspen Rising Presidents
Fellowship, a highly selective leadership program preparing the next generation of
community college presidents to transform institutions to achieve higher and more
equitable levels of student success.
The Suburban Times, May 6, 2020
Trends | Horizons | Education
Location-based protection
... The legal responsibility for colleges and universities to protect students from
such sexual assaults while studying abroad may now be diminished under new regulations
issued by the Department of Education last week. The new rules clearly state institutions
are not obligated to investigate reports of sexual misconduct in their study abroad
programs or provide support to those who report misconduct outside the U.S.
Inside Higher Ed, May 12, 2020
Reimagining career education
... "The Reimagining Workforce Preparation Grants are designed to expand short-term
postsecondary programs and work-based learning programs in order to get Americans
back to work and help small businesses return to being our country's engines for economic
growth," reads an announcement from the department about the grants. A notice inviting
applications gives an example of "course work that would help small businesses to
recover and new entrepreneurs to thrive."
Inside Higher Ed, May 12, 2020
Survey: 4 of 5 students face disruption from virus
Students whose lives were significantly disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic may change
their plans to remain or re-enroll in college. ... Students at two-year institutions
were more likely than those at four-year institutions to say they expect to face significant
disruption from the health crisis. A top concern is finances, the survey found. Nearly
half of those surveyed who said they face significant disruption from the pandemic
said that managing financial pressure is the biggest factor in their decision making
on whether to re-enroll. The second largest factor is balancing work with school.
Inside Higher Ed, May 12, 2020
AP tests begin online and at home — but not for everyone
Starting Monday, Advanced Placement exams, which test high schoolers' knowledge of
college material, will take an unusual form. The high-anxiety, college credit tests
normally last three hours and are taken in person. But this year, in response to disruptions
from the coronavirus outbreak, the College Board, which administers AP exams, shortened
the tests to 45 minutes and moved them online. The new format has raised questions
about fairness. For many students, changing the test site from a proctored classroom
to their devices at home is a big deal.
NPR, May 11, 2020
IRAPs rule kicks in
Organizations, including community colleges, can now apply to serve as third-party
entities that would review applications for new industry-recognized apprenticeship
programs, or IRAPs. On the same day federal regulations for IRAPs went into effect,
the U.S. Department of Labor on Monday opened the online application for so-called
“standards recognition entities” (SREs).
Community College Daily, May 11, 2020
Reserved: Internet parking
... Some colleges already offered Wi-Fi in their parking lots. Others installed signal
boosters to extend their Wi-Fi to specific lots for the pandemic. Some have announced
hours of lot operation, mainly to offer security, along with rules for social distancing:
one space between each car, for example. While various institutions require student
credentials to log in to the Wi-Fi, others have invited the greater community -- including
K-12 students -- to share access.
Inside Higher Ed, May 8, 2020
Health association issues guidelines for reopening
The American College Health Association has issued guidelines for reopening campuses.
The guidelines say colleges “can anticipate restrictions and limitations in activities
will be in place for the next 12-18 months, if not longer” and that “resumption of
activities will be gradual and phased based on local public health conditions as well
as institutional capacity.”
Inside Higher Ed, May 8, 2020
Politics | Local, State, National
House Dems pitch new $3T relief package
House Democrats on Tuesday unveiled a massive $3 trillion coronavirus relief package
that includes nearly $90 billion for K-12 and public higher education. House leaders
plan a vote on the sweeping legislation on Friday, but Republicans are cool to the
measure, saying they want to see the effect of previous pandemic relief packages before
moving on another one. In the Senate, Republican leaders said the bill is dead on
arrival, though they did note they would be possibly open to another relief bill later.
Community College Daily, May 12, 2020
Senator Alexander: Testing levels inadequate to open campuses
Senator Lamar Alexander, the Tennessee Republican who chairs the Senate's education
committee, on Sunday praised coronavirus testing in the U.S., citing Johns Hopkins
University research that eight million tests have conducted, more per capita even
than South Korea. But Alexander said current testing capacity remains inadequate for
reopening large college and university campuses for in-person instruction. ... The
Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions plans to hold a hearing
today with Trump administration health experts on safely reopening schools and workplaces.
Two of the four scheduled witnesses are self-quarantining amid worries about White
House officials who have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days. Those witnesses
will testify via video conference, the committee said.
Inside Higher Ed, May 12, 2020
Community colleges got disproportionately less in CARES Act
... The study, which recommended that Congress make changes if it sends more aid to
colleges and universities in another stimulus package, noted that the CARES Act funding
was based on the number of full-time-equivalent students colleges enroll, which worked
against those with large numbers of part-time students. As a result, while community
colleges educate almost 40 percent of students, they only received about 27 percent
of the CARES Act funds, the study found. Had the package based funding on the total
number of students, public colleges of two years or fewer would have received 39 percent
of the funding.
Inside Higher Ed, May 12, 2020