Dear City College Faculty, Students, Classified Staff Members and Administrators:
cc: CCSF Foundation, Members and Partners of the Extended CCSF Community
I pray this finds you and your family and neighbors healthy and well and managing through this global emergency.
I write to you today not as Dr. Rocha nor as the Chancellor, but just plain old Mark. I am doing my best with my colleagues to manage the college through this emergency while I also do my best to manage my own fear and anxiety. Your responses to this COVID-19/Coronavirus emergency have been universally caring, supportive and understanding. This more than anything else gives rise to the certain hope that we will pull through together and get back on track. The 85- year history of City College of San Francisco is testimony to this fact.
The COVID-19/Coronavirus pandemic is developing rapidly. Our first planning principle has been to protect the health of everyone in our community through maximum social distancing. Accordingly, I clarify and reiterate the following elements of our emergency plan:
- We are now under suspension of all face-to-face classes, meetings and events at ALL City College facilities. There will be no faculty-student classes or meetings, large or small.
- The San Francisco Department of Health has suspended ALL student clinical rotations at all San Francisco hospitals and healthcare facilities. This applies to all of our Allied Health and Nursing programs. Please stand by. We will have further information from Academic Affairs in the coming week about how these programs will move forward.
- As announced last Thursday, all employees will have access to buildings on Monday, March 16 and Tuesday, March 17, from 8 :00 AM – 5:00 PM. There will be no further building access after Tuesday until further notice. Therefore, please make every effort to use Monday and Tuesday to obtain what you need for continued instruction. Senior Vice Chancellors Tom Boegel and Dianna Gonzales will have further guidance for both teaching and non-teaching faculty in a separate memo.
- Classified staff and administrators will continue to work with their direct supervisors to prepare to work remotely for the duration of the emergency. As stated in the update of March 12th, Student Affairs will be rolling out information this week for how student services will continue virtually.
- Building and Grounds, Public Safety, Construction Teams will work with their supervisors this week on adjusted and augmented schedules.
- Administrative Affairs will provide further guidance on business continuity via virtual and remote methods.
- Board of Trustees Committee meetings and regular meetings will be held as scheduled, via Zoom, as permitted under Governor Newsom’s recent Brown Act waiver. Tomorrow we will have the agenda posted for the Board Committee meetings on Thursday, March 19th, along with details on the conduct of the meetings.
- Finally, please note that a short time ago Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, stated, “The worst is still in front of us.” Moreover, Governor Newsom announced moments ago, among other new measures, that all individuals over the age of 65 should self-isolate at home. Please be safe and take maximum precautions at this time. We may also expect that there will be additional restrictions and measures at both the federal, state and city levels as this state of emergency continues.
Perhaps most importantly we will be establishing this week a phone hotline/internet chatline so that any member of the college community can talk to a helpful person with a question, concern or even for practical advice and referrals. We want to know about anyone who is in distress for any reason so that we can help. It is always our City College instinct to help anyone in need. And in this case, we must also do so for the practical reason of reducing the spread of this coronavirus.
If you have any immediate questions, please email them to Leslie Milloy: lmilloy@ccsf.edu
Thank you and be well,
Mark Dr. Mark W. Rocha, Chancellor
City College of San Francisco