Dear CCSF Community,
I hope this note finds you well, and that everyone is taking extra care of themselves emotionally, physically, and mentally during this time. I know this is particularly difficult as we care for loved ones while also trying to study and work. But even during a pandemic, it is important that we all take time to find some levity and joy. There are some great ways to do this without even leaving your home. For example, in celebration of Golden Gate Park’s 150-year anniversary, SF Recreation and Parks has launched a weekly online concert series that will feature some of the park’s most popular live performances.
In COVID-19 related news, moments ago the City of San Francisco issued a new policy requiring everyone to wear face coverings when they leave their homes. Please see the attached document, which outlines these new requirements. There are a variety of videos available that demonstrate how to make masks out of homemade materials, which you can watch here. We encourage everyone to follow these guidelines to protect yourselves, and your community.
As the shelter-in-place continues, I'd like to remind everyone that we will not be resuming in-person instruction or delivery of student services for the duration of the Spring 2020 Semester. Summer courses will be those courses already geared for online instruction. We expect the Summer schedule to go live next week, and will send out a note to the community once it is available.
Please continue reading for some important news related to facilities, student services, and campus leases.
Facilities Access
We understand that there are very specific situations under which someone may need to come to campus. In this week’s Cabinet meeting, we again reiterated some procedures that must be followed before case-by-case campus access is granted. Below are some of these key points:
- STEP 1: No one is allowed on campus without prior approval from their Associate Vice Chancellor (AVC). If you need to access campus, you must send a note to your immediate supervisor, who will forward your request to the Division AVC.
- STEP 2: Your Division AVC will send your request to Associate Vice Chancellor Torrance Bynum, who will then work with Facilities and Campus Police to determine if your request can be accommodated. This is to ensure strict adherence to the health order issued by the City on March 31 (attached).
- STEP 3: Your AVC will let you know whether or not your request is approved. If access is granted, AVCs will work with you to ensure you follow appropriate health orders and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is used.
- STEP 4: Facilities will provide you with an appointment time and an Administrator or Campus Police Officer will grant access at that time.
If these procedures are not followed, unfortunately, you will not be provided campus access. This is to ensure the safety of you and your colleagues during the pandemic.
Student Services
We’d like to remind everyone that we are hard at work providing support to our students, even while our buildings are closed. This includes access to technological resources such as Chromebooks, which students can request through a form in the CCSF portal. I’d also like to highlight the medical and mental health services that are currently still available to our students. Our nurses are on standby to provide medical advice over the phone, and our mental health workers are also accessible to help students access critical community resources. Please read more about those services here, and be sure to fill out the appropriate forms to ensure your requests are accommodated as quickly as possible. We’re here to help!
We’d also like to share that beginning April 28, CCSF students currently receiving CalFresh benefits will be able to buy groceries online via Amazon and Walmart, and will receive free delivery on orders over $35. We hope this will help students stay home and keep healthy during the pandemic. For more information, please visit this link.
Leases
You may have heard that the College is discussing the Fort Mason and 1170 Market Street campus leases. As we’ve mentioned several times over the last several years, evaluating all of the College’s real estate is essential to balancing the budget, and that evaluation has been underway for quite some time. This item is currently scheduled to be discussed by the board at the upcoming April 23 meeting, but no decisions will be made at this time – nor have any been made. We will keep the community updated on any news related to the College’s facilities.
Just this week, this topic was discussed with the Academic Senate, AFT, LMC, Classified Senate, AAEC, at Cabinet, and at our monthly Participatory Governance Council meeting. This topic will continue to be discussed openly and extensively with all of our constituency groups.
Thank you all for all you continue to do in support of our students, our college, and the people of San Francisco. Please continue to be on the lookout for weekly notes from me each Friday, which will include important updates and news for the City College community. And, as always, we are available to address any questions and concerns.
In Gratitude,
Dianna R. Gonzales
Interim Chancellor
City College of San Francisco