Higher Ed Return to Campus Guide: COVID-19 Phase II

This document is provided by Kuali Ready to assist higher ed institutions in preparing for reopening and returning to campus. This is often called the “Return Home” phase of business continuity.

The information that follows is designed to be used as a checklist of activities to consider in your preparation for moving staff, faculty, and students back to campus, and resuming campus activities under some level of normalcy. It is a suggested list and not intended to be all inclusive. Please add items as appropriate.

I. General

a. Determine timeline for returning to campus. Consider phased in approach.
b. Prepare communication to keep everyone informed (staff, students, faculty). Communication should include:
i. Status updates (via email, text, hotline)
ii. Established point of contact
iii. Reconstitution plan activities
iv. Timeline of each phase of reentry
c. Determine when masks will be required, by whom, for how long
i. Determine what department will manage inventory
ii. Inventory critical PPE supplies (assess availability of masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, thermometers, etc.)
iii. Research sourcing of PPEs (can masks be made on campus?)
d. Determine the pandemic-designated budget
i. Cleaning supplies
ii. PPEs
iii. Other
e. Consider contact tracing, tracking / surveilling this and future incidents
i. Individuals on campus
ii. Clusters
iii. Contact tracing record keeping (dates of incidents, locations of infected people travel logs, etc.)
f. Rebuild the supply chain
i. Recall vendors (food service, retail, etc.)
ii. Establish relationships with alternative vendors (where did you experience shortages, i.e., laptops, masks, etc.)
g. Resume normal travel following governmental guidelines
h. Reinvent - ask the question, should we be doing anything differently. Take this as an opportunity to rethink practices that were impractical. Where can we save money if enrollment diminishes?
i. Consider making in-person processes digital/remote (i.e., student transfers, counseling, etc.)
ii. Consider what processes can be managed in the cloud (i.e., payroll)

II. Campus Prep

a. Complete final sanitization of the entire campus
i. Incorporate more diligent cleaning of high touch areas
ii. Provide enhanced training for custodial staff. Increase cleaning frequency.
b. Utilize reminder signs / messaging (wash hands, don’t touch face, if sick stay home)
c. Consider additional precautions
i. Hand sanitizer stands throughout campus
ii. Trash cans near bathroom doors
iii. Training for drivers of campus vehicles on enhanced cleaning procedures
iv. Infrared thermometer stations at campus entry points
v. Educate staff on local health department procedures in the event that a cluster occurs
d. Resume food service, perhaps in phased mode depending on staff and student return schedule
e. Consider potential special housing requirements that may arise
i. Local hospital staff
ii. Quarantined students or people external to campus

III. Student Return

a. Create a plan to transition students back to normal capacity (in phases?)
i. At-risk
ii. International
iii. Other
b. Create plan B, in the event a second or third outbreak of the virus occurs
i. What to do with students in residence
ii. Does student makeup change the dynamic of them moving, i.e., international students

IV. Staff Return

a. Create a plan to transition staff back to normal capacity.
i. Phased approach
ii. Establish timeline for each phase of reentry
iii. Reactivate access passes at each phase of reentry
b. Identify essential employees to determine phase-in approach
 
i. Category 1: Personnel who perform mission-critical / time-sensitive functions and must work on-site
ii. Category 2: Personnel who perform mission-critical / time-sensitive functions and can work remotely
iii. Category 3: Personnel who do not perform mission-critical / time-sensitive functions but could work remotely if feasible
iv. Category 4: Personnel who do not perform mission-critical / time-sensitive functions and cannot work remotely
c. Which critical functions must be performed on campus?
d. Move some departments back to campus over summer, others in fall, based on essential categories above (phase back approach)
e. Resume operations
i. Catch up on backlogged tasks or activities
f. Conduct debriefs at department level
g. Review and update plans
i. Pandemic
ii. Emergency Operations Center (EOC)
iii. Departmental BCPs (capture newly discovered critical functions)
h. Consider three phases of possibilities (each department should prepare for each scenario and report its plan to the EOC. The information should be compiled and collectively pulled together)
i. Virus ends at summer
ii. Virus ends at summer and virus returns in the fall
iii. Virus does not end anytime soon
i. Capture equipment inventory at staff / faculty level by department (this should include what was already on-hand, and what was purchased to respond to the pandemic)
i. Laptop / Desktop (include serial numbers or some other identifier)
ii. MiFi Jetpack (include phone number or some other identifier
iii. VPN license
iv. Printer, copier, fax, scanner
v. Cell (or other) phone
vi. Office equipment
j. Determine if any equipment will be repurposed / redistributed or if the equipment will stay with the same person

V. Instruction

a. Split Fall semester into A (on campus) and B (online) classes for flexibility of phasing in face-to-face classes
b. Create plan to transition to normal class resumption
 
i. Category 1: Critical classes must be delivered on campus
ii. Category 2: Critical classes can be delivered remotely online
iii. Category 3: Non-critical classes must be delivered on campus
iv. Category 4: Non-critical classes can be delivered remotely online. Reduce class sizes or provide more online classes
c. Determine how to manage classes that must be onsite (labs, science, dance, and theatre)
i. Reduce class sizes
ii. Provide greater spacing between students
iii. Online demos
iv. Loan out equipment to complete labs
v. Professor conducts lab demonstration and the students write a paper on their observations
d. Build flexibility into plan (may not know true enrollment numbers until June)
e. Consider options for international immersion, i.e., emerge local students with international students remotely to provide different country / cultural perspectives
f. Determine how students will get access to books and other necessary learning materials
i. Books Shipped (at university cost?)
ii. Downloadable / editable PDF’s (Chemistry / Mathematical calculations)
iii. Uploaded materials
g. Consider how to address unique student needs (i.e., no computer, printer, internet at home)

VI. Emergency Management Team

a. Determine data points if / when the campus must be shut down again (X% of staff are not able to report to work because of exposure, care for children/parents; X number of individuals on campus have tested positive for COVID-19, etc.)
b. Create a plan to respond to potential return of Covid-19 after students and staff return. Consider how to dial down operations; what can be reversed. Some may continue on campus, others cannot.
c. Conduct debrief
i. What went well
ii. What needs improvement
iii. What did we learn
d. Draft, review, and distribute Post Incident Report (internally / externally)
e. EOC stands down, but stands ready for potential return of virus (or introduction of other epidemic or pandemic)

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