Dear Springfield College Faculty and Instructors,
This communication serves as a follow up to the email that was sent to students and employees regarding proper mask-wearing, social distancing, and encouragement to seek out care/testing from the Springfield College Health Center if symptomatic. In addition, here are a few resources for enforcing proper mask-wearing in the classroom.
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Please remind your students that mask-wearing is an important safety protocol and is an expectation in your class.
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Engage your students in the process of holding each other accountable, and working together as good pandemic citizens to create a culture of safety. Remind students that wearing a mask is just like our culture of not walking on the grass.
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If a student is consistently violating this policy and not responding to your requests to put on or appropriately wear their mask (e.g., they wear it under their nose), you may ask the student to leave the classroom.
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If you have had to address improper mask-wearing several times with the student, you may complete the following report of COVID noncompliance.
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Students who repeatedly violate the mask or other COVID policies will be addressed through the student conduct process and appropriate sanctions and processes will be followed that are outlined in the COVID addendum to the student handbook.
Related to students taking off their masks to eat or drink in the classroom:
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If your class meets during a normal class period of 50 to 70 minutes, you may state that students may not eat or drink in your classroom.
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If you have a student who approaches you with any kind of medical reason why they need to eat or drink in your class, you may ask them to step outside of the classroom to do so and then return to class.
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For those with longer classes, please work with your class to arrange break times when students can eat or drink.
If a student reports to you that they have tested positive:
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Please encourage the student to report their status to the Springfield College Health Center (healthcenter@springfield.edu)
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We are maintaining a 10-day isolation period for students who test positive.
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Consider the student's absence from their class to be an excused absence and work with the student to make-up all missed work. There are many ways that a faculty member can have the student make up missed work. If you have questions about how you can best accomplish this within your course, Chris Hakala is available to assist you.
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As contact tracing is conducted, you will be notified of any student who has tested positive in your classes. Isolation/quarantine lists that I will be sending out will help you identify which students remain in isolation/quarantine at a given point in time. This list is verification for you of the student's status.
Thank you for working toward keeping our campus and surrounding community safe by limiting the spread of COVID-19.
Mary Ann Coughlin, DPE
Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Elizabeth Morgan, PhD
Interim Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs
