Governor Bullock issued a Stay at Home order for the state of Montana, effective at 12:01 am on Saturday, March 28. This is an essential next step to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Carroll has been working with Lewis and Clark Public Health and we are able to continue to support our students who continue to live on campus.
As the Governor said, the state will be following the list of essential critical infrastructure from Homeland Security. As such, Carroll falls under:
Educators supporting public and private K-12 schools, colleges, and universities for purposes of facilitating distance learning or performing other essential functions, if operating under rules for social distancing
In working with Lewis and Clark Public Health, it has also been determined that our residence halls and apartments are treated as apartments and we will be able to keep them open and provide food service.
Until further notice, only the following categories of employees (faculty, staff and student workers listed below), are considered on-campus essential personnel. On-campus essential personnel may come on campus to perform work that requires their physical presence, either during scheduled shifts or on a periodic, as-needed basis. To the extent work can be conducted from home, it should be conducted from home.
To the greatest extent possible, on-site activities at Carroll must be in accordance with social distancing directives:
Always maintaining a distance of six feet between you and another person.
Wash your hands regularly for at least 20 seconds or using hand sanitizer if soap and water is not available.
Do not touch your face, limit the surfaces you touch, and disinfect surfaces you have touched whenever possible.
If your role is not described below, and you believe you must come on campus to perform work that is essential to the continued operations of the college, please contact the vice president of your area. If supervisors have any questions about the applicability of these restrictions to their employees or contractors supporting their areas, please reach out to your vice president or the Human Resources office.
Following is a list of employees, contractors and licensees who are considered essential personnel and may continue to perform work on campus:
Campus Security and Safety – Securitas and staff who are scheduled to work may work on campus to maintain the safety and security of our campuses. Environmental Health and Safety staff and laboratory managers with responsibility for maintaining hazardous materials or equipment may work on campus as needed to assure compliance with environmental health and safety requirements.
Educational Operations – Employees whose physical presence is necessary to continue educating our students may work on campus. This would include individuals who:
Directly deliver academic offerings,
Provide student support services, or
Facilitate the delivery of academic offerings and student support services.
This permits faculty and staff to come to campus as needed, to engage in activities that are necessary to facilitate remote teaching and learning. This includes duties such as preparing materials and using video facilities to record or broadcast lectures and providing technical support for this work, when such work cannot be effectively performed from home. In addition, Student Life and Academic Affairs employees may come to campus to perform other services that support the student’s continuation and completion of the academic year’s learning objectives when such work cannot be effectively performed from home.
Residential Life & Housing – As we still have over 100 students living on campus, staff may work on campus as needed to provide essential services for these residents and their Residence Halls.
Dining Services – Sodexo employees and contractors may continue to come to campus to deliver, prepare and distribute food for those students still residing on campus.
Facilities – Those staff who provide services that are necessary to maintain the safety, sanitation and continuing operations of Carroll may work on campus as needed. This includes Facilities Management employees who are scheduled to work on campus and outside contractors as needed.
Wellness Center – Staff who support ongoing healthcare operations on campus.
CCIT – Staff responsible for supporting the college’s remote working and learning capabilities, cybersecurity and data privacy, emergency or time-sensitive maintenance, installation of on-campus technology, network, internet or telecommunications equipment can work on campus as needed.
Research Activities – Employees whose on-campus presence is necessary to preserve and/or continue time-sensitive research that can only be conducted on campus (due to equipment, supplies or safety requirements), or to support these essential research operations may work on campus. This includes faculty and staff who work on campus to appropriately maintain and support laboratories and animals involved in on-campus research.
Campus Ministries – Staff whose on-campus presence is necessary to provide spiritual care to the Carroll community can work on campus for activities that cannot be performed remotely.
Professional Services – Employees performing professional services that are necessary to assure continuation of business functions and student services may work on campus. Examples include Business Office staff, Registrar’s staff, Admissions staff, Financial Aid staff, OIA staff, HR staff and Mail Services staff.
Minimum Basic Operations – Employees and contractors not identified above may work on campus as needed to perform the minimum activities necessary to protect the future of Carroll College and maintain the value of its assets (human, financial, physical and intellectual), including processing payroll and employee benefits, managing college finances, processing college financial transactions, facilitating others who continue to work remotely from their residences and managing and preparing for its emergency and recovery from this public health emergency.
Other Key Services – Employees and contractors may work on campus as needed to continue time-sensitive services and projects to ensure business continuity and financial stability for when campus operations return to normal levels. This includes other staff and contractors that provide the support or supplies necessary to continue business essential operations, and staff and contractors supporting time sensitive campus construction and renovation projects.
I want to close this list of restrictions by offering my continuing heartfelt thanks to the entire campus community: you have all – students, faculty, and staff, been cheerful, gracious, and creative in the face of unprecedented challenges. We will, in the not-too-distant future, gather for celebrations that we could not hold this spring, and we will reflect together on what we’ve learned about resiliency, faith through adversity, and maintaining community during separation. Until then, let’s hold one another in prayer.
Sincerely,
John E. Cech, Ph.D.
President