I hope everyone had a wonderful winter break, and you were able to rest and enjoy time with family and friends. The new year is always a good opportunity to pause and set new goals or recommit to existing ones. I am looking forward to working with all of you in the new year to best serve our students and achieve our institutional goals.
Return to Onsite Work Update
Throughout the winter break, the Executive Cabinet and the Emergency Operations Center and Policy Team continued to monitor the impact of the COVID-19 Omicron variant within the district and in the region. The variant has proven to be highly contagious and the case rate within our institution is higher than when compared to previous surges of the pandemic. It is due to this that our return to onsite work on January 18th has been postponed to January 31st. This delay will allow our employees to recover and properly prepare to serve our students on the first day of spring classes. It is important to note that as we proceed toward January 31st, the District is prepared to adjust this date as needed, and as required by federal, state and local guidance. As with any change in plans, we are cognizant that this adjustment can be stressful. Our leadership team met on Thursday to discuss a variety of associated details. We remain committed to resolving your concerns. Please contact your supervisor to answer specific questions regarding your departments onsite return plan.
To aid in achieving the healthiest and safest return to onsite work, we have opened up our PCR COVID-19 testing resources to all employees and enrolled students at our main campus and at the Escondido and Rancho Bernardo Education Centers. We are recommending that all employees returning to onsite work be tested for COVID-19 3-5 days prior to your assigned date to start work. This timeframe will allow you to receive your test results, prior to coming to work. The testing schedule is available here. If you are ill, please do not come to one of the Palomar College testing sites. Instead, please complete a COVID-19 Questionnaire and a member of our COVID-19 Response Action Team will contact you, and provide guidance. In an effort to assist students and employees who need to complete their vaccination requirements, we have COVID-19 vaccination and booster events scheduled at the Escondido Education Center and at the main campus, starting January 11th. You can find the event schedule and additional information on vaccinations on this webpage.
During our weekly COVID-19 Return to Campus and COVID-19 Update meeting on Thursday, we addressed many questions and concerns. If you were unable to attend, please review the discussion at this link. Also, look for further updates in your Palomar email inbox.
It is important to note that we still remain committed to preparing our students for their return to learning. During this month, our colleagues in Student Services will be designing and hosting outdoor events to assist students with enrollment, financial aid, and other questions. In addition, our counseling services team will continue to host virtual counseling sessions. A comprehensive directory of services is available here.
Accreditation
The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) has received our Institutional Self Evaluation Report (ISER), and our assigned peer review team is currently reviewing the report. The final document is posted on our accreditation webpage: Palomar College Accreditation. We are now focused on preparing for our virtual site visit. The visit will include several opportunities for our campus community to engage with the peer review team. We will hold a virtual kick-off and two public forums with the visiting team. At the end of the visit, the team will provide an exit report. Please plan on attending our All-Campus Forum on February 9th at 3:00 p.m. to learn more about the visit and what you can do to prepare. Here is the Zoom link for the forum.
Comets of the Week
Keeping us all safe! Nurse Practitioner Sarah Adams, and nurses Medybill “Hope” Rull, and Heather Dorny, have been in contact with every single person who has completed a COVID-19 questionnaire during the pandemic. This includes connecting with individuals over the winter break and managing the record-breaking volume of questionnaires received this past week. These colleagues are our first line of defense in keeping our institution safe and healthy. Thank you, Sarah, Hope, and Heather! We are honored to have such a dedicated team!
Have a great upcoming week. Go Comets!
For pictures of the various events, follow:
Twitter: @palomardrstar
Instagram: @palomardrstar