ALC-Higher Education Subcommittee

Good morning. Everybody take their seats and be prepared to begin. Many of the hired subcommittee will be called to order. Good morning everyone and thank you for coming in these difficult circumstances just. Wanted to take a moment to let you know some. Little different things would like to do today just because of time constraints as many as you all know we moved it to accommodate other meetings in this room and there's a lot of pressure on this room schedule because it's the best one for most distancing we've got about an hour and a half turn around before the staff needs to be able to get in the next one so a couple of basic things we're gonna hold questions till the very after everybody's made the presentations because we anticipate. A lot of the same questions arising in rat rather than having someone answer four times for you mishaps have Manser wants. a note. Leave to members is if you have Just specific information requests from a school or system get with staff or get with the folks from that school their system and they'll be more than happy to help you so the bill used time for that today as well We're gonna try to be as flexible as possible as presenters go. If you're further down in the agenda and you're not part of your presentation and include steps that the other systems are doing just like you are we also ask that you just say. You know when it comes to dormitories were doing the same thing. Please eccentric what you're doing different because of the. Thank you know the unique aspects of each of your institutions and systems. with that and like to recognize my co chair senator Davis if you have any marks. I would just thank everyone for adjusting your schedule so quickly and taking the time to be here we know that with this and with Kevin nineteen everything is sort of a moving target and changing daily weekly and so we just thank you for being here to share with us what you have today and help us be informed and as we're getting so many questions from our constituents across state. Thank you senator. First I'd like to welcome to the. Table doctor check wealth president Arkan start saw state university system. Start Welsh. Thank you Mr chair madam chair. I will try to be brief because I know you're gonna have a number of questions and I don't want to be overly redundant I try to think about maybe a more general approach to what I could start with that I know my colleagues in the room will fill in some of the details I think first of all one thing that I have said repeatedly during this pandemic is that one of the things that has happened as a result is we've had to literally rethink every single thing we do every process every protocol every action every policy that perhaps been in place for decades is now having to be rethought simply be calls it is impacted by a number of different factors and so from a system perspective as we entered these discussions there were two things that I think from the very beginning we all agreed on number one was that we entered our discussions with the mindset that we would re open this fall. We also entered though with the mind set up we would try to have as much consistency as possible across our campuses while also understanding that it's critically important to not fall into a path for you have a one size fits all approach because each campus has its own unique circumstances each campus has different things that must be considered that may or may not apply on another campus and so as we begin these discussions and thinking about being opened for the fall we immediately knew that there would likely be criticism in some corners that we were more concerned with the financial health of our campuses or finances of our campus than we were about the health and safety of our students and our employees and as we have responded to any comments to that effect we've tried to explain that you know the broader economy is re opening other things are happening we literally could face loss of jobs and have an impact on individuals livelihood the poor not able to open the campus but then also re opening is as much about the best interests of our students themselves is it is about anything. And you only need to look to the feedback that we've received from our students I think to reinforce that our students have told us overwhelmingly we want to be back in the traditional collegiate experience now obviously what's traditional this fall is going to look very different than perhaps what look last fall and pulls before but they really understand the importance of the social aspects of higher education and that face to face interaction we've had a number of students who have said to us if not for your campus I have no other safe housing alternative this is the safest place for me on a number of fronts it may be the place I get the best opportunity for a bill or the place that I can go home at night and not have to worry about I will be under prepared students first generation students they tend to do better in face to face in many cases that's not to say that there are those who do better with online and I'm a huge proponent of online education the importance but for so many of our students who are under prepared for so many of our students who are first generation for so many of our students that have those merry out of at risk characteristics they need that discipline they need that interaction they need that hands on assistance to be successful and so it's a critical point part of the learning process I have to tell the story because it just occurred a few moments ago but Shane Broadway was on the phone with an angry grandfather because one of our campuses would not allow the student to have a waiver of the on campus housing policy so there for seven to live on campus or not waiving it's not safe so on and so forth Shane called the campus the campus that yes we talk to the young man yesterday and he said he absolutely did not want to be at home he wanted to be on campus with his friends so I think obviously there's some generational differences that are going on there as well that we have to face then we have to think about our faculty. In staff ironically there were a number of faculty and staff who said to us we want to be there on the campus I say that ironically because you know I think the general consensus is people don't want to or they don't feel safe and that sort of thing many of our state we did maybe it's because they aren't as comfortable with online education maybe it was because they understand the importance to their students of having that interaction now with that though we have to have a number of considerations we will have masks for those faculty members we will have face shield for those faculty members there is plexiglass it's being installed or has been installed in appropriate locations for those individuals individuals who have pre existing conditions or have other conditions which prevent them from being able to be there are being allowed to teach remotely or work in a different way with appropriate documentation from medical professionals because we certainly want to make sure that we have all those considerations in place but we have been pleased with the response that we've gotten on the whole from our faculty and staff about their desire their understanding of the importance of being back we obviously had to take into consideration K. twelve plans and while that may not always be thought of by the general public what K. twelve does has an impact on our higher education institutions many of our students or parents and obviously childcare comes into place there if the schools aren't operating concurrent enrollment and a number of our campuses particular to lead to your campuses have K. twelve students who are actually transported to the college campus during the day and so how you're able to operate those types of programs without those students being physically present had to be considered. Liability was obviously a concern as something we talked about a great deal and guess what we have sovereign immunity we still had concerns about what could be in the face of this pandemic we are actually requiring all of our campuses to have a statement in their syllabus that says while we plan for this class to be face to face we know that could change at any moment based on larger public health concerns and we've tried to communicate as well as possible that we are making plans but those plans are fluid and things could change on a daily if not hourly basis we have worked very hard on social distancing measures including bringing and architects to assist us in ensuring what the maximum number of students and personnel could be in each room on campus including nontraditional instructional spaces that may be use like our armoury or basketball Jim nations or whatever the case may be so that we can ensure that the seating arrangements are six feet apart and that we have that appropriate social distancing of course with that comes a change in scheduling because whereas you might have been able to put a hundred students in an auditorium type classroom in the past you can obviously not do that and maintain appropriate social distancing and so there had to be a number of changes to the way that we schedule the number sections that are offered the way that those sections are offered and obviously when you get into things like a technical and vocational education and you're talking about hands on and having to be there that takes on a whole different life of its own as well that can be very complicated we have allowed for flexibility of instructional modalities and FOR up more online classes and hybrid type classes but we've really been very careful to make sure that that trying doesn't run away and that you don't end up with you know bringing students back to campus and ninety percent of your sections being online because if we're going to bring the students back to campus we've got to have that type of environment and and really. We've been fairly successful with that with very few exceptions We froze tuition and mandatory fees for this fall that something that my board felt very strongly about that we did need to add to the economic challenges that many of our families and our students are already facing and so there were no increases to our tuition and mandatory fees housing is much more flexible this year from a waiver process for students to not have to live on campus to obviously changes and how many individuals can inhabit a particular room or the way that we've got floor set up we've got floors that are isolated in case we have students to become come down with Covin and need to be placed in those particular units we don't plan to bring students back after the thanksgiving break in except in very limited circumstances where that's unavoidable rather the instruction and finals after thanksgiving would be done online that way with the students to go off to wherever they go for the holidays don't miss really bring that back to our campuses after the thanksgiving break and then finally probably the greatest concern and I would suspect most of my colleagues would echo what I'm saying has centered around appropriate tested in contact tracing and assuring that we have the processes in place to be able to rapidly test contact trace and deal with those students who have positive occurrence of code nineteen we're blast on our Jones for a campus that we have the medical school that's been able to assist us has infectious disease positions that are in place there will help us with some of the testing and contact tracing efforts will even help with some of our other campuses in the system but obviously we're geographically placed around the state and in some places that's not going to be as simple I do want to come in though all of our campuses and and all of the campuses in the state I've been working closely with the higher education subcommittee of the governor's economic recovery task force and they've all been really in tune with this issue working very closely. With their local health units working with each other working with the department of health and with you a mess to ensure that we have that in place but getting the testing in a timely fashion an inmate able to contact trace which as you can imagine contact tracing when you're talking about thousands of college students brings with it a whole different set of issues than perhaps you might find just in the general public that's one piece but then the results of that isolation quarantine how that's communicated how that's and forced how you deliver food to those individuals have that you make sure that they get all of their appropriate instructional capabilities during the time that they're in that place those are obviously a lot send lots of challenges that we face that said I feel good about where our campuses are the age issue system I think we're as prepared as you can be that's one thing we talked about we know things will change we have multiple contingency plans in place we're hopeful we don't have to use very many of those but if we do we'll be ready we'll be ready to serve our students we ready to give our students that face to face interaction that they desire and that they need to be successful and will be ready to ensure that we provide as normal and educational experience as possible considering these very abnormal times and so with that Mister chairman I will. Finish and I was about to say take questions but we'll do that later thank you very much. He Dr just clarification will do the queue in a at the end of items the after those folks undersea have presented and then we'll move on the day after the Q. and a. Up next up on the agenda. doctor don bonnet president university Arkansas system doctor Barbara welcome to the committee. Microphone please. Thank you area thank you sorry. My voice sounded abnormally loud to in a sum the realize I've been used to speaking through a three piece of fabric for so long. Thank you again for this opportunity I want to start off by talk a little bit about the board of trustees and the directive that they have given to the institutions if you remember there are fourteen of the spread out across you have a system and effectively the mandate understand the difficulty will face but the mandate was that we will open for face to face classes in some form this coming fall. And the logic that the board used to making that declaration was that if we prepare in and what I'll just say is a wishy washy washing manner for something that is this complicated and this important we surely will fail and so they made this directive a mandate to me but they understand that we may have to prohibit on a dime and as act well said are contingencies are built to handle that that pivot I also want to make it clear that there's a difference between remote learning which is what most institutions of higher education switch to when we had to close this past spring and a well designed deliberately designed online experience which at which is much different than simply power point presentations and using blackboard to present materials and my hope is across you have a system indeed across the entire landscape in the state we've taken the lessons that we learned because the dispute in the spring and have use that to create meaningful educational opportunities going into the fall. The the confidence I would just say that I have that we will be able to open and some forms for really comes about because I think could be close way that higher education in this state has worked together and that's unlike other states that have worked and the pirate came together under the leadership of secretary ward but also way Dr Markham and secretary key and put together a proposal to Kerr's acts during committee which had funds allocated to higher education to attempt to address issues related to PP testing and hopefully contact tracing and I will tell you that to the proposal was written thank you medically with the idea that all fifty two institutions public and private. I should have an **** why would you have a system care about the private institutions or question public education care about the private and I think if you learned one lesson from this past spring it's that it the whether you're talking K. twelve you're talking the corporate side you're talking about her education when one domino starts to fall they awful. and the the. Demographic that we serve in higher education is probably the most mobile the most difficult to both contact tracing control K. twelve pretty easy as students go to school to go home working adults have families to take care of the good work they go home but students in college campuses can take courses on multiple college campuses they interact and community they purchase things at the local Walmart and in a sense if we can't control that group it makes it very very difficult for us to control the community spread and so we have spent considerable time looking in this issue and attempting to make sure that not only is university central Arkansas. Have a have a shot at it but so is Hendrix so is other institutions located in the Conway region true is the same is true for all over regions so we have a very good partner I would say that again our confidence is race because the fact that the Arkansas department of health has been really frankly a very selfless and interested in serving us miss Williams Stephanie Williams has been actually fantastic as as I mentioned our friends at the Arkansas division of higher education so we have been looking very carefully across the system and I don't want to repeat what has already been said so I will simply share with you that our board has met six times in four months actually less than four months and in that period of time that's a tremendous commitment of these working men and women two this issue but I think it reflects their interest in the importance of going back and in and in some sort of open matter this fall but also the difficulty that we all face in doing so and so they have done a number of things a try to mitigate the effects of the spring by basically moving online creating some waivers in terms of fees and credits and then going forward have suggested as Dr wells did that to which you will be frozen this year at all of our traditional four year academic into your institutions they also have invited in each of those meetings a group of four chance hers and one of them it was a group of four athletic directors to talk about both the challenges and the successes they've had one advantages as as having a system higher education to state that works together public and private is that we share best practices in as was pointed out if something works why keep it under the bushel basket but let it shine and let others understand how this can benefit their particular campus so after these five board meetings our board insisted that we send a letter out to faculty to staff to students to their parents and community leaders letting him know. what steps have been taken and I think talked well still very good job of summarizing some of the steps as we move forward so I would say that our our plan right now is we will be open in the fall until we're not. And we're planning on that eventuality and doing everything we can to make sure that it when we do open that will be meaningful experience but that we have adjusted our contingency so that if necessary we will pay a bit on a dime and hopefully to a much better job this time and creating meaning for educational experiences online so thank you very much for this opportunity. Thank you doctor. Up next on our agenda is ms Amy Whitehead chief of staff university of central Arkansas. Welcome this one had when you're ready you may make a presentation. Thank you to members of the committee for having me today to report on the work that you see a as been doing really very intensely since March we have had multiple working groups on campus that look that various facets of what we need to do to successfully re open and do it in a way that really serves our students and our faculty and staff and keeps them safe and so I'm happy to report on some things that maybe a little and in line with what our previous Speaker said that highlights some differences on the you see a campus but I will say much of what the previous Speaker said we are also actively pursuing all of the strategies and is in line with our work I'll quickly highlight kind of three areas related to our changes on campus and PP are testing tracing and isolating and protocol that are putting in place and then academic planning and instructional continuity. First on our physical distancing MPP this is been like working a puzzle and that we got over three million square feet of building space right now on campus and so what that is required us to do is to really look down each building level and even classroom level and develop new operational plans for how we're gonna be able to conduct business this will not look like fall twenty nineteen and so we have developed those operational plans we began making all the physical changes that we need to make on campus turned to promote physical distance saying both in our high traffic areas common areas and in the classroom and we've put signs everywhere we have signs we have floor markings and we think we've taken the appropriate steps to really a retrofit those office spaces in academic buildings we kind of got out early even before the executive order issued by the governor and we said that we were going to mandate face coverings for all of our employees and our students anytime there in enclosed spaces on campus and they're and they're moving about so if I'm sitting at my desk right now I don't need that face covering on but if I'm walking to the bathroom in the break room I'm going the whole lane academic building certainly I will need to have that face covering on we have taken steps to ensure that all of our employees and students have the face coverings in the PP that they need as you know the supply chain has been disrupted if you've been to Kroger recently you know it's hard to get a Clorox why that we feel very confident that we'll have the PP that we need right now and as we move into the fall so we're making great progress on that. So moving to testing tracing isolating yesterday common regional health system announced a partnership between ECA Hendrix college in central Baptist college for a testing consortium so we feel like locally we're going to be able to manage all the testing needs of our campus communities in doing that partnership with our regional health care system so we feel very confident about that we have a medical director on campus Dr Randy pastor who's been guiding all of our efforts and we understand that in order to be effective enter I have a say fall semester not only do we need to have testing that comes that quickly we need to be able to trace those non contacts with anyone who has a co the nineteen exposure we're training some of our own contact tracers on campus so that will be able to manage the complexity of the student body and what that means to do contact tracing their but doctor pastor I. medical director is also working very closely with you a mass in Arkansas department of health to ensure that all of our protocols aligned with what the state's ask us to do. We are pleased that were able to identify thirty three rooms for isolation so someone a student who gets a positive cove in nineteen test result and they live on our campus and they cannot return home to isolate we have set aside thirty three different rooms for to house those isolation K. cases they are not located in our residence halls there standalone buildings that hot houses that we own on the periphery of campus will we will be able to do those isolation for the students we also have set aside the entirety of Carmichael hall hundred and twenty rooms just for quarantine cases and so having the availability of those a hundred twenty rooms for quarantine the thirty three rooms for isolation we feel confident that we'll be able to manage those cases on campus as they come out of course that there's some complexity associated with that just like a previous speakers mention how do we care for those students both academically and to their other social emotional and wellness needs father in isolation or quarantine and we have a plan to do that. Finally as we look at academic planning and continuity we learned a lot from the spring and we're prepared to implement those lessons learned as we move into the fall and as we talked her students I mean they've really reached out to us and communicated with us they have a variety of needs and desires so we find that some students only one online options some students one online but they still want to have the on campus residential experience while some students are just ready to come back face to face and live on campus so we've we've got a full spectrum of what our students are looking for as they return for the fall we do see the demand for housing is still there were at ninety five percent occupancy rate right now for our housing so we definitely see a demand for students wanting to return to some semblance of normalcy for the fall with that being said by the end of this week we will have identified the instructional format of all of our twenty five hundred sections of classes on campus so we'll continue to have some traditional face to face but I will say that there will be a hybrid element to all of our classes so that they can have it as that words being used to promote instruction should we need to do that at some point we are looking at between thirty and sixty percent of all of our classes moving to an online format for the fall that will very from college to college department the department or degree program to degree program but we know the demand for online is there if we have the honorable students run comfortable being in the class which we made accommodations with physical distancing face covering well even provided Kay and ninety five mass to the student should they requested but we will provide those online instructional options for our students and five faculty and staff who want to take advantage of that as well if they want to teach remotely we also know that technology is a concern for our students many of them are first generation at their Pell grant an eligible so we have. Developed a variety of private funds and public funds using care is that many and other moneys to be able to provide the technology that our students need to be successful in a hybrid or remote environment. And finally all say that we feel very confident in where we're at for our planning for the fall we have done a number of external assessments to really see what are the best practices across the country for re opening campuses of higher education and recently we completed an external assessment through the Johns Hopkins school of public health and we scored a ninety five percent in readiness and our ability to mitigate risks so they're still moderate risk for all of our campuses but we feel confident that we've taken the steps that we need to mitigate and plan for most of those risk as we move into the fall. Enrollment is looking good we have frozen tuition like the other institutions for this year but our enrollment and emissions planning that we've done has kept us in the range that we've expected for our enrollment for this fall so we're also feeling like we got a handle on that and it's moving in the right direction I have a lot of other information but I will reserve that for another time and be happy to answer any questions you have after speakers again thank you. Thank you. Next up we have doctor Keegan Nichols vice president student affairs Arkansas tech university. Welcome doctor you may begin when ready. Thank you so much for letting us be here today we really appreciate it is good to see you. Today one thirty a little bit about our task force and some of our preparedness for that we have over twenty personnel who serve on our task force and that was just for us to be able to get a broad understanding of what was happening on campus and what our concerns work and hope you know and I hope you hear from us today that at the heart of all the decisions that were making our students and so every time we make a difficult decision we would go back to what is best for our students this summer we held many orientation sessions for parents and families as well students and everything that we heard as they were grateful for the opportunity to return to campus have some normalcy and they're excited about the things that we have in place for them. We are going to go on a phased approach it as the state as we return every office in every department has to return house to turn in a re opening plan and have specifics about how they're going to do that those plans are approved by our emergency manager and approved by the vice president over that seeing that area. As other institutions have indicated we are not going to increase tuition or fees for summer four fall or spring and so that we're very proud of that and our students are excited about the opportunity as well. As a return with academics the main thing that we're focusing on is the ability to pet it if we need to go online and virtual we're able to do that quickly it is a blended format where students can quickly switch from physical campus to online. Our campus planning has been a priority in classroom furniture is already been moved to be placed at six feet apart that's already been taped off furniture's been removed from the building so we are prepared for the academic classroom as well. In residence life we have a lot going on there we've totally reimagined are moving day we have moving day starting this week all the way until August the eight so that students can choose a time that's convenient for them to leave their belongings bill to safely bring their family members to help move them in and come back on August the fourteenth and we have prepared fifty isolation rooms in quarantine rooms for students so that we are prepared if there is an outbreak on campus and we know that students come to us from a variety of backgrounds and they need some housing. We've also prepare for at risk populations for both faculty staff and for students there's a form that you can complete header physician time so that you can come back to campus safely when it's time for you to do that. That is all their quick information I have is of the rest of it was pretty repetitive and so just wanted to see and I know the last the answer questions quickly so thank you for this opportunity. Well thank you and thank you this particular for the brevity. Up. When we can call the final two presenters at the same time if we could there is there and I want to thank extend my thanks to Dr Steve Colen doctor Kathy Klein for stepping and and appearing today because miss Henderson with the two year colleges could not make this time and date and we hope you ill in full size on The different nature re opening a community college in a four year institution thank you and welcome. Thank you Mr chair madam chair and members and and I'm so glad my friend Cathy it and I and and Kathy introducer out this won't be a tag team I guess one of us will go on the right doctor Kathy Klein east Arkansas community college and I'm so glad states appear to hold my hand this my first time to present to committee such as this and I appreciate that you would allow me to come speak to you and and it's always a pleasure I certain this body over ten years ago some of my friends or I see them here with the senator rice and Malick but it was a pleasure and it's a pleasure to be back and we we do you know and I think that. You know the our previous speakers have touched on an awful lot of things that with the we're all doing that we're all concerned about and and I just wanted you know the the state to know and that as we're moving through this semester were not were were like any other entity that's out there that this dealing with Kobe nineteen and that we're making all of these plans and we're we're living our daily life allies we're going to work with this this great umbrella of fear that our employees come to campus with every day and I think right now we are dealing with that when I say we you a cost of that we we have four campuses and two of those campuses one is located in severe county which you know we we you know early on in this this pandemic we were noted as having the highest one of the highest in the country per capita instances of cove in a positive coping nineteen it started in our poultry processing plant but then quickly spread to the community we have a large Marshallese population a large Latino population and then now we have a campus in Nashville which is Howard County and now we're starting to see those numbers escalate rapidly and so so I every day we're all dealing with employees that are so they're in the fears repeal it's their reality and we're trying to make our campuses safe not just for students but this over this gripping fear that the some of our employees have you just trying to come to campus and so we're trying to operate under these guidelines in it and it does it makes a very challenging and so I think we lay our our plans out there and and I know doctor Bob and and and Chuck another said that you know he's here they are you know when when the when the battle starts you know sometimes you have to change it and sometimes we may have to do that and and I think staff I had to deliver I think everyone may have the you a casa tots Kobe nineteen plan for fall I think they were gonna prepare that for you guys but in. And it's a very we think it's a robust plan we think it covers all of our departments and and I won't go into what the other said we do have universal mask wearing we we thought that that that is a procedure that we absolutely have to have on campus you know we were listening to our doctors our scientists in and that's just something that that we need to do we feel we need to do on our campus and so we are going to be doing that of course we have our general workplace guidelines you know where we we you know have to make sure everyone is safe and following proper protocols like everybody else but I direct your attention to page six that that's in the plan that that has been distributed to you and this is where our college has put together our individual department plans because you know we we we do have over arching things and our campus but our Kobe nineteen task force which was made up of we had twelve committee members but they also had committees of at least five so we had a minimum of sixty people working on this plan to make sure that when we open on August seventeenth we are going to be as close to Covin nineteen normal as we can that does mean will be face to face but also means we'll have face mask will be space in each other six feet apart for us for the community college and now to speak justice from that when you get into these individual department plans you talk about academics it's really easy for us to me to move our comp want to come to our history courses it's very easy for us to move them online by our college we've been in in the online arena you know since nineteen ninety three and so were you know we're fairly a student and getting that done but where the the community college I think in in a select few universities have have and the difficulty during this code a nineteen epidemic are the technical courses and then you'll notice that our plan starting on page seven you'll notice we have to deal with medical. Education and you'll notice that is in our plan to deal with that because we have nursing instructors we have a minimum of one hundred nursing students on campus at all time and and most of the students and or instructors work in a hospital setting or at least in a clinical setting at night or on the weekend and so they are very vulnerable which makes us vulnerable for them to be exposed and so we have to treat them differently and when we treat them in a very special way during this and then when you're dealing with welding you know you you have students we you know you have to make sure that our students are not sharing hoods they're not they're not sharing gloves you know they have their own set of supplies for these very very specialized programs in the technical Reno because you know through this all and I know that that miss Henderson is been here doctor Anderson's been here several times to talk about the community colleges and what we do to train the work force and technical education and so Covin nineteen makes it very difficult for us to do that properly but and I hope you take the time to read in a report I I obviously when I read that to you but they're also a lot of things that we're doing in the technical arena trying to make sure if we have a major disruption this this fall that you know we're still able to accommodate the welders were able to accommodate the the nurses were able to accommodate the auto repair students because that is we can't move those courses online and so that makes it very difficult and so we hope that we've addressed some of that in these plans are are instructors have been very creative I know they have the stark they've been very creative and trying to make sure that we're able to to accommodate this because is doctor Bob alluded to we're gonna start the semester in that we're gonna we're gonna go into we can't and the that's what what we plan on doing and the other thing that that that we touched on is something very new to our college and has been mentioned yet but I know that's on everyone's mind Richmond mention a little bit. are college we have in J. C. A. A. athletics we play basketball men's and women's college basketball on our campuses and that presents in you know in you a casa taught I can only imagine you know doctor Steinmetz and and and and been hunter your check what they go through it that the magnitude of the university of Arkansas I can't even imagine I just know with our thirty student athletes in one program what were already dealing with we've actually moved hours NJ CA is voted to move all sports to spring hoping that we can get that done but just having our students on campus and then trying to figure out how we're gonna handle practice preparing that particular group of students because we don't have dormitories because we know that at some point if one gets exposed there's a high likelihood in practice they'll all be exposed in so we're preparing for that on a very small level but it's something that that our other Pete parts of the student body they don't deal with because they're not in that very tight interaction where they're bumping and touching and blocking out and sweating and all that so it's it's just a different world but we're we're also prepared for that because that is in our plan for fall as well and so that's madam chairman chair that's all I have to this group now turn it over to adopt one. Thank you haven't been doing much as the same things doctor calls in doing so repeat that I would mention one unique thing about our plan is it is not called a re opening plan because of the community nature of my college in Forrest city and we never really close there were maybe two or three weeks where I could not allow people on campus one of them being after we were kind of a hot spot because the federal prison it's located there that I train all the nurses are trading all that right text a trail the EMTs the paramedics the commercial driver's license with the grocery distribution company in our town if we want groceries I have to train them H. back I knew even in March I couldn't put age back on hold because I knew what we were going to be coming to the summer and certainly not having air conditioning in our area in the like we've had as a health or at and so we had to sort of fly the plane and build at the same time and figure it out so some of what I brought for you I just wanted to show you some pictures I think some of our Quitman it's more of a D. I. Y. nature as opposed to maybe professionally purchased but that was what we had to do with the time so just a few things so we do we started providing face coverings for everyone on may eleventh like I said we had to figure out how to keep people safe in the training and we dragged out as many face shield as we could find we educate people from children all the way through senior citizens and so we've had to continue to provide those programs Even visitors we have enough skill mass for them our young gentleman here's where his superhero mask so we accommodate everyone six feet of distance of course at all times we continue to emphasize that and I'm proud to say that our students have made some little slogans up to remind themselves about that. Distancing am we didn't know exactly had enforce that early on so we used furniture in our student center there to create a barrier to be sure that staff or cat six feet away from anyone that they were serving there's a blue Tate Billy type is everywhere and and there's NO goes on there in our CC. Assigned seating to keep students separate and then some in that particular classroom they take safety reminders to the desk that's a lecture hall we have twenty four LPN students in there and it's meant to hold a hundred. This is taking August of seats that's what that looks like a mom campus and so that has a thirty person classroom now seating tenant. In this particular rain we had six foot tables so we can do one tear protect bowl we've had to take every rain that we have and try to figure out what was your biggest and how can we separate the nurses figured out early on that thank you divide students in the two classrooms into the zine conferencing alternate days is in from one room to another and in that way keep students safe but provided the experience of access to the instructor that that were demanding. Distancing eight computer labs of course put into computers between students sometimes we've taught outside to keep people safe. We have hand sanitizing products before the hand sanitizing stations were available we just had to make our own stations by having tables and big jugs. and were having wipes everywhere it's a community approach to cleanliness to some extent everyone's responsible for it additionally cleaning their own areas there's the library station which the people are really getting into it now they're even trying to make them look attractive there is our clocks three sixty my plant facilities person insisted this be in there it's his favorite thing but it's one of those Fockers that sanitizes an entire route. this is a D. I. Y. a barrier that we built early on in the bookstore with sin shower curtains and I did a little close it for use you can see the conduit in the duct tape and the magnets that we had used to just figure out how to make sure that we could keep people safe. There's one that we've got now we've perfected our technique that's PVC piping a carton in a nursing lab I think that one looks kinda nice we figured out we needed some that were mobile that we can move from place to place. We built some input sickly plexiglass screening so that's in our student services center we have signs everywhere including on the ground. Try to have a different signs if it's the same time we feel like people can start over look that we've done a lot of screening and we will continue to do a lot of screening we've even done for the summer we screen children in the cars before they got out the cars. We have had to close off our water fountains and as much as I possibly can I'm trying to replace those with the no touch water fountains and we have training videos we utilize our own staff for that is there's a couple there that cleaning staff use that do clubs a cross contamination and then a picture of one it's the hand washing techniques so those are just a few pictures I wanted to share with you what we've been doing on our campus thank you. Thank you and FOR if you could just stay we are permanent thanks for just to minimize the milling people around if any members have questions for the two year college representatives this would be a good time to ask those. Senator hammer you're recognized thank you Mr and all I shall this but I think it was doctor Bob that said this while ago I was curious as far as funding that you're receiving for any efforts that you put out to do contact tracing a are you receiving any and the what is that look like her Mr chair thank gets to the second item on the agenda hold the question be fun thank you. I'll I'll I I I will defer to doctor Bob it on that and the reason being is and and this is in our our handbook as well all the university of Arkansas schools we have partnered with the university of Arkansas for medical sciences UAMS working with eighty age they're going to be handling our contact tracing for us just because is specially the small schools because we just don't have that ability to do that and so you a massive if that's correct occur Bob and me we are partnering with you a a mass on our contact tracing and then I actually sent out an email yesterday I we serve for counties in southwest Arkansas and I visited with all of the the of the health units there with eighty H. and so on our campus I did speak to ours contact rations being handed by you a mass in so everything will flow through through them Senator and then our local testing I am encouraging all students and employees if they have a local provider please indeed use them if they're comfortable with that but all of our Arkansas department of health units on our for counties that that we serve they are already their standing ready to service us our campus for all of our testing need should we have them but that's how we're handling that in southwest Arkansas. Right Mr some point collect no if the universities receiving funding for counties contact tracing please. Mila asked that as perks come back up the address that for you thank you. It doesn't look like we have anything else for you thanks for coming be safe. Of. For the next part with his great head and recall you in the order that you originally appeared president Welch. Yeah and if we have doctor Bob in the other chair. Thank you. It seems like we're making this happens when your ideas it's part of that code nineteen flexibility working on. Members. Yeah. Representative Andy Davis you're recognized for a question. Thank you Mr chairman a gentleman and anybody can take a shot at this it's not for anybody specific but doc about you made the comment that we're gonna be prepared to be open until we're not. Do we have some set metrics to determine when we will not be is is that something you're swimming will come from the department of health of the governor by the legislatures someone else or are any of the different institutions setting your own metrics for when we made transition yeah. I I I'm I'm speaking for you have a system but I would expected as it happened in the spring that guidance calms holistically from from the governor from the Arkansas department health and it could be that Very similar to the fact that economies have opened up to different extents in different areas depending upon how breaks it could come with more restrictive for less restrictive guidance in a particular region I just wanna go back to a contact tracing if I might a second the take the cut their large proposal that was submitted by the task force for all of higher education included I believe five million dollars in it for contact tracing. We knew when we submitted that that is we being of higher education and that would be an adequate for the task at hand but it's you know what was available at that particular moment and and really we've learned a great deal I've learned a great deal about it at as this has unfolded but that is I believe going to go in a subcontract to you and mass which could serve two purposes SO one to obviously do contact tracing for higher ed as much as they can with the funds that are allotted but as I understand it they also have been very willing to train the trainers if you will that is to provide guidance for schools in individuals on those campuses who want to do it themselves and and it's more cut what I've learned is that it's much more complicated that originally assumed we're dealing with information that's protected through perhaps a number of different regulations including student information and so and and there also is a value to the state in knowing who has been exposed and who is positive and so there has to be a central repository the information information can't stay in a particular location because individuals might be mobile from that location so those complexities meaning that there probably needs to be some oversight and guidance from a D. DH threw their concept contracts that they offer and that's my understanding a situation a Senator Davis at this point time and and I forget who else AS okay Senator Hendren hammer. And Representative Davis to answer your question and I agree with don completely that I mean we will rely heavily on the governor department of health that said we do have internal metrics for perhaps adjusting to different plans so if you have a certain number of students obviously record teeter isolated that may change the way we have to approach you know housing standards food standards and things like that so one of the things we've really been cautious on though all are trying to set just arbitrary figures of if X. happens then X. happens because you know it can take on so many different forms and as we've seen this changes but but we definitely have some internal metrics that we know if we had a certain point we may have to beer and some of our internal planning and protocols but as far as shutting down we're going to that extreme that would be more reliant upon state and federal guidance thank you Mr river made of that I think what I've heard from some of my constituents regarding going back to two colleges that they hope that you are planning to be open and do even if you have to make adjustments along the way do it you have to to stay open as long as you can rather than they hope that you're not planning to you know close mid stream in a semester or something like that so that's good to hear I appreciate that I like to approach that you're taking you you obviously need to be prepared but it sounds like that you're hoping your plan is to stay open absolutely our goal and our preferences certainly the former very good thank you letter yes. Senator eaves you're recognized for a question. Thank you Mr chair of question I have either one of you can kinda hit on this one of my daughter's friends so for college this summer and was exposed at a wedding got tested at a local lab in Fayetteville and was told probably three to five days you'll hear something if you're positive maybe longer it will suck in the negative thirteen days later she got the call that she's positive all so that kind of throws the contact tracing out the window at that point for the ability to do that so if you've been given assurances or do you have something you guys could share stand that how we're going to know if you do or when you do have students come down with positive test you get those results back in a timely manner can get that started. Glad to. You have thank you you really hit the challenge on the head most of us remember back to a time when we were eighteen to twenty two you're years old and being told to stay in one's room while everyone else is friends are out doing whatever is a is a is a full choice it's not going to happen so one of the reasons why the Arkansas department of health has been so aggressive in has purchased a separate instrument at again as part of the task force co that nineteen funds for higher education is that that instrument hopefully will be devoted when it's fully operational we devoted to the needs of higher education as I understand it Birkenau minute instrument can handle about a thousand tests per day the other reason why that instrument was chosen is that it seems to not be the instrument of favor amongst many testing laboratories and so the availability of the re agents are necessary for the test are more readily available at least at this time so as much as one can possibly prepare and look into a crystal ball that it best is cloudy perhaps even opaque I think that to her it's partnership through division of higher education and eighty H. has done what we could to try and get answers back to people we are hoping twenty four hours but thirteen days it's all over but the shouting at that point thank you thank you Mr. Senator hammer your questions answered there well a couple more fun have latitude if if you can keep it brief that'll be great I'll keep mine very thank you brief thank you Regarding the what center each just said that is the issue without the ability to get the testing within one or two days contact tracing his mu point so appreciate bring that out but what tells a little bit about financially if you don't mind what you're looking like at the future with last year's experience just so we kinda have some prep going into the budget fall hearings this fall what are you anticipating as far as how all this is hitting your budget. I'll take that one to start Certainly you know a pleasant surprise was the restoration of the funds from for FY twenty twenty but as we go into this particular fiscal year I can speak for our system and I know doctor Bobbitt's was very similar we approach this budgeting from a very conservative standpoint just primarily because of the unknown our campuses budgeted only categories a and B. we did not budget C. or D. even though see is currently forecast to flow we wanted to have that flexibility knowing that something could happen obviously in this year and also knowing because of the FY twenty twenty restoration because of the early tax payments that could have an impact on the flight twenty one we were also conservative from an enrollment standpoint because quite frankly trying to compare this year to previous years in terms of day to day and roll it is incredibly difficult if you were to look at some of our campuses three weeks ago you would have run out of the room screaming in horror and how those enrollment numbers look now they have to close that gap considerably in the last three weeks but I think there will be a lot of last minute decisions made by students there still a lot of do I wanna stay close to home do I want to live on campus to want to do this or that You don't the the other losses that we've incurred obviously our campuses that a residential had some significant re funds that had to be provided to students who were asked to move out of the residence halls back up when this happened in the spring if that were to happen again in the fall that could have significant impact would you look at at housing in general if more students choose because we'll be more flexible in allowing them to live off of campus or stay at home if they want to that could have an impact that obviously goes into food services well and so while those things may happen you also have the continuing that service and other types of obligations that have to be there further. We got situations where would you look at the cares acts funds there were some misconceptions there about how much money institutions received how those funds were able to be used you know have had to go directly to students in the forms of grants which is great for the students but it doesn't do anything for the institution's budget and then the other half had extreme restrictions placed on that at least early and we're hoping for some further follow up so I think to answer your question senator there's a lot of unknowns about what our budget scenarios are going to look like and we won't know that until eight we have a better sense of what final enrollments going to look like and then be does that continue throughout the semester order we have adjustments that have to be made like the housing and that's one thing I'll use Jones for as an example there housing refunds alone were almost three million dollars for the spring semester and so if you have to do that again that's another issue and so we have been conservative in our budget approaches obviously there were no new dollars in there because we didn't raise the tuition and fees and so we have tried to build in a little bit of wiggle room but at the same time I mean there's definitely concerned about the unknown and what we could be facing in the fall. Aye ayes assembly when added there's there's a. You know the budget situation critically for tier schools that rely upon a local sales tax it take a double whammy I would say that if we have done adverse similar conservative budging affect our board did not allow races except this mandated by an employment agreement across or promotion across the system and and enrollment actually for the most part look promising at this point time we use for optically for our campuses that have a residential program we use housing deposits to gauge the seriousness of students and so far it looks like particularly a fable that we could be at worst to maybe a few hundred down from where we were at a peak there are other issues though that transcend you into this the students are in are going to be inhibited from coming because they can't meet the entrance requirements and and by that I mean that the SAT and ACT shut down for example not widely known but if that is part of your entrance requirements that's obviously a problem our board waive them A waved entrance requirements and allowed my office to look at those on an individual basis not has been helpful in in helping students I make the decision not to take a gap year which seems to be most a trending word on Google right now but but actually a role for the following and get on with their education. One other quick question Mr. It's quick. So the question is you had made adjustments with regards to requirements for students to graduate especially in the medical field are you still planning on to that are what are your plans to accommodate in the event that the unfortunate happens and you have to shut down or you can't get people in to their respective fields where they need to get those hours have you address that in your plants and if so what are those so we can reassure those go on that are needing those classes are access to that we have by Senator and we're trying to be as accommodating as we can possibly be one reality though is for so many of those programs particularly in the medical field and even for some of the vocational programs that are to your institutions we have to meet whatever accreditation or licensing board requirements require and so there is much less room for flexibility in being able to do that that said we have the camp come up with multiple nontraditional approaches to allowing students I mean even this spring some of our two year institutions were bringing students back in staggered standpoint so much smaller rooms almost one on one to try to get in whether it's hours of training or whether it's some other tort sort of requirement that is there but we are going to be as accommodating and flexible as possible understanding though that in some cases we're limited by the accrediting bodies and by the licensing boards if it is a highly skilled technical or health professions A program to students enrolled in and I would I would simply add that What we're doing is using our facilities for much longer periods of time with many fewer students in a room at one time so you asked about increasing costs you are eight increase educational costs when you lose efficiency and obviously as we go to the socially spaced policy you find that you faculty have to work more hours so you need more faculty so that's one of the financial constraints but that we're having to deal with at the present time but we always had the option to grant exemptions the board gave me that power I made each the campuses who need exemption for either a technical course or or for medical course and and many of us have the same prohibitions we want our nursing students to have started an IV on something other than a manikin before they tried on us and so we were very sensitive to opening up those opportunities the hospitals themselves were very sensitive in our biggest concern was protecting our students from exposure perhaps to to it to something that they couldn't control in and as of today I'm here reporting hi we have no evidence that because it is educational endeavors that any of our students contracted code nineteen through their educational experiences. German one line you're recognized thank you Mr. It this question is more for doctor Bob it but dont which I am interested in here and an answer on this form Henderson but you know we had a number of schools in the university of Arkansas system Pombal of Monticello little rock they were having a Roman issues before code nineteen hit what are we seeing going into the fall and you alluded to something to an answer similar to this in your earlier answer but what is enrollment look like for Monticello little rock pine bluff and then I'd like to know what that answer is for Henderson to please. Thank you I represent Wardlaw for Monticello I have received from the chance of their pick a dos very positive Positive reports on their projections for the fall I I think we all have to understand that a serious public announcement of something happening in particular area could could make this change almost overnight you a little rock is is having a more difficult task of it but they have made budget adjustments including restructuring that said that this doing a very good job unfortunate very difficult job in a very good job in bringing the budget more in line with the size of the student body and finally the one that I really don't have great information for you on is university of Arkansas pine bluff and that's because actually you a P. B. because their H. B. C. use status recruits almost on a national basis they have a large number students who come in who want the H. B. C. you experience and conceive of Arkansas as being a a the compassionate overall state where they would be comfortable and so what we don't know is whether they're going to at the last moment paid it and stay home four year so unfortunately that's the one I don't have a good answer for you on but I'm very comfortable with the enrollment CQ A. M. understand why they're down at you a little rock but also understand that either bring their budget to make a commensurate with the with the sizes to body and we'll try to get you some better answers for you A. B. B. as they become a parent. Thank you and I would say somewhere things I mean Dr Robert mentioned earlier looking at housing deposits and those have been very strong on our residential campuses and so that's that's an encouraging statistic Henderson actually and obviously that's a primary concern because of the financial situation and we've been watching very closely our institutional research personnel at the system level of giving us almost daily updates on what that looks like Henderson is is actually second among our seven institutions in terms of the percentage of the prior year's enrollment that has re enroll for this year behind only Jonesborough and only behind by about one percent what's unique is that Henderson actually is down more in head count but up more it S. S. C. H. so you may have your students taking more hours which is a CH is really what is the most critical component from a funding standpoint for the institution I would revert to what I said earlier in that and I and don touched on this is that so much of this can change at any minute and we know that trying to do apples to apples comparisons from a year ago or very difficult campus tours have had to be delayed obviously registration sessions when we had folks that were working remotely that changed a lot of the process we do think there could be this is anecdotal. but based on some feedback we've gotten a don sort of reference this too we do think there could be some situations for institutions like Henderson state where you have students who ordinarily maybe would have left the state are going to fade bill Jones were or somewhere else that may stay closer to home at least for this year that could calls to see an enrollment bombed at the eleventh hour but as of today I feel pretty good about we're Henderson is particular when you look at it from the standpoint of all of our other institutions the transfer the things that have happened and we've seen significant to as I called earlier gap closing over the course the last month as we get closer to the semester we see more more people start to think okay I have a little bit more information about code what it's going to look like what the policies and procedures the campus they're gonna be so whereas in the past they may have done a lot of pre registration or early registration this year they're just waiting to make sure they have all the information available for making a final decision but we can so we we will can certainly continue to look at that on a daily basis and the chairman I be happy if you just want to reach out to me periodically I can give you updates on that particular campus thank you and Mister I just want to make the point that you know we were already seeing suffering before cove it and I wanna make sure that those universities are going to be viable going forward and if we're we're getting low on cares act funds and mean and I say low because we've appropriated most of those out and if there is any needs out there we definitely need to address those before we run out of funding so thank you guys for the report. Thank you chairman we're not. Senator Irvin you're recognized for a question. Thank you Mr chair not on the committee so I appreciate the opportunity to ask questions Just FYI we are going to be talking with the legislators just for the legislators we are gonna be talking at one o'clock in public health about contact tracing and testing because what senator eads said is statewide the turnaround times are twelve and thirteen days right now. So and I can I have pretty. I have a lot of knowledge in the arena in the health care situation so you can imagine how the excise parades of surgeries admits doctors nurses respiratory therapists as an action got on the list so but I want to get back with your. How when you say you're gonna pivot I think you're right you can have depended on a dime. How are you going to look at that as a financial decision as well for your students and are you constantly going to have to gauge that and the reason I ask is because Dr Robert you're correct. If I can't be on if I'm a student and I'm way in the financial. Investment in this year a lot of students I think may take a gap year because they can't be on campus for football games we can't deny they they go there for more than just their classroom education experience colleges for years of your life and during those four years you want to make the most of that experience and that experience really and higher ad for me I think it's more about your development as a human being that the inter action that you have with the students in your professors what you experience you know in those four years whether it be at extra curricular activities and clubs that you're involved with all those kinds of things and so. You not I think people are I think students and parents are going to look at this and say. You know is this really to I want to do this if I'm gonna spend four years of my life maybe I should wait and go next year when maybe this is under control and that things are quote unquote back to normal and so how are you going to gauge that from a financial situation if students decide to do that because they're quite frankly trying to make a decision based on is this gonna be worth my money to do this does that make. And that that's the first question I have. I think you hit the nail on the head that is the million dollar question and and the students in our families are weighing the the possibility that we might have to pay of it against the investment that they would make and and sending them to be resident in NYC in our campuses and social naturalization is obviously very important port part of the educational experience for eighteen to twenty two rolled now you're not traditional students those returning from a stand ten and the arms forces or with it you know it's less important for them and they seem to have prohibited easier and probably more productively than your traditional students but having said that what what we do is we have to be careful about our budgeting we have I think on almost every campus some sort of the modification of a hiring freeze we've been very judicious and how we have hired adjunct faculty or others that yeah we don't want to have to terminate individuals as the semester progresses and in fact things like travel budgets and supplies been cut back pretty considerably probably more so because they've been used to buy PP plexiglass six cetera things that we had never anticipated to pass on several for campuses so. The point I want to make is that on on all of our campuses we have adjusted our calendar so that if we can make it to let's say thanksgiving is an end point I think everyone of our institutions will be either done or or substantially done perhaps which is finals to go. The problems we had a spring time was in pivoting so quickly we really didn't have the protocols in place for ensuring security for online testing our schools now had time there's no excuse for them not to be prepared to offer exams are finals online if we have to go in that direction so I think if I gave you if I had to give you a general outline of how the semester under ideal conditions will Trent transpire four breaks been canceled we will we work diligently to get all the academic work done by thanksgiving break at the very latest and some schools affect me even have finals done at that point and and then at that point in time students will have probably a very little academic work to to continue with and most likely just finals and we will be able to deliver them remotely if necessary so that's the structure that we're operating under across the of a system and I think that's probably ubiquitous across most pirated. I think the only thing I would add to that senator is is you certainly would be truthful I said we wouldn't consider the financial aspects if we had to pay of it at the same time though I think really the number one thing we are going to be considering is the non financial impact if you will on those students and what you just outlined in terms of those other things I think of my own personal experience I have three daughters that are rising eleventh nineteen fourth graders and when school shut down in the spring they were the happiest three human beings on the face of the planet within a month they were begging to go back to school because they missed that interaction in that hands on those things and I mean they all are they watch the governor's press conference every day and it's not in hoping he's going to announce schools going to be cancelled they're ready I mean they want to go back and do those things and I think that translates to the higher education experience as well and so I think the most critical thing of us would be when we pivot how do if we have to pay of it how do we pay but in a manner that really protects is much of that traditional learning experience as possible it could be different from going from face to face to fully online you could have staggered schedules that some students attend on certain days and others another there's so many other different ways that we could do it but certainly I mean we have to consider the financial aspects but I really think the student learning aspects and giving them what it is that they've come to expect from higher education in those other valuable aspects will be the number one priority for us well and I I'll just follow up to say that you know it also it's a cost to the students because if the student can get in all if they're just going to get online you can go and get it probably cheaper online too degree then that be and and rolled at a four year institution that's real you know and so if I'm if I'm just gonna have online classes why am I paying. In FOR the amenities of being in on campus when I'm not on campus and so I I that is all big I think we're really going to have to look back and say what are we doing here and so I I appreciate that and are you opening all your recreational like your gyms and those kinds of things for the students are you all opening those. As long as they meet AT HAZ guidelines yes thank you thank you Mr. Thank you senator Mister Evans on it to you but curtesy I'd like to recognize my co chair senator Davis. I think one of the most important tools we probably have and and increasing our chances the stain open as contact tracing and and I'm curious I know that and higher it's submit submit a proposal to the tears acts during committee and that allowed for it you a mess and department of health to do all the contact tracing for all of the institutions and you a mess received all of the funding for that and I'm just curious like you mentioned earlier and you realized it was just the money that was available and maybe not and would not cover all of the costs and so I'm curious if you a mess still plans on handling contact tracing for all of the institutions and and then if not and this might be a question for somebody else and the institutions act and that doing contact tracing themselves but with no funding to go along with it how are they going to be able to do that. House I'll take a stab at it Senator Davis thank you for the question so the the plan right now is exactly as you you suggested that is that you in mass under the subcontracted eighty H. would handle contact tracing for higher of higher ed this is one of those areas so when we were putting together a proposal I say we I mean many of us in higher ed we we really didn't have a good handle on I don't think I understood it well now but we did seek guidance from from faculty and the school of public health and so we came up with our best guess is a FOR shot I think what has happened since then is instead of the virus numbers positive numbers going down it has exploded and so these questions expand exponentially with the number of positives and so I think we all recognize now that what we had a request it probably was adequate at the time that the request was made based on numbers and probably a woefully inadequate to present time so I I would hope that and think that perhaps eighty H. and perhaps even the division of higher education may need to go back to the task force and seek additional funds and I think if the problem if if we really and up with test to take thirteen days the contact tracing that's involved we might as well just get the phone book at that point in time for. And senator I would say that I want to commend doctor Bob and I think they did an incredible work in putting together that proposal bodies exactly right it was at a point in time that's very different than where we are now we are prepared to assist with our own contact tracing if necessary and we do have concerns just because of what doctor Bob just said about the explosion obviously we have the medical school and we have the capability they've actually made a proposal to me to be able to do contact tracing for all seven institutions in our system and have willingness to do additional campuses if necessary from a regional standpoint now we can do that from a volunteer basis and that's what we will start of necessary obviously you get what you pay for kind of thing so we certainly stand willing and and I think about is right we may need to have a re evaluation of that discussion it's no reflection on you a master's no reflection on their vendor it's just simply a reflection of where we are right now and doctor Bob me to critical point earlier about the difference in higher education students and the difficulty in tracing them as opposed to perhaps some other populations so I I and I know there are other higher education institutions that are also willing to do their part and and one thing I want to say and and doctor Bob mentioned this earlier but I hope you understand the level of collaboration that's been occurring in higher education throughout this pandemic I mean I have been on more calls with doctor Bobbitt and doctor Boeing in doctor Davis and doctor Henderson the to your institutions talking about you know how do we address this from holistic standpoint obviously understanding to that we have individual circumstances that need to be addressed but you know I think we all stand ready to do our part but I I think that's a great question and something perhaps we do need to discuss. Well and and you know my question is certainly not to be critical at all because I agree at everyone's and hands on doing what they can the state's hiring as many contact tracers fast as they can and and I think that is just what worries me and you know I have experiences personal different people and Hey you have tested positive with kind of it in in one case in northwest Arkansas and they were called and they just said ACT call your pediatrician and they didn't ask many questions they've been in contact with nothing and and then another case with the family in my area and and each family member was assigned three a contact person for department of health a contact tracer and a nurse the department of health and all three of those people called every single family member every day in so the family said individually they were each getting ten to twelve calls a day from the part of health and and and that's just seven efficient and I don't mean to be critical about that I just I know that their kings in the system along the right along the way right so my concern is that with the overload that they're already experiencing just across and Arkansas's population what is look like when school goes back and then all of a sudden you notice department of health and you and I say we can like we also can't handle like another layer of this capacity because we're trying to keep up with all this and you know human workers can only do so much and so then the rest of the institutions are left looking to say well do we build the contact tracing system ourselves from scratch because all of a sudden we don't you know so I'm just sort of like that's what I was curious about what is that look like now since that was in your proposal and and in our schools going to be coming back to us and a L. C. next month saying well actually we need five million we need ten million we need you know all the different institutions because their training people on their own campus and and I just wanted to maybe have a better understanding of that thank you. Thank you senator. Representative Evans you're recognized. Thank you Mr chair doctor robin you alluded to the fact of how difficult it can be to keep a seventeen to twenty two year old confined in each of you especially the four year institutions you alluded to modifications that you made to your residence halls and you've you've set floors out for quarantine and isolation but curious as to what type of oversight and governance you have. Over the Greek organizations and the Greek houses and the rush weeks and that that will happen. It's a great question and and I I wish I had a definitive answer for you but I would say that we recognize the seriousness of that issue and potential for spread. and all of those organizations on our campuses our research are actually report through and are responsible to the student affairs office and and I can't speak for everyone I'm talk to everyone but I have talked extensively to fade bill and they have been very aggressive in making sure that the Greek organizations not just a great but also are residents halls leaders understand how serious this is and what the guidelines are and that they be it here too but of course as you as you and I both know once those doors are close we we really can't at a sure so we're hopeful but but not naive about what Michael one and I think Senator Davis's point about contact tracing being is very important and the second thing is do we have the monitoring system in place to make sure that those who have been deemed at risk actually do it here to what we have told them to do so that they aren't out exposing others on the campus or in the community and that really is one of the. Albums with with some of my earlier and I have a ten day about contact tracing I thought we would just have students we we students when it put something else on a resume will have students well you know we're talking about protected information and that the individuals don't stay just on campus but they go out to the community and I wonder how a business leader would feel of a restaurant to or or other type of establishment to get a call from a student St I need information on X. Y. and Z. I I don't think that the compliance will be very high so we we do see it I need for their being professionals to start well said either medical professionals or or others you have some sort of licensure requirements even if it's future nursing suits for example have to pass a licensure so they have professional standards they have to adhere to in order to be able to do this correctly and confidentially. I would just add to that represent of Evans that that I know our campuses are discussing delayed rush activities virtual rush activities I know fables doing similar because my wife is writing recommendation letters and talking about that process and such but then from the social aspect of that you know and I know this is similar it fade bills that is it Jones for on other places we on some of the houses we don't on some of the houses but at the end of the day we do have the ability through our student conduct and other things to limit the types of gathering then things and have control over that so it is certainly an area of concern but is also one that is is received a great deal of attention on our campuses and it will be closely monitored throughout the semester. The Senator hammer if you could be brief since you've already been the cure number times so the question is when it comes to contract tracing when I'm looking at the form that the the department health requires it's a pretty lengthy form the entirety of contact Tracy is gonna be handled on behalf of all the universities by U. M. S. and the universities will not have supply anybody manpower whether volunteer or paid staff in order to help gather that information. You know that was certainly the plan and FOR you a best to handle that I think all of our campuses will have to have individuals identified to assist will contact tracing process season to assist you I am S. but at the same time because of the rising numbers we also anticipate there may be some further need to be on that but when you receive no additional money for your part of what you're going to have to do your you're just going to cover that with your existing budget you was a not a lot of money thing no Sir okay thank you for not slated to thank. Thank you senator. Senator Johnson you're recognized for a question. Thank you Mr chair and I'll be brief and appreciate the opportunity as question as I'm not a committee member Doctor Welton Dr Robert jumping here too but to check you talked about it much more debt in debt A my younger daughter attended the university out of state that had second semester spring semester rush. and she bragged about how great it was because she said I probably would have made a different decision if I had if I had literally shown up on campus and get give and then been asked to join a sorority Inc and and not get into the the tweets on that but it would seem that why we all love to have football in September if we can have football all I can wait a little longer and I would think that one of the it would be easier to have Greek activities pushed back until January or so is that. At least in the pipeline whether you pull the trigger on that or not an absolute. Yes Sir that's been one of the discussions you know other discussions are options been virtual rush will that brings with it a whole nother set of issues that perhaps on the best interests but that that certainly being discussed in and looked at and in some instances some chapters may already made those decisions but we're working with a carefully looking at how that's gonna be okay thank you very much thank you Mr if doctor by if you have a further comment I I I I think all of us have to understand the times are not normal and so one has to be prepared to accept whatever whatever it takes amend the primary focus our institutions is education and that's our primary focus to make sure we deliver that product first the other will come great thank you very much thank you Mr thank you senator. And thank the gentleman I'm going to go ahead and. In questioning for today I would ask members both in the room and who may be listening hearing otherwise If you have any other questions or if they arise and they will I'm certain of it as we move closer to re opening the colleges universities please direct them three staff and will get the information to you because I can tell you my experiences last couple of months in particular has been that the folks out there at the college colleges and universities want you to have this information they've been more than forthcoming they've gone the extra mile heck we changed the meeting from one to ten AM what forty eight hours ago and everybody almost everybody that could jump at the chance to move and be here so don't hesitate talk to bill our staff will get the information to you and I wanna thank all of you to come today we appreciate your fork the forthcoming testimony the incredible information and. Your expressions of willingness to be flexible and continue to work closely with us on this process we have one more item that I would like to call from the agenda if we can be very quick on that I hate that the time crunch is what it is but we do have to turn this room around for a new meeting we'll move on to the next agenda item. Gentleman could identify yourself for the record yes Sir G. B. cast with with over Bob centers general manager information network of Arkansas you may proceed with your presentation thank you everyone for your time and will jump right in and we'll skip the presentation of you all looked at it. Number what we talked a lot about contact tracing it's come up several times. The mobile app to we're kind of presented to the apartment of health and was asked to come present you all's an exposure notification apps on to highlight some of the key points on that and then open up for questions to another mate there may be a B. if you so the challenge that were really it's coming up over and over again is how do we more rapidly let people know that they've been exposed so that they can then take precautionary measures and get tested on a mobile app can help do that leverage the power technology so it's all automatic it's not human interaction in some senses and then it in a meets our Kansans where they are meeting everybody the most of special if you're under the age of forty five or fifty has a cell phone it's on you all the time so for higher read a lot of their students are very mobile centric in the mobile app is in their pocket twenty four seven. it's also very complimentary to what contact tracing manual contact tracing efforts it doesn't replace I want very clear does not replace contact tracing it complements those efforts and it actually serves as a multiplier on that activity it fills the gap of what the current contact tracing apps to not just in Arkansas but in in the country meaning if if you come in contact the people all day every day it you may not recall remember that you come in contact with but a mobile phone privately and securely can identify who you've been around and for how long and how close and then alert that person if you're ever top tested positive going backwards fourteen days in going forward fourteen days from that to a positive test so again it's just about how we look at the problem may be a little differently and leverage the power of technology so what is the Appan how what is it has a work well the first time ever in my in my recollection apple and Google have teamed up to use a bill that API that is already on phones today you just have to have the mobile app to make it work. I'm so that it's a very private and secure tool there's no P. I public identify information available it's all unique user keys that are randomly changing shared as you walk around your day to day and again with stress it's an exposure notification happens not tracking where you go it's in a in there's in the diagrams and in the presentation kind of shows you how it works will get into that and then I'll in then that we also worked with eighty H. two There's a verification process that instead of you which you don't want to mobile out to people to say I'm positive increase panic which you wanted the verification process with the mobile apps so far I am positive I get a positive test of eighty eight I let there's a verification of that so then what I'm let the app no there's it all that stuff is seen in time so again it's not just I can't just say I'm positive and and make the world know to notify the world it has to be of this verification process and we found a way to do that within the current system using mobile phones and then we do have a strategic partner want with our app with the information network of Arkansas so they have experience with the state agencies the they will work with us on the back and system so we can do this very seamlessly and and quickly this is the last thing I want to do is address some of the concerns about a mobile app that you hear in the news and people talk about one as well who's going to do this to people really gonna adopted well the information's coming out is yes people will adopted in Ireland for example the news just came out that within one week they had over a million adoptions thirty seven percent of the population over the age of sixteen adopted. will hire read it's awfully hard for your population is tech centric tech savvy we feel very how it they will adopt to the Appan there will be high adoption we actually did a survey with a few thousand people around the country and overwhelmingly people said that they would download the app and they would let people they would self identify as a positive role in want to be notified alert if they're around someone who had a positive cove it attest it's not Big Brother again we're not tracking people where they go. House that's a big thing of it's ill is a concern minutes it's complimentary and and actually on the survey we see we we we did is over fifty five percent of people said they would trust the state government to lead that effort so again things line up with what's going on in reality at this is been out as is people talk about apps in the technology gets more notification X. exposure the are seeing that it can work and it will work and the last thing is well how much does it cost I had the million dollar question and I want to talk about it so this app is is what we present eighty H. is about five hundred thousand five and fifty thousand dollars it's a one time investment minimal maintenance cost and more importantly it is a tool that is in your tool chest going forward as long as you maintain the out so unlike other efforts was contact tracing remembers yet to pay people to do that well you got to continue to pay the people to do it a mobile out what you bite it's out there it's out there and so we can just maintain it so it's a one time investment with mental returning costs and so in this whole grand scheme of things I guess all the with this there's a way to stay can leverage technology. Meet our Kansans where they are meeting twenty four seven three sixty five with the phone in their pocket complement current efforts and contact tracing with a relatively small investment any can have a huge impact on accelerating the rate at which people are made aware of exposure take subsequent cautioning actions and get test at which we can slow the curve if you will and I think higher read with their population of students would you know would be actually a be of great benefit to help solve some of these challenges today so sorry so brief I know time is of the essence I'll just open up for questions. Senator hammer you're recognized thank you I wonder how you deal with minors with regards to the sap in their sensibility to administer be curious what higher it thinks about because our names been invoked into the conversation thank you yes Sir so obviously if you're a parent I have three young daughters and they don't have phone job if they did it's me it's it's got to be downloaded by a parent or or the six when you download the app in the generations can be done by a parent or kids or a with the kids parents guidance so you may have some additional information but it's you know it's the same things that goes on with apps now but there's no PI information on the you know sick captured secured to the app so it's it's anonymous. I just said that the verification process for indicating that you have code would have to go through an official with the department of health so we would be able to trigger that unless you have gone through the process. And your other query senator was I'm just curious what higher it thanks because our name has been invoked into the conversation if the chair consider getting some feedback from Melissa somebody with her at thank you. Anybody higher in which to feel this. Hi Mr chairman madam chairman my name is Melissa rest with the university of Arkansas system. we became aware excuse me your wrist was made aware of this potential applicants week we had an opportunity to review some attachments so we were provided you know with respect to it also was involved in a call with some of the other campuses to learn a little bit more about it I think the way that I have understood it is very similar to the way it's been described today which is it doesn't take the place of contact Tracy but it basically would help support contact tracing and so not drawn and I took a look at it I know some others have as well and we felt like that any tool in the toolbox if you will until chess that helps us with efforts you know to make certain that anybody that test positive you know is is identified and then those that they may have come in contact with there were also aware of that so that those individuals at the close contacts could could then be tested you know is something you know that we can certainly support beyond that I don't have a lot of detail you know about it just a general concept that was explained today. I thank you and and and just for members edification of this item is in this committee as an FYI to you of what some of things are out there this one is my understanding being reviewed by any age of. Melissa do you know if there are any other apps in that search processor and you heard of any of this. No Sir I mean I'm not I have not personally been contacted by you know vendors I know others have you know for various types of apps you know to assist with covered nineteen cents you know it began but in so far as any that are specific like this one I I am not aware of others there there very well may be but I'm not personally aware of it. Thank you I appreciate you stepping up on that if I could ask of staff to query by representatives of eighty HM Iran as to whether they are looking at these things and how many they might be considering. Thank you. The. Senate is that sufficient yes Sir thank you. Representative Ladyman you're recognized. Thank you Mr chairman and Mr chairman madam chair like to thank you all for swapping times with public health receipt you doing that on a quick basis try to be brief Just a question of this ask a question you can summarize it but so this works quite along all platforms I think you said that also the pricing on this so that could be purchased individually or as a group so I guess my question is I mean could a university or a system choose to buy this is a group and supply it to all the students if if if Being able to locate them or contact them is seen as a big positive for universe or system so is it possible to purchase it that way with that be an option and I'm not sure there might be interest in it but could you respond to that yes Sir so the way the Google apple of bill to their API it's a state wide effort it's not to be it's not sold individually it's so be purchased by the state and made available for free to all the downloads to any our Kansans he was so it's a statewide out not kind of a localized so if you want to. I'll just say of it it's possible that one university could choose to use it in the student's because they're in such close proximity might benefit from it I would add that anyone with a with an iPhone or Google phone can probably now go on there and see the an option to enable covert notifications and if you do that it will say this is not available in your region right now so many students or sentences may see that and wonder you know how they can use that but certainly could be using a small location like that and just would be less effective than a larger. Thank you representatives here recognized. Representative Dotson around sorry thank you Mr chair Mike my question. Really retains. Looking at page for you have a kind of an example here of. bobbin Alice there and interactions with each other and in the process of how they. They interact in your example here. Is. It looks as if Bob uploading is information is voluntary. And so it no one's collecting his data. Or at locations or anything like that until he initiates that that that sent other than the fact that he would be his phone would be collecting the beacons I think is what it was called of Alice's phone or whoever else is he's in he's in proximity of for those fourteen days Does Alice have to initiate that or is it automatically collecting the beacons so if you download the whoever downloads the apps the phones are automatically cult of generating the unique keys and sharing those those teeth so both of them would have yes Sir is so if you have an apple I have an app our phones are automatically doing it but if you know but Bob doesn't have an app or does have it turned on then it's not sharing so it's it's each user in August to say if they want to do that or not and then when the test is positive. they then can present verification process and they have to alert the I want to share that information so the Bob would have to in this example alert that he wants to share the information yes but then Alex would also have to say that she wants to receive the the alerts with she's in the apps she's in right with she would have to if she's positive she there's a your automatic receiving but if you're positive you have to verify you want to share okay. What happens with Alice if if you know she was notified is the department of health notified that Alice. Was in proximity to a positive test result and then they go out and and FOR malice or make sure she's taking appropriate steps there's well there's information that we can share to the apps that Alice can be say Hey you're exposed you should do this this and this but this the department of health will not be like Alice was also exposes all the all that information is just random keys there's no public that information's you don't know what's house so Alice would have to take initiation steps herself in order to go get it test and figure out of shoes positive or not department of health we'll never know that it was actually Alice's just this many beacons were exposed by such and such yes by phone so in higher ed setting you go to a party you'd three days later you you get I'm I'm sick I've I give verified alert everybody everybody that party you would get a notification and then there could be additional information you've been exposed please contact this number please go to this place star quarantining yourself and please go get tested at this look at you know and call this number so it expert that's how it kind of work so so how hard would it be. The flip that switch the other way and then notify the department of health it's the API from Google and apple's been set up in a way that there is no PI it's intentionally been very secure and so it's not government tracking. That's that's my biggest concern so thank you I got. Culture center names you're recognized. I'm here is it seems that we've had some struggles in our state with an language barriers and being able to get an accurate information to you know people there speaking different languages do you guys have this app available in different languages. This app hasn't yet been built we build a customized for the state but we have build apps for all over the world and in multiple languages it's not it's very easy to do okay set easy to communicate and then and yeah I'm just I'm just thinking of institutions like a sort of what we're hearing from that previous presenters on contact tracing that if institutions are gonna be coming to us very likely impacts month or two asking for millions of dollars each and to the contact racing on their campuses and the seems like just such a small investment for the entire state and FOR you know department health to and have control of the sap and and I'm just I'm curious sort of what feedback you got in and I don't know I know we've already asked and hired what they think about it but I'm just sort of curious why this would be something that we would delay on like wire state wouldn't do it if we're gonna be spending millions down the road anyway so I let me spend five hundred hundred thousand dollars for an app that is and voluntary no government tracking and and able to help our students and keeper campuses open. What was the feedback you guys got for department health we've had since may eighteenth we've had quite a few meetings with the even that talking health and the technology committee seems very positive and I know they're about a waiting on my I can't speak on their behalf on where they are in that process now but we we work through six or seven meetings and work through how to make it work with the with the verification process that was the big question early on is how do we verify some we don't want people to say and I'm positive and I'm not being positive I would create kind of a panic been so working through that process with department health I think we have a very ballot solution and be very interested to move forward if they're ready I'm I have to ask them I guess. I thank you I appreciate that and if if the state dinner and you know tenet contract agreement and how long does it take you to build the apps so yeah great question so we could have the Appan testing in four weeks and we would have a roll out in eight weeks and with you know Bob's as a strategic partner of we could start almost immediately we using some of their current contract vehicles that would we could be our team is ready to roll with we're we're based in Arkansas our leadership in Arkansas we want help or cans and so we're we've been we're ready to roll centers the state's ready. Thank you. Thank you gentlemen good luck. I'd also like to rent thank the membership and our. folks who came to the presentations a day for sticking with us and working so quickly well we'll be in touch thank you this meeting is adjourned.