Education- House Higher Education Subcommittee(10a-12P)

Call this meeting to order or a minute or two early but I want to get through everything first of all I appreciate all the members showing up and being here I understand this may be the first time this subcommittee is ever met so I'm excited about it I appreciate you coming and we already have an agenda far meeting again a month from now so if you'll put that on your calendar and all kind of get that word out and share some information with you. Today we're going to kind of focus on just a couple of things mostly on covert and what's happening on our college campuses and folks were presenting today I realize you're just jumping off here so our expectation issue for you just to share some general information about what's happening in your community with your students and staff and faculty and how your what your preparations are and plans are to deal with this if we have to come back in a month or two months and share more that'll be that'll be fine I think most legislate towards have talked with their universities and colleges in their community and we as individuals are fairly familiar with what's happening on your campus so this is mostly an opportunity for public testimony for the public to hear what's going on we do want to be out of here by eleven thirty or so so I'm going to ask each presenter to hold it to about fifteen minutes hate to cut you short but we will I think met many of the presentations are going to kind of cover the same types of things so again if you'll hold up to about fifteen maybe twenty minutes I'd appreciate it we were members we're gonna hold off questions until the end so presenters I would ask you when you're finished presenting if you would stay around we may have a few questions at the end far you specific to your institution are in general so without the members anyone we don't have a vice chair someone asked comments by the vice chair but members again I appreciate your being here and with that we will begin with Dr Houston Davis from the university of central Arkansas doctor Davis if you would come forward and please introduce yourself and then you may begin. Thank you Mr chairman appreciate the opportunity to be able to join you today members thank you for taking the time out of your days to the spindle time with us about how were attacking code you the hand out in front of you I believe that doctor Davis I'm sorry I left something off may I want before each of you began I'd just like to ask a few questions so that it may be a surprise to you will if the rest of them be ready who does your testing Kopet testing for the university right now the last two weeks all those of been through natural state labs previous labs Mayo Clinic is handled some of the. A lab and Searcy Kirk unity in a lab in meant that so I just know that by the nickname popular so you have a contract with one laugh did you all your testing we we have a consortium that we formed along with Hendrix college and more interesting verse in central Baptist college with calmly regional Medical Center we started that back in may and through that was to establish multiple labs that would be a part of that consortium you're satisfied the turnaround time is is good yes Sir great and contact tracing do you have a personally have a lot of contact with the contact tracers and you get regular reports on how that's going. We do actually Dr Randy pastor who's the physician for on our campus in his third three nurse practitioners and are individuals that staff or student health center are primarily involved with those contacts we have the contact tracing that we do within the testing in tracing consortium we establish the Conway regional and then of course the relationship that that body has with eighty H. for your your fairly familiar with how many students are being tracked or someone is you know about the number of students are being tracked and what their condition is ever general knowledge yes Sir every thirty minutes of got us on and it's become an addiction okay it's good to hear that last question and you feel the six that the success of the compact racing is very beneficial and educational for your staff in planning yes Sir I think the timeliness of getting test results back and then being able to do the contact tracing quickly is everything correct and are you have a health clinic on campus I believe yes Sir have there been discussions with internally and externally with the health department about the use of Hydroxycut work on I don't know the answer that Sir if you could find that out and let us know I'd appreciate it. I mean I've been just consent we had some testimony on that in committee and I'd just be interested if the if the your institution has been communication with the health department on the use of that drug effectiveness or not at all so if you can let us know we appreciate that and those of you were preparing to testify if you don't know the answer maybe you could text your people real quick and this ask him what the what the status is on that okay I apologize for interrupting go ahead no Sir you're the chairman that you've got to hand out there that has several several things that I will not burden your time with us but I thought in my ten to fifteen minutes it might be helpful to at least point to some of those represent Solomon I believe that one of the over arching questions is to get some sense about what our experience of our students is as we are entering into a very strange year the slide on the second page actually is a little bit of an overview of the five different frameworks that we've tried to approach code nineteen we knew that students desires range all the way from only wanting online courses and wanting nothing to do with place all the way through students that only wanted to be at UC eight or in the fall and the spring of this academic year if they can have something as close to residential experience as possible it's impossible to be all things to all people but there you see five different buckets if you will that we've tried to work toward a solution and we do feel good about we presented options to students that really faced each of those different perspectives on what their needs are from an academic and residential standpoint on the third slide you kind of have an overview of our current status of operation and then as well as how we will pay of it if we have to make any changes as we go into the fall semester we began on August twentieth with the my. Forty of our classes sixty five percent still being in person but very much in a hybrid mode and I'll share some some visualisations of what that might look like a picture's worth a thousand words here in a second but that means that thirty five percent of our courses OR online from the beginning but all two thousand five hundred courses that you see a offers this fall will all be prepared to go remote if the situations call on that that could be an adjustment midway through the term where we decide that we want the majority of classes to be offered in a remote and we're gonna reserve face to face meetings for only those things such as science labs and other type of courses like that where it's it's it's much more productive to be able to have an in person but again all twenty five hundred courses are ready to pivot to online so really it's been about maximizing our online courses as well as creating hybrid versions of courses knowing that we don't know what each week will bring pages five six and seven of your hand down give you a bit of a visual representation of what that re imagining courses might look like as we've you know created things like spit split sections where to take a course if there were thirty students were allowed in that classroom but but space guidelines only allowed us to be able to have fifteen then how can fifteen students meet face to face on one day in fifteen students or perhaps on Tuesday and fifteen on Thursday and then knowing that those that are not meeting in person or participating via technology we've got sections that are being set up were faculty that the course as a whole is meeting in small groups throughout the week and what we would really consider consultation model you can see other representations of that as well so the work that our faculty and staff really high began back in February January fifth twenty fifth was the first meeting that we had around our pandemic planning by mid. February our center for teaching excellence was working on these models by March and April this is the way that we were able to finish the spring semester and then set us up for the summer terms as well as planning for how we would approach the entirety of this academic year and again hybrid is probably the key I would I would say very very few of the twenty five hundred courses look normal as they did in fall of twenty nineteen on page eight you've just got a of a visual snapshot of our website that we have for both students and their families as well as for employees we trying keeping that portal all update up to date information regarding the university's work on cove in nineteen that also houses the August twenty twenty their student guide to return the campus and that's a document that grew out of several other guides that students were given spring and the summer and we do anticipate that we will have an updated version of that that will announce any changes as we look toward the spring semester represent Sullivan I think that there was some conversations about how our students are interacting in classrooms and other buildings on the campus slides eight nine forward really get at some of the things that we're doing to make certain to to not only have the health and safety of students faculty and staff front center but how are we doing that is a constant reminder because it's a constant education process to really critical things we knew from the beginning that face coverings as well as distance would probably be our most important variables as we went through this academic year there many other things that we would expect of students faculty and staff but wearing face coverings when they're in enclosed areas and then also if you're outside and you find yourself in a group setting and there's no way to be able to maintain distance we have students faculty and staff to also put on their face coverings then so really is a matter of individuals being aware of who's around them on at any. Time much as you're doing here in your your chambers the face coverings certainly do make make a big difference on page eleven you've got a just a visual representation of our college of business building we have three million square feet at the University Center Arkansas on their five hundred ingress egress points into that three million square feet it doesn't matter whether it's an academic building or it's a mechanical room if to human beings are going to have to interact with that physical space we've gone through the process of taking apart how individuals flows to that building and then on the very next light as an example of some of the classrooms how individuals would be seated as wells the instructor position if it is a classroom setting that has been a a significant undertaking and again very blessed to have a lot of faculty and staff that is they were doing this work back in March and April and may has helped us tremendously to be able to to work with with students in this fall semester pages thirteen and fourteen just some snapshot of house some of those classes look in reality page fourteen is is our are hyper center the health physical education recreation center which we certainly I know that the students love but they had to understand that in this academic year they're gonna have to interact with that equipment in a little different way the same thing is true about the cafeteria the same thing is true about the library if any space that is a common space for students they note that the tables and chairs of the route been reset in that distance way and we even look to make certain that people are on a timer we've we with with the hyper building we don't want a students to to linger get in there do your work out do what you need to do and then know that someone else is needing to be on that piece of equipment the same thing in the cafeteria Wesker seems to be mindful that some individuals need to occupy that table and chairs so they could come and enjoy their meal and then we've got a hundred and eighteen. Picnic tables that we spread about the campus outside of buildings where if they want to go in and and visit longer so again just changing behavior of how human beings interact with that space if you don't like signs you see a probably wouldn't be a good place for you to be right now there are a lot of signs pages fifteen and sixteen show examples of signs and FOR coverage is to conserve reminder to individuals about what we need them to do we've been very pleased our students faculty and staff for now three weeks into our residential experience on how they have responded to this over on the left side of page sixteen is really the reminder that that's posted on every entrance and exit of every building it's also what our students faculty and staff reminded of every single day for them to consider those three points that's a self screening that we expect for entire campus community to go through on a daily basis page seventeen is a is a bit of an overview of some of the release about the consortium that we establish with calmly regional health system we're very fortunate but Hendrix C. B. C. and you see a that we've got calmly regional right there in the midst of our three campus operations they have been fabulous to allow us to be in a position where we can do things and report on a regular basis and what you see pages eighteen forward are examples from last Wednesday's we once a week release this information the campus about testing trans positivity rate trans and the like just had a call right before I came in here our consortium eating's at nine o'clock every Tuesday morning a will be working throughout the day today to provide that updated report by ten AM tomorrow morning but you can see on eighteen that's the cumulative number of test as of our last week's report we had forty one total positive test the second view is looking at all you see a test in our testing protocol both on campus and with Conway regional you can see the week to week and we're still. We're staying well below the ten percent threshold that really is our our our goal we have the test and positivity rate in athletics is on slide number twenty that of course the NC double a mandated that all D. one D. two ND three schools go through a battery of testing and we've been very pleased how're coaches on our athletic operation or student athletes have responded to those mandated testings and on page twenty one are all those opposite screening individuals that have been tested that have been either symptomatic or suspected of exposure to someone with code nineteen the last two weeks we've been able to break that out through calmly regional health system for just our our population so we're very pleased to see where those numbers that we do monitor some critical statistics along with calmly regional one is looking at their positivity rate in a fourteen day period as well as the last thirty days we know that they have about seventy two or so percent of the market share if you will of the use that term and a and a health care basis but but that's something that's very important as we're considering not just you see a student faculty and staff but their families and all those that we live in community with as was mentioned earlier are constant monitoring of where we are on testing turn around many of you don't know of was in Tennessee Georgian Oklahoma prior to this work in the systems in each of those three states and no a lot of the president's in the state they don't have the good testing turnaround numbers that we have here in Arkansas I think lucky stars everyday that I don't have the numbers that they have which are many times seven eight nine days more we were very pleased with that the ability to get those test results back in a timely manner and then a two other things that we look to is how we are in terms of being able to utilize our quarantine space and our isolation spaces again back in the spring we decided first all the testing would be everything contact with Paul. thirteen when they discover the power was everything that insult power they were getting back to earth we're less testing was gonna be everything but then we also had to be able to once we determine that someone was positive or potentially positive we needed to get them into quarantine status and then be able to isolate them we have a hundred and thirty four rooms there in Carmichael hall in either familiar with you see a that you know that's one of the residence halls in the center of campus issue in used entirely for quarantine space all one hundred thirty for those rooms where students students that are well that are worried about becoming sick we can put them into those spaces in here on page twenty four you can see our trend in terms of utilization of those one hundred and thirty four rooms in on twenty five you can get some sense about how the in and out of those rooms students coming into those rooms and then going out and then over on the page twenty six is where we stand on the current use of isolation beds in addition to Carmichael hall we have eighty five beds that are in houses that you see a owns around campus a lot of times these are houses that when we have our night staff with physical plant or we have our overnight individuals with with resin taller in other support we back in the spring we took all of those houses offline and we're utilizing those beds just for covert nineteen isolation have the ability to take care of up to eighty five and you can see our current trend of use against that again down page twenty seven you can see the in and out of that I would tell you this and and everything else that's associate with code the slides are things that we prepare for board of trust in an update to them just a couple weeks ago I thought that might be appropriate for your use and and perusal but that and much more is available on our coronavirus site we want to make that is easy for students family staff and community members to be able to get on with possible with that represent someone that's all that I had in terms of an overall is excellent I appreciate again if you would hang around if you're able to we may have a few questions at the end does anybody have just about. Earning question they need to ask right now thank god this one more from may so you're quarantining people who had direct contact with someone who tested positive do you have any data on how many of those people and up testing positive. Right now. For the individuals that have gone into Carmichael I would say about. One in three. Have been confirmed to be tested positive and it had to move and isolation space okay Sir but I I need to get back that you could either I just going off of the in and out data because some of that I'd like to house if you could I'd like to be very interested in that because I know we're quarantining people this would like to see some data that says that's really a good scientific information I really think that science is critical and before earlier we have been relying on science from other states and other regions and I think I'd be really critical to have the science in Arkansas okay I see some people who. Have one like I do the burning by Representative. Garner I think you're in seventeen yes thank you thank you and I'll I'll I'd like to know from all the campuses this question obviously these tests that you're getting back in seven days or PCR tests who ARE others doing antigen test what you're doing and gin tests are you getting a positive PCR after that are used to mean that the antigens are positive and how is that information being reported. Well currently actually we're getting those back within one point three days so that we're getting them back within seven days I would be really concerning the PCR the PC artists yes yes color regional has the ability to do antigen testing I think that the science says that if you get a positive back on it to Jim tests that is something that you can take is as as as pretty indicative that you are positive but the negatives can be false negatives that right right now as we're positioned in our testing tracing consortium we want all of our results to be the PCR test we would we would rather be safe than sorry okay so art you're assuming that no one's getting antigen test and those are not being reported. I know that the testing that is being done through our protocol and FOR calmly regional Medical Centers all PCR testing okay everything is being verified through PCR testing right now okay thank you. The nineteen Representative rye. Sorry okay thank you Mr chairman. Mister Davis these folks that were tested at this four hundred and ninety. And actually we had eight that were infected. Of and they get like you say they have a place at their at the college that they can go actually I guess get through this period of time I mentioned this or. The the late folks did they ever return home. And if they do to the folks at their own like their mothers and dads or the people that they're around are they notified so that they know that these folks can't spread this sickness. The you're you're referring to page twenty to four hundred eight those of the incident late mandate screening test for our student athletes athletes yeah that I've if I remember correctly all eight of those individuals actually five of those eight were done in the gateway testing all student athletes had to be tested as they came back to campus the those those individuals have been able to do quarantine and I will isolation with a positive test on our campus one thing we had to do was they have roommates as well that might have to quarantine for peer time to make certain that they don't develop. Follow place where we're going to try to get through fifteen run twenty minutes well Mister chairman the what I was concerned about Suresh those folks returning to an area like their hometown in may be spreading that you do you have any information on this or. I think that it's certainly I mean a US student would have the ability to return home if that's what they and their their parents wanted to do I think what we would we make certain that doctor pastor and his team in the folks Conway regional that they're educated on what they should do how they should protect others what step should they take making certain that they have good quality okay ninety five mask in hand to make certain that they don't spread to someone else. Representative Lowery you're recognized yes thank you Mr chairman. Present present Davis you referenced Carmichael hall and and I know that you were unsure about the numbers about how many of them actually tested pop one out of three does the three number does that include of the students who have voluntarily said they want to be in Carmichael to be isolated they may not be positive they may not even come in contact is the one in three and I am not holding you to that number but is that based on the numbers that the that have been identified of having come into contact with someone and then the one was deposited at the individuals are being placed in Carmichael from August the tenth forward I mean those are individuals that we have a strong sense that they have been exposed to cope with but there are some in Carmichael that are there voluntarily not presently no they're it back in the you may be four and there were a couple students back in the summer that were worried that they may have been exposed and they came to us and we made certain to find them another space on campus to be able to quarantine and they want to do volunteer quarantine we wanted to allow them to do that that at that time Carmichael hall was not set up for this purpose they actually were in in a in another set of apartments on the campus Mister chair I just have a quick follow up with different different question how does the I I know for per per text the privacy of students in many of the students are of age and I mean I know there's this whole issue the on different the different spectrum worst parents sometimes just don't have a lot of knowledge unless the student grants a waiver. How does this this conflict with contact tracing I mean does contact tracing a pandemic the guidelines of that over rule for a or dis for but still firmly in place that the student that is tested positive in may have come in contact with others they could claim their privacy rights. And how does contact Tracy take place under the under for a we have four but and hip a are involved right that point and and when when individuals are contact traced it's it's not to to say that you can contact was Representative Lowery he it is that you you may have caught it come in contact with and then it's asking questions about the setting where you may have been asking you questions about how were you in class that day were you indeed seated and sitting in the front third of that room and there's a lot of questions that have to be a asked to find out if you indeed were in a position where you might have been exposed at risk okay but sometimes that is unfortunately it's identifiable information you're not able to I mean the student is the person that's been contacted is able to discern who it was they were in contact with and does that not stretch the boundaries of the the privacy rights. As as the executive the signs off that we're can cut compliance with FERPA in it but I I certainly hope that we're doing everything to not bump up against that but it but we do have to at least explore it far enough to fit within the persons at risk okay thank you thank you Mr chair. Representative Allen. Okay thank you Mr chairman thank you doctor they was coming I want to so first of all when the committee of football team recently you all took on Austin PMP them after the game in the football please return the campus the to see an increase in the nineteen. We have been not at present but we are square in the battery of tests this week with all student athletes where we will be able to determine that so the you may know I will say after loss to be game the answer is no we know that but then we played a university Alabama Birmingham on Thursday night you may know we were the first college football game period of the year and then we were the first FBS game of the year because the U. A. B. had that distinction so we we played two games for most people even thought about plan one we will we will know from those individuals and we had a when it's all it all in a couple of other sports that have played so we'll have a better sense about how are collegiate athletes and our relationship with other schools and how they're handling their testing in tracing it gets complicated once you start bringing two families together. Well it seems like you all to figure things out of it you see a R. soon athletes are taking it very seriously and our coaches are to I I I can't say enough about doctor Teague coaches and student athletes they've they've responded Tucker Johnston by their very much like to be in college I think that our student athletes would very much like to play their support. Well at the start with the leadership with people like you thank you thank you. Thank you. Hi doctor Davis thank you very much for your testimony appreciate and and this and example of all the good things are happening on our campuses we appreciate your leadership Mr Andy Goodman with the president of Arkansas independent colleges and universities. If you would please introduce yourself and and. I just have a just a couple Ladyman questions. Thank you Mr chair how many Zandi Goodman with Arkansas independent colleges and universities. Appreciate this is a I ask before who does your testing it's very diverse so if you go to Harding and Sir see we we represent eleven different institutions they're using unity health which is just down the street from them some of our colleges are using another local healthcare provider sun will rely on on the health department alone to our institutions Hendrix and central Baptist college in Conway or in the same agreement that you see a is with natural state labs. You might share with the committee who all of the colleges and universities that fall within that parameter yes Sir so were eleven institutions we include the school of osteopathic medicine in Fort Smith Arkansas college of health education and then ten under grad institutions which include Harding Hendrix Ouachita Baptist Williams Baptist Crowley's ridge college line collagen Batesville Flanders Smith College here in little rock universe the Ozarks in Clarksville John Brown University in solemn springs and Hendrix college thing I've already names and ages leave anybody off you be in big trouble thank you will test their thank you so to your knowledge or are is everybody fairly satisfied with their testing there's room for improvement I think because testing capacity was so tied entering the fall semester you have a very you know mixed level of a you know satisfaction as far as sure how quick that turnaround is you have an idea of what the average turnaround is and it would depend on the campus of the for instance in Searcy or Harding has unity health just down the street which is running a PCR test and they get sometimes results that day so to save you from having to answer a lot of questions if legislators have questions about the turn around time for their university they should contact the university absolutely okay Sir and not contact tracing again I don't want to get into details of all of them but have you heard of any problems with contact tracing the best efforts and contact tracing so far on our campuses is actually done in house and the reason we're able to do that so efficiently is because our campuses or nuclear uniquely positioned they're extremely small motion is more of a relatively small most for campuses have less than sixteen hundred students so our folks that are involved in student life no that student they know who they're with they know where they live and eighty percent of our students actually live in the dorm. House. So that's that's helpful to to know who they've been around you who they're living with you who their suite mates are so the most effective for that has been done in house so for so let it legislators again just to save and if a lot of questions if you have a specific questions on contact tracing house being done successor it's they would need to check with our local university yes or contact me directly I could tell you and and again to your knowledge do you have any direct knowledge of your of the university's medical clinics usage are talking about our discussions with the health department on Hydroxycut work one Mr chair I don't in in discussions with our our port which consists of our eleven presidents generally speaking if there was a student that that needed treatment they would direct them to their local health care provider okay would you be able to reach out to each one of them just for the real short question asked them to reply to the to to the committee if they've had those discussions or if not you know I'm not looking for real in depth yes and here's why or why not are they or aren't they having that discussion debate you said should be planning I'd be happy to okay and with that I'll let you go ahead with your testimony thank you when this all began in the early spring obviously we did what all the other universities did we we did our best to finish up the spring semester remotely but our president's focus was on the fall and how we would successfully bring students back to campus yeah we have two schools A did begin the semester remotely but eight of our action need not of our institutions have students back on campus right now Hendrix and line college did choose to begin the semester remotely but Hendrix still maintain some hope that the bill to come back later this fall semester. but you know as as I said earlier work how the residential and eighty percent of our students do live on campus that's an average and we have usually less than sixteen hundred students in our schools by one average as well so we have a lot of flexibility that some of the larger institutions may not have we've met collectively over the summer so all the successes that we've had so far in the fall we have quite a few to to point out are owed to those meetings that we had over the summer saying this is what we're going to do our presidents were very converse with one another and sharing in their own problems in their own struggles and and talking about really how they were going to plan and essentially right some of our own guidance within our own group share that with the health department try to get feedback from them and and and decide how we move forward we we looked at that and really four distinct areas first and foremost was residence halls and when you look at the time of our campuses and try to think about how many rooms do you have. For students to isolate or quarantine in general there's not just a lot of room there to move kids to one bedroom and one bathroom so a lot of what we're doing with students were we have had a positive test is that student would isolate if they could at home that's not always possible if it's the student has to travel long ways rivers international student so we all do have some fourteen space available our campuses but the that comes at a premium because those are students that you are allowing you to live in that dorm space throughout the school year and there is a a large demand for students to live in the dorm and our institutions because they're there for that unique environment on campus but. We discussed student family groups as well so if you're in a suite with three other students or if you're in a room with one other student that would be your student family group which would help in contact tracing it obviously say when you're in your dorm room where you're with that student you can be relaxed and take your mask off but mostly around campus you'll see our structure ASA mostly always around campus indoors you'll see all of our institutions obviously have a mask requirement I drove through Harding's campus on Friday and servers in it looked just like every other Friday that I remember of being on campus at Harding except everyone was wearing a mask going from class to class so that's one of the successes that we talk about that we have students that are you know getting to enjoy all the things they did last year just with a mask and you always see our schools require that of all of our students regardless. Our educational space it's been difficult it's it's it's it's difficult to find six feet to space kids that but we've been very successful in doing that was over campuses you'll notice a tent outside were actually holding classes outside intensive John Brown also on Harding's campus and Searcy but mainly that we're all meeting in person we do have some you say that you know Harvard pro where they're meeting some classes digitally and others in person but mainly we're still keeping that in person instruction. are on campus dining services whether in the cafeteria of the student center we're just following the the eighty H. coast the that you would see eighty H. requirements that you sent in any of the restaurant across the state and you can say the same thing for the guidance for larger religious gatherings you know chapels a very important part of student life one many of our campuses it Williams Baptists and want to rich they're bringing in one group one week to have chapel they were revolver the next group the next week to have chapel with the rest you'll following it through streaming service Harding has around four thousand people that will be in chapel on the average they would usually have chapel every day they're not able to do that right now so they're meeting you know digitally in remotely to to have those services athletics are an important part of our campus life too and we have a very diverse set up in athletics obviously we have Harding and and Washita who play NC double a division to that's a great game I'm sad we didn't get to have that game this year of the NC double a board of governors made that very difficult for the GAC conference to have that game would have any games this fall for that matter Hendrix is in the NC double a division three same set of difficult constraints financial constraints it is for testing to have any fall sport Disley they start off the the your remote anyway the rest of our schools are in the in A I a in the in A I a cave the choice to individual conferences whether they would play sports this fall or not some have chosen to postpone those until the spring others are are meeting in athletic competition right now in in basketball starting she other sports starting next week with basketball follow so we're happy that. That's that's such an important part of bringing kids or campuses the ones that want to compete at the next level of whatever sport they choose are able to do that so we are having some success one one issue is is that we give the institutions that you're competing against a lot of leeway to choose not to play you if you don't fall the same guidelines that they would want to see and sports competition which may mean if you want fans on campus or not or and or in part in In person for the games so. That's that's somewhat of a of of a road between a few schools that they will allow fans on their campus but the other school they're competing with will come to your campus if you have that so it's it's it's it's not always easy is it same just to say to move forward or not overall our enrollment numbers are better than we expected we have some schools that have historical moments this year and some are turning out better than than we had planned for and we've been very conservative and how we budget for fall and saying how many students we planned have back on campus and even our institutions that started the year remotely have better than expected enrollment numbers so that's all very promising for us moving for. is is as far as anything else on an update from our campus is what we're doing that's that's all I've brought to speak about today but I'd be happy to answer any questions one times per. Find a member's out remember the he doesn't have any direct knowledge are right at hand and so if you have specific questions that but I appreciate you coming and I appreciate what are in your member institutions have done to keep their students healthy and for us to return to campus and I know it's been a tremendous undertaking so tell your folks how much we appreciate what they've done and thank you for being here today. Next we have Dr Martin Hagens burger. If the president of Black River technical college. Doctor if you would introduce yourself I hope I said your last name correctly did that really well hi my name's Martin against burger and president of Black River technical college and then I was eighteen I think before I was able to pronounce that properly. What is it again let me go through these pretty quickly do you have one group that does your testing no we we we go through we we had intended to go through eighty H. mostly but our our students have kind of gone all over the place local clinics mostly actually the lion's share have been through individual clinics. Okay and are you satisfied with the the result of that testing process has so far were were I I would say pleasantly surprised by that nothing about this is been pleasant we get some results back is is quickly is thirty minutes but the average is been two to three days okay and the contact tracing art do you all do that it at your yourselves argued we we do we sort of do we we. We have the relationship with you a mess and also with eighty H. but before that are as that's going on we also do an internal one we're small college much like Mister Goodman was was saying we do a lot of our stuff kind of previously in house for. We're small enough and we keep tabs on our students so it's really pretty easy I don't wanna say easy but we can do it and we've been doing it internally I understand and to your knowledge you have a health clinic on campus no Sir okay do you know of any students have are taking Hydroxycut work when no I don't we. I will say our students pretty informed about of that conversation been going around in in northeast Arkansas pretty pretty strong I I know our students are informed and we've we've asked them to ask as many questions as they came okay thank you and that's in my questions you may begin thank you thank you I would like to start off by thanking you for bringing us here in asking these questions correctly it really it really helps us and it gives us confidence in our legislature when you this so I appreciate that I'd also like to thank doctor Davis and Mister Goodman for coming up here in answering a lot of the questions in advance so I could cheat offer them so well done guys Black River technical college of the I got the idea that you guys wanted to kind of see a day in the life of the student kind of how that was going so I want to share that with you first off all kind of share a little bit of the demographics of how how things have shifted a little bit you'll notice that we break things down into a hybrid traditional or online instruction mode online is purely online traditionalists classic purely on campus and then the hybrid is a combination of both and you'll see that this year we've had about a thirty eight percent increase in students that have gone straight to do the online mode and we believe I mean they've it's clear that they've left the traditional and hybrid because those have an on campus component and and a significant portion of S. as C. H. is moved to purely on line. we operate prepared for that we were ready for actually a larger shift than that over the fall we did a lot of work over the summer to get everything ready for this. this is this is some data on the positive cases that we've had in the quarantine cases that we've had it's gone week by week this is basically a Monday morning snapshot is to where we are you'll see the week of eight eight we had six cases those were students and staff faculty and staff six total cases we quarantined nine people. Those nine included the six and that was before classes started but we had some or neck classes some nursing classes that we're going going through a consortium and we also had some some corporate community education truck driving things like that so then the following week of those we are new cases we ended up with three and we quarantine twelve that was a pretty much the first week when when people returned the very next week we had no new positive cases but for more quarantine. And then the following week to more positive cases in sixteen quarantine over to the right you'll see a giving you a cumulative number I'm not sure that that number is meaningful A it's it's all the ones that we've had up until last week we've got a new number that's coming today of course but that's the number that seems that that the world seems to be interested in it's the largest big splash number it's just all of them combined but as you can see our average is more like two and a half three students positive a week is all so. We do our best to keep everybody up to date through regular emails and we have a campus health page much like the one that I doctor Davis had mentioned where we talk about all the facts and then what the students what's expected the students for screening and the procedures we have decision trees just like doctor Davis said we have signs all over the place in many of these things are and signs on campus as well but we we know that before the students even come to campus there checking online to make sure that they can be safe when they get here and so we have all this information that our team keeps up to date it's really we use CDC and eighty H. guidelines so we're really. Try to stay is is updated as we can on these things. See. we also when you get to campus we do a lot of self screening we we anticipate that mandated screening I don't know we we looked at our staff and we didn't see that that was even possible to maintain keep the records in and follow through with that so we we encourage cell screening you'll see that the student that's leaning there looks like she's reading but she's actually at a temperature I hands free temperature gauge and she's getting or temperature taken there you see all the information about PP at the beginning there some mask that students get if if they need one we'll give it to him free of charge we we keep it up to updated regular there's also hand sanitizer whites any and all the rules and regulation in discreet and decision trees so at. At each of our major facilities there's there's this walk in check and kind of station where student can sell screen and get the information they want. We also with it which you can see there is a a a a large kind of a sneeze guard around several of our desks. We we mandate masks for anybody that's under six feet just like what you're doing in here the difference is is there are times when a student may be a little faster than somebody can get a mask on or we want to make sure that the person wearing the mask as a minute to to take it off breeding kind of changed on swap if they need to so we have these screens in place that that as an added layer of pre protection there for both the students and the faculty and staff. But they will see the same people most of our people have chosen to work on campus if they if for some reason there's an underlying health issue we work through that through a through a foreman worksheet but for the most part people want to be at work and they want to see each other in the student's. We we have increased our technology I think everybody I think you'll see that across the state many of our my to your brothers and sisters have done the same thing we've we put a lot more emphasis on technology where we zoom we can we we zoom one half of the class will be meeting in the others will be zoomed and then switch that around through cohorts we also have a lot of that that those courses can be recorded that way so a student Mrs they can catch up that way. So we really increase the technology here. that way even students that are on quarantine still have the opportunity to learn. As you can see we have a greater than six foot social this and we've done the same thing that doctor Davis had mentioned we we've measured all our classrooms and we figured out the maximum number of students we can do and we made sure that we didn't we didn't fall short on that so. there were some some programs in senator English ask this earlier there several programs that require workplace skills in the. six foot distance isn't really feasible or tenable so for those we insure that that for safety precautions are gone we minimize the time and that close contact together we keep track of all the students that were with each other so later if in case there is a an outbreak or somebody that test positive we will already have the names of the students that were in that cluster and we can contact tracing and get that for those people nursing is one of those it's it's very hard to do those practical skills that require group without without it being a group. The same is true there are electrical are electrical courses are welding courses many of our tech programs we really it's it's very difficult to to do hands on training without a guiding instructor close by but as you can see her we've developed we keep as much distance as we can and it's a limited the students to the task and then they go back to the classroom seating so we try to minimize that time but as you can see there were fully working or masks in doing their product doing the hands on activity that way. The same is true the welding it's it's particularly good to see these students are well or this instructor and the students are wearing their masks while they will it's the same same thing but as you can see it's hard to teach that without being close and so we. We have to be very careful about that in the instructors are or washing their hands regularly doing the same guidelines that are our students to. We have a lot of space on our campus we were we were fortunate or unfortunate depends if if enrollment is dropped it's not been the very best but it does mean that our facilities are large enough that we have space for this so we have a we we mark off places where students can be and can't be and and the same I'm sure with all the other institutions. we have the the same study carrels that works really well for us the students the kind of self quarantine them you know when they're when they're doing that work themselves so we the students are really taking advantage of that. Finally we still offer our food service but we've set it up so the tables are spread out this for a law enforcement training academy the law enforcement training academy in the fire academy or kind of the unique in that they they meet regularly kind of regardless of what's going on on the rest of the world and so we have to maintain their food and and we've got to make sure that they're taking care of so so our cafeteria still been going and we we keep this social distance as well. I will say that kept here he's got a little bit louder because they're still talking to each other they just have to do it over six but distant. we we've moved to a lot of outdoor activities and I will say we've got a little bit of space in and just like Mister Mister Goodman said earlier outside facilities really are really kind of being used more this is our graduation I'd like to say aye aye I would like to brag on Black River I think we won the Covin graduation we had that probably the very best graduation that I that I've been a part of ever we we manage to to have the students inside socially distance spaced out in an outside we we did it like a drive in theater so the the the families could watch everything we had popcorn in corn dogs were given out and they they saw we we did our mascot reveal at the same time so it was kind of an exciting time and then we close with fireworks which was which pretty pretty darn good exciting evening so I I'd have to say aye aye commended admire are my brothers and sisters at the colleges across the state but we want cove a graduation that's. This. We also are our students are really using the outdoor spaces more they were there you you can see there there on park benches and and they're getting out more which is probably better anyway we're we needed to see that anyway. I it's it's. They're very common want one thing I'd I don't think I can overstate this I I'm particularly proud of everyone at Black River they've managed to to go through this. Just very challenging time without call my a level headedness that I don't think could be matched because our administration is bending over backwards to take care of our faculty and staff and our faculty and staff or bending over backwards to take care of the students regardless if they have to be at home or if they're here or if they're uncomfortable we're working together really well and. The. When our faculty and staff maintains that calm. It really is reflected in the students we had faculty members that said they were worried that the students would be a little reluctant to wear the masks when it was required they were they were worried that there might be a little bit of confrontation or discomfort but the students have gotten very comfortable and when they see the faculty members up there and everybody sitting and social distance and the faculty member takes off their masks second they take off there's for a second and they take a little breather and then they put it back on and they really are following suit and the it's a testament to the To the willingness of our team to do what's right and I just want to commend them on their call level headedness. Finally the during the important activities we you can see graduation we wear masks we were we wore masks and we we spaced out people in that auditorium and they can use the auditorium for classes as a matter of fact we've we've set up several classes in our auditorium just so that we have a a decent sized group of people learning and still maintain the social distance so that's pretty much what I've got I would say that we are unique in that the the. The tech hands on required us to go requires us to be on campus we have to our students for the most part many of our students or are lower economic and they have many Amer single parents and their kids are in the high schools and so we have to make sure that that they have a place where they can be and and while their kids are in high school and and our classes also have some high school kids that the tech classes have secondary centers with kids in it as well so we're really tied to with the high schools are doing because our parents are our state students or their parents so we have to really pay attention to that That being said where we needed to be meeting so I I I think our people of at. I've done the best in a bad situation and I I I like our other schools here I see Bentley is here from from sal Thark and I I've seen some other schools I know you Chuck and Melissa are going to speak about the schools in their system but the two year schools are really tied to to making sure that the the kids are the students that have kids in high school have somewhere to be in and are being taken care well our industry for us to bounce back they need these people to get out here with these jobs and and work so that's pretty much my at my report if you've got any questions I'd be glad to answer them or I'll try to answer them. House the one here seat eighty five is Representative Ladyman. Committee decimated okay Representative letterman thank you Mr chair I'm over here on this is. Hi. Of you you mentioned that a lot of your testing is done by private clinics. and I was I think it was on a national call when they talked about this about some schools that are using private clinics were or maybe the individual student maybe through tracing they were asked to be tested and they went to a private clinic and they were having a problem in in getting all the results and and the words the student might go you might not know so it is that an issue J. I mean are you getting all the results back from for that that's a really good question we were worried about that but so far we we've been pretty fortunate again you seen our numbers they're not the largest numbers were small rural and we we keep we keep kind of isolated anyway so so far we've not had a problem with that we've been anticipating a problem and we built in that quarantine time appropriately but so far we've not had a problem with that. Knock on for my coat is one good one follow. I know you you all are you have multiple campuses in some of more remote some areas and I know we've as bad this was mentioned awhile ago where I went to school of so in remote areas like that are you having trouble getting testing done were you might not have a somebody down the street they can do it I mean it is testing readily available to all you campuses we've been really fortunate that yes it yes it's been it's been readily available there are multiple clinics that have been I guess maybe they've been over prepare maybe they were ready for this and ready for a rush that didn't hit. But we haven't had that that problem yet no Sir. Thank you Mr Thank you doctor Eggenberger we appreciate your being here more. Out of our two year colleges and and institutions around the state for the efforts that you've made and what you said about having our students prepared in there many of them family members with kids so that's a big deal and I'm pretty sure you sharing with us to the concern that you have in the efforts that you're you and your staff of made to take care of everyone thank you so much thank you. And Dr Welch I think you're next. If you would please introduce yourself and then I'll ask you my four five question you can take off sure Chuck Welsh present of the Arkansas state university system thank you for being here in the first question do you have a contract with a group to do your testing so of course everything I say today obviously there will be some variances having seven total campuses that were working with the Jones for a campus actually works directly with our on campus medical school to York institute of technology that does testing there the most of our rest of our campuses work either with their local health department or with natural state laboratories okay and and are again across the systems generally are you you all are satisfied in the turn around time and the response is that you get this spend you know what that turn around time is coming no I don't have that I'd like to say one point three like Houston did but to say that exact number for you but but we've been very pleased we've had very few instances of challenges with link the dark and I would suspect if it was a good read you have heard a yes I would have cases what sparked right and contact tracing who handles that so for our system for those seven campuses we are actually doing our own contact tracing through the New York institute of technology again the on campus medical school we have partnered with to do contact tracing for all of our campuses and I can give you one instance we had an employee who tested positive at eleven o'clock in the morning and he had a call by four o'clock that afternoon from N. Y. T. so we've had excellent results are very pleased with that rate and you may not have it now but could you try to get us some information on the as I asked I think the first question about when we have people who are in close contact with someone who's tested positive how many of those folks in doubt testing positive eventually it. Did that I texted her the response I got was a low number he said he would let us know and are positions that he would let us know he did say they strive for the low number because that means we're getting the the contact tracing done more. Rapid manner but he said he would get me and I'll get it to you the low means different things to a lot of people yeah absolutely yeah right right right but he said he would he would try to track down specific here which we have been relying primarily I think we started this and it's all good on information from other states and other countries hi and now we have Arkansas data right and we can drill down now to actually what's happening on campus and I think you know again I believe the science is important that we should follow the science but now we have Arkansas science right now we have Arkansas state science and I know you all are getting you get text every half hour like the others I don't get the our chancellors are on top of that and obviously they let me know anytime there's any use right we've been very fortunate okay and I know you have a couple of clinics on campus right and you have in why I. T. and we're thankful to have them right have there been any discussions about how trucks a Clerk one there have not I did I take to that as well he said there have certainly been no discussions in terms of discouraging use it's up to the individual physicians and their determinations okay and I I guess that discussion has not or maybe you can find out I don't reject answer now if there'd been discussions with our health department promoting it our our not promoting out are just not a topic that no discussion that a house apartment where she wants that I got okay I'm sorry your sponsor got was no discussions with the help of Arkansas where the other okay all right and I'll let you take off thank you all right well thank you Mr chair and and I want to start by saying a specific thank you for allowing me to follow my colleague and friend Martin against burger he rarely leaves anything on said so that will help me through this that I will try to be I will try not to be redundant with what my colleagues have already said because obviously there are a lot of similarities in terms of what we're doing on our campuses like some of the others mentioned our board of trustees did adopt a mask policy obviously that might seem a little redundant with the governor's executive order but then we also required that the mask you want inside the classroom because our fears that instructional setting is the place where the greatest danger in terms of on campus obviously we realize the social aspects are a problem but we wanted to do that we've been very pleased with compliance students have responded our faculty and staff of responded and thus far we've had very few issues on any of our campuses with regard to that particular policy I know the the chair had had given us a list of some possible questions and so I tried to craft my comments from that list in one of those was temperature checks and really again it sort of varies some of our campuses have self checks at the entrances like we do in my office building across the street some have mandatory temperature checks in the residence halls particularly if they are special cases where there might be some concerns or if the student is returning from perhaps an area where there might be some concern we do require those in the work out facilities obviously those are areas where we have concern about there being ramp it spread of Kobe and then we have the daily self checks that pop up any time anyone tries to get on to our system were asked them to respond to certain questions which includes temperature checks like some of the other comments of art been made we are spacing in the classroom settings we actually brought in architects to help us and some of our campuses ensure that we had the proper spacing and set up to maximize the number of people that could be in the classroom all at the same time ensuring that we had appropriate distance we've also used alternative classroom spaces you know basketball Jim nations that were not allowing to be used and things of that nature ROTC the old ROTC pavilions a lots of different spaces that we're using and then some of the. **** have plexiglass as was mentioned earlier that perhaps separates the faculty members or some of the seats so that we can ensure that distance all residence halls just more spacing the normal we do have pre set aside isolation rooms in case those are needed what we're finding is that of state that a number of students to isolate preferred to go home instead of staying there on the campus but then we do have some that can't go home or perhaps I don't have a place to go and so they choose to stay on the campus but we do have that set up I'm for those students we'd actually do food delivery three meals a day we had actually gotten a complaint from a former senator actions a complaint was a concern about his granddaughter and she had been delivered what he thought was a meal and it was several packages of ramen noodles some cans of soup some peanut butter and crackers things of that nature we shared his concern when we saw that immediately called our food service vendor and they said under no this individual just went into isolation we haven't even had a chance to deliver her first meal this is actually just a care package so that she'll have some snacks in the room so I think we all learned a lesson on that one we're very pleased that our food service was actually getting out in front of that and doing that for those students we have lots of grab and go options that have proven to be very popular with our students we don't have self serve by phase anymore obviously everything has to be served so very different type of environment but all in accordance with CDC and health guidelines one of the things I know that Mr chairman you asked about was athletics and little bit different on our campuses that have athletics obviously Henderson state member the great American conference and and and the reference this earlier add cancel the season or at least moved it to the spring semester but of course our campus in Jonesborough is participating in athletics played this Saturday night Our student athletes are required on the week of a competition to be tested both seventy two hours before the date of the competition and again twenty four hours before the date of the competition our student athletes that are not in season there is random testing this occurring among those groups we actually performed EKG out we didn't perform a we had EKG exams performed on all of our football players because of some of the concerns about heart conditions that how code that could affect that and actually had a student we found out something about that had a congenital heart disease that code would necessarily impact but that he needed to be aware of them we only found that because of the extra session so while it is a little bit more cumbersome and there's more work we also found some great benefit and identifying some challenges from an athletic standpoint that we didn't know that we previously had and then of course when we have our first home game of the season in a couple of weeks we will have limited seating capacity we will only be allowing twelve thousand that plan was submitted to eighty H. and was approved and then obviously there will be a whole host of different requirements in terms of ingress and egress from the stadium as that begins absent garnered your question all of our testing is PC are. And again we've been able to have very rapid response and feedback with that I asked our chancellors what they saw as the biggest challenges that are going on vertically with our students right now and it was interesting the responses were almost identical for every campus of one of all was the real challenge of lack of high speed internet and they said wild hot spots can be helpful if you don't have internet at all the hot spots don't do anything for you and there are still definitely some areas of the state where that is a challenge the second was just balancing life with all of these code particularly as it relates to childcare as it relates to the challenges that they're facing in changes in their workplace because as you know many of our students work particularly at our two year institutions but that's also the case in our universities and the last one and perhaps the most concerning this just mental health and loneliness one of matching service use the term because there are fewer extracurricular activities they are isolated nine and not when I use the word isolated I'm not talking about but isolation but they're not able to be as social with their friends as they would and it's causing some mental health challenges that were seen up added burden on our counselors on our campuses and so it's that fine line of trying to make sure we provide an ample number of social activities to keep the students engaged and to keep them vibrant but at the same time making sure that we keep them safe I can say that we've had a few hick ups but for the most part all of our campuses feel very good and I think probably would tell you feel like we've exceeded what our expectations were thus far obviously we know that can all change at any time we do have multiple contingency plans in place that that we don't have hard and fast triggers on when those would come in because obviously everything is situational but we feel like that we're as prepared as we can be as I said this far we feel like they. At the performance of the students and faculty has has been as good as we could hope for obviously the biggest challenge is what happens when they're not on the campus and when those social activities are occurring off campus can can be very difficult but that's obviously a societal issue as well and not just related to our campuses so with that Mr chair all stop and be happy to take any questions or if we want to wait till the end and it would if they might have the real pressing question sure but again I think what we're hearing is all the different variables center out there for you all to deal with and the purpose of today's testimony was not to grill or both but to share with us what's happening because we realize that every day is a new day and requires changes pretty quickly so we appreciate it and Mister I want to add something that you said that one of the the challenges for higher education in general and I mentioned this in some prior testimony that I did before another body of the legislature and that is contact tracing college students period it's a very different population obviously for many of us we get up we go to work we might stop at the grocery store we might you know go one other place and we go home it is far more challenging for those individuals there far more mobile they're not as likely to perhaps a through their cell phones I mean it is more of a challenge which is one of the very reasons that we made the determination to do our own contact tracing which were not doing we're not receive any extra funding to do that but we felt like it was important to ensure that we had as rapid response time as possible to try to deal with this because we knew that would be one of the greatest challenges thank you if the question I know you mentioned temperature checks yes if you could quickly check within yes or no answer I'd like to hear for the people are rejecting anyone because they had a temperature I have never asked anybody like I ask the gentleman out here today do they have people that can't come member have because they have a temperature and they said no and so course my neck. The question is how often you calibrate your thermometer never so if we are basing this on science and no one ever is rejected because they have a temperature and we never recalibrate the instrument as a pseudo scientist I'd say there's something wrong we need to quit taken temperatures are stark calibrating because no one is testing negative if you could just don't do it in depth survey just yes or no okay thank you thank you doctor Welsh operation thank you. And the next is Melissa Russian vice president of university relations with you have a. Melissa if you would introduce yourself for the record that I have just a couple questions thank you. Good morning and I'm Melissa Rustom vice president for university relations university of Arkansas system thank you and less of the campus and questions do you have one company doing your contact tracing. To me to start with testing as opposed to contact tracing I'm sorry testing do you have one company doing your testing is a no Sir we do not within the university of Arkansas system I represent solving we have nineteen individual campuses and so testing varies from campus to campus of for instance a number of our campuses in particular are two year colleges are using the local Arkansas department of health in their particular communities we do have one of our community colleges and hope Texarkana that has qualified nurses who are actually taking the swamps from students and or employees who who come in for a test and then those are either being processed by the Arkansas department of health and or natural state labs which you heard about earlier from some of the other presenters in addition to that we do have we do have some individuals who are going to private providers in order to have testing accomplished on some of our campuses we do have student health centers and most all of the all of the university campuses have student health centers and the swabs are able to be taken at those health centers and then sent either to the lab at the Arkansas department of health and or or natural state lapses so we do have a combination of ways in which testing is done I will tell you that when we did the proposal for higher education of for care sack funding that proposal contemplated that we would receive some of the point of care testing instruments the at abit testing instrument in particular and is you can imagine there are entities throughout the country that are trying to get abit testing instruments and other similar testing instrument instrument so that as well can be taken at a location immediately placed into the instrument and. Ever result within fifteen to twenty minutes so we have been competing throughout higher education and the country for these particular instruments I just received word this morning that the campuses that have a student health center on their campus and those labs are considered CLIA certified lamps or Clea wave to lamps it's C. L. I a and please don't ask me to remember what that stands for the moment but if you have a particular lab and it has the appropriate certification then your campus can host in abit to instrument and we found out on Friday that those instruments will be that we have been able to obtain those instruments for those particular campuses throughout the state not simply university of Arkansas system campuses but any campus that has a student health center with the appropriate lab will be receiving those instruments it's my understanding that the department of health it expects to provide to send invoices to the to the vendor middle of this week and that the campuses can expect to receive those instruments within a week they're after and then they also have to have the testing supplies in the testing kits and that the abit is indicating that that the testing supplies and kits that we should expect those to be received within a week after the instruments are actually shipped to the campuses so the best case scenario it would appear based on that information that if you are a campus that can maintain and host and have an instrument that though should be coming to our campuses within the next couple of weeks in those her intention obviously testing instruments but I am to follow up with something doctor will say just a moment ago. When you have a call it when you are when you are addressing issues of testing contact tracing with a population that is as mobile as college students are being able to have a very rapid turnaround response two testing is incredibly helpful and so hopefully very soon we will have those that will just be able to aid in the testing that is already taking place on the campuses throughout the state correct appreciate that I know you all are have been in the news and you know we want to be supportive of what you're doing and the efforts that you just described are very Representative I think of the FOR thought may actions and how quickly the university for spotting so I appreciate the information sent out of course you of A is the largest campus so did they have an individual contract specifically for the year campus and FOR they're in favor of the fate bill campus currently has a student health center and if you've ever been on the university of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville it is quite an impressive who's to testing well they are it at least I understand it today are taking the swaps at the student health center and then those are sent two natural state labs for processing and issue may be aware and and you probably follow the media coverage over the last week or so the department of health also came under Fayetteville campus indeed testing Tuesday through Thursday of this so the department of health also has been assisting with testing when I do again I'm just I heard that's a terrible thank you start a comment with but that happens so I heard that that the department of health is going to come in for a week and then turn it back over to the natural state group do you have any knowledge of that no Sir I do not okay so we expect some improvement I don't mean that and because of failure but just increase capacity is probably a better word in the coming weeks and because of instrumentation and other things are. Going okay in in please understand I this is my first day back from vacation on a week of being gone for weeks and. Thank. There may be some some information that I'm perhaps not that's fine so on the I thank you kind of I. answer the contact tracing do you have anything further to add about contact racing yes Sir I would like to speak about racing just I'm. For a few moments of an contact tracing for all you a system campuses is being done by the college of public health at UAMS you a miss is also doing contact tracing for a number of campuses throughout the state beyond to those at the university of Arkansas system in order to you know be an individual or an entity that can perform contact tracing you have to be trained by the department of health have a memorandum of agreement as well as execute a form relative to hippa considerations that I know Representative Lowery reference just a moment ago and so the college of public health is performing contact tracing for all of our campuses at the U. a system as well as campuses there are located throughout the state I'll leave it at that unless you have any questions about not knowing again I would encourage members if you have specific questions over specific campus please I don't know we'd necessarily have that information readily available today so the opportunity is today to share with us what your plans are and how things are going that's going to change frequently and you know I just again would encourage members to be respectful of that and I know that we don't have some of the detailed information folks might want that might be available but not necessarily today in this form yes so I think hydroxyl Corcoran so have does your campus have any are you using it plans on using it been discussions do now. No Sir reverses Solomon I have no information whatsoever down hydroxy Clerk yeah just check on that and Judas about I think all the members would be interested in that and with that I'll turn it over to you go ahead thank you very much and first allow me to start by thanking you for the opportunity to be here on behalf of the university of Arkansas system on behalf of doctor Bob in our president as well as the chancellor's of the campuses within the university of Arkansas I I would like to start off by talking about the priorities and I I I think have been set by our board we have a governing board to ten members that you may be aware of and at the very beginning of the pandemic our board decided that it wanted to meet at least every three weeks to make certain throughout the pandemic to make certain that there were issues that needed to be addressed by on behalf of our students or on behalf of our employees that are board was available and get engaged and they they have very much been the health and safety of our students our staff and our faculty members our utmost importance but what is also important is that we remove any barriers to stand in the way of our students being able to progress towards a degree and or credential and so with those goals in mind as I said our board is meant to frequently they've met six times since March since the beginning of the pandemic and they continue to mate and a number of the things and and I'm not gonna outline everything that the board has done but I would like to at least highlight if you are bored recognize that there might need to be some changes to our admissions policies temporary changes to assist students to provide some flexibility and to remove some obstacles that might be in the way of for students to be able to not only get admitted but be able to progress through their academic pursuits. Our board also recognize that we may need to make some changes to the temp to our calendar in order to make certain that that we have as much in person instruction as we possibly can but to also recognize that there may be times when we may need for instance to end of semester at a time other than what we might normally do best example of that is after thanksgiving the number of our campuses will will be. Completely online you know at that point in time in order to avoid our students having to travel you know so much after thanksgiving holidays and coming back to our campuses our board also passed a mask mandate is you may be aware in mid July mandated mask wearing our campus is not unlike what you have heard from a number of the campus is already today I do want to talk about some of the some of the decisions that have been made or actions that have been taken on our campuses some of which you have heard and I will try to go through those as quickly as possible so as not to be unduly duplicative we've clearly modify classroom space is as some have indicated we've held classes outside schedules have changed food services change residence hall capacity has been amended or adopted water fountains have been disabled there are number of actions similar to what you heard from some of my colleagues previously that have been taken in order to try to make the educational environment is safe and as productive as possible the course delivery modes which you have heard individuals talk about are ready today we are doing the same thing classes are being streamed in recorded so that students who are ill or who are in quarantine do not get behind if they feel physically able to participate academic advising tutoring disability support services those types of services are also being offered been in different formats we've created lab space on campus is doctor Welsh mentioned ago when a band with is insufficient and wifi hotspots or are not necessarily as plentiful as we might prefer our campuses of created lab space where their students can come on campus and continue their education so we have campuses that have created wraparound support services for students to various care to. Eames to make certain that they are following up and that students whose needs who have certain needs are met I think I would me just finish this in and then have be happy to answer any questions by saying that in looking at the number of students and or employees who have been infected we covered nineteen our numbers and all of our campuses across the system with the exception of our fable campus are fairly low we do receive a report on a weekly basis so that we can advise our board as to the numbers that we are receiving both in terms of the number of cases of individuals who are testing positive but also the number of individuals who are in quarantine so that we're aware of that and then our borders also equally aware of that information and I'd be happy to answer any questions if anybody has any as a result of. Comments thus far sure we got a couple questions the first one I'd like to get on record is that you try to find out how many students who were quarantine. because they were close contact with someone who tested positive I'd like to know how many of those eventually ended up to us to put testing positive yes Sir if you can get that far Slater I certainly try to do so thank thank you and Seat seventeen that represented garner right. Thank you so much and I really just want to say publicly thank you AS eleven I to UAMS I can't tell you how proud I am of what they've done all across the colleges to thank you for that and then as a community member honorary love not have university of Arkansas fable I I think you guys have just absolutely performed in an amazing way with the number of students and doctor Steinmetz and doctor robin said and and and changing some of the student contact contact and then doctor who that could not be better working with us weekly to working with the with the city's board of health weekly to make sure that the city is doing everything they can do as well so I know that mayor Jordan is trying to make sure the Texas street is is monitored and some of the off campus activities and you guys have just done a great job so thank you very much for for everything you've done with UAMS and and you your available thank you thank you Representative garner. Thank you and I don't have a seat fifty seven who's okay Senator go ahead Johnson center Johnson. Thank thank you Mr chair of first Melissa thanks for all you all been doing and I've Also wanted is represented guard to shout out I had a little scare in the spring and went to the ER it UAMS and they were. Over the top professional and out of this world and fortunately I was negative but you know he had that little moment there and they were they were truly there for me thank all of them again for everything you're doing this of my questions a little bit of a follow up on what doctor well it said in about the social problems of contacts that you not might not have a problem but young people are you know much much more social and course we saw the headlines about fables likely the students show up and then bang it's it's an explosion of positives and and I I had asked a similar question back a few months ago but what is the status of rush that fate will I probably should ask doctor Davis and Dr what same question but what is that status which is at least would to an outsider would appear potentially problematic what is the status of the. And first of all thank you for your comments about you a mass in particular It's it it is quite remarkable what they have accomplished since the beginning of this for two particular situations I do appreciate your comments as well as represented garner's Senator Johnson to be perfectly candid I don't have any specific information about the status of Russian I could share with you today I certainly can't go back to the campus and requested information and and respond to you but I I would be hesitant to say anything at this point without any specific information sure just provide that later I'm sure the service that lets students and doctor Welsh if you could share something just in writing about that also another institutions that have similar issues going on that that's really all I had Mr thank you very much Sir thank you thank you Representative Lowery. Thank you Mr chair. List of what is the to the current course delivery. For the students with the Arkansas school for math and science. For a as soon as a Representative Lowery there are. There are the majority of our students today SMS say returned in person we do have a number of students who are receiving instruction of virtually. it but the majority of the students are on campus and receiving what I understand to be what I would call face to face instruction or traditional instruction but we do have instruction that is to be done that is being done virtually as well for those students to elected not to return to SMS A. for the fall okay so they're in a residence that's a residential school there in a residential setting yes Sir what what has been done on because I know they have limited space as opposed to campuses that you know you see a head Carmichael hall that they were able to set aside what is AS miss say doing to be able to have the ability to segregate students who may test positive or come in contact with someone he's tested positive. It is my understanding it that they are doing that they are carrying out let's say the residential function of the campus in a manner similar to what the other higher ed institutions are doing there are there are some available spaces on campus in order to spread out you know some of those students in terms of living space it's my understanding as well as quarantine space that well as well but certainly not of the numbers that that for instance a campus like you see ang and Dr Davis described in or Fayetteville campus or some of the others now it beyond what I what I have indicated to you I would need to get with the campus to get you some more specific information about the residential setting and I'll be happy to do so okay appreciate that because we are I certainly have concern when you're talking about minor students minors that if there is any contracting of covert they're they're more likely than maybe a university student to go back to their community and there be potential community spread so if you could get us some information about what they're testing is been what they're positive rate is B. and and and how many students that they have had to to isolate for four if they actually had them go home I I will tell you anecdotally when they first re opened you know for the fall term I did receive word that there were two students that had exhibited some signs for instance of possible coated nineteen but that turned out to the students were negative so I I'm not aware of any specific cases at at a estimate saying currently but I would be happy to follow up and and get you that information okay Mister chairman just one last follow up on if I may. It it seems to be I to me of that I remember that there was an early announcement that a as SMS A. was not going to conduct a residential program for the fall at what point did that change. I don't recall announcement of that nature I'm not suggesting that you're wrong I just simply don't recall that I will tell you that as campuses have plan for re opening and all you know many things have had to be changed as we go along in this way you know my I. I I joke with a colleague of mine that mine my least favorite word these days this pair of it because we hear it so frequently now we're gonna pivot here pivot you know this direction or otherwise so it very well may be that early on there was some discussion you know about not having a residential program but they clearly do have residential program and the last time that I checked in and placed on hold me to this number but I believe it's relatively accurate I believe that what I had learned was there were approximately forty two minute forty forty forty five or so number of students who elected to stay at home and have their education done virtually as opposed to come in on campus and residing on campus but I can certainly confirm that as well okay thank you very much. Mister chairman may I may go back to senator Johnson's question a moment ago about rush I did receive some information that indicated that most activities for rush were all performed by soon. So very different way to conduct rush but none the less that that was the primary primary method of conducting brush this year at least in our fate bill campus and I suspect that's likely the case at other campuses with fraternities and sororities as well and I fear other university presidents by adding so that sounds like everything was done members out also go it you have securing and forgive me for interrupting you Mr chairman I just want to locate also I I him some help you know that people who are watching and then knowing that I might need some assistance today and there have been zero cases Representative Lowery at a a semi say they do have twenty one quarantine spaces available in the event that those were needed correct thank you thank you thank you Melissa Members I'd like to recognize and clamor at this time and it so much and wave out there to help put this together and it's just been so informative and one again thank all of our institutions were proud of what's going on here in Arkansas in the midst of all this the efforts that you're making the efforts that you your staff is making and the efforts that our students are making so we appreciate it thank you very much hope got a question and seat eighty nine I don't have a. Who's in the Senator go ahead. Thank you. And I have a question I mean really at some point for all the institutions if. Email form that and I've seen email circulating and from USA and other and and other universities across the nation but and the one I saw it talks about the offices student standards and contacts and if they receive reports of students off campus whether it be on Nixon street in the entertainment district or anywhere else off campus and congregating not wearing a mask not social distancing that'll be treated as a violation of student code of conduct and I guess I'm just curious and what other add violations are included in that like obviously there's a policy or a manual or something that says these things are violation of student code at the institution and I'm so I'm sort of yours what other things are included in that and what gives and. Power I guess to the institutions to be able to police kids off campus and also have other students doing the same thing and I don't mean that in negative way I just I think it's something that we talk about a lot and you know are we turning and sort of like citizen police were watching each other all the time titling on each other and we see it everywhere and and I'm also curious what the definition of a report is so if and the office of you know student at code student standards in context receives a report what does that mean does have to be verified it doesn't say anything about that in there and what do you guys look at to say yes this actually is a violation and the student will be punished and and what's that punishment sure I'm good question and I anticipated that there might be a question of this nature center Davis after the memo went out from our Provost her chief academic officer and chief student services officer at our faith bill campus on Friday and if you allow I'd like to read just a portion of that is is a small portion says until further notice if the office of student standards and conduct receives a report of large parties and simple and and similar social gatherings involving ten or more students without very clearly maintain safety elements social such as social distancing and mask wearing and the report is verified the university will treat the event is a violation of the code of student life by organizers and by attendees and and it indicates it'll be considered a serious matter and that students would be held accountable it also indicates that students must hold each other accountable and I I think that's a a recognition of the situation there you know we are all working through and living through a right now you know in Arkansas as well as across our country and that is in trying to make certain that we are following what our recommended guidelines for social distancing and FOR mask wearing and FOR hand washing and doing all the kinds of things that I think you know most people believe are responsible things that we should be doing and in order to try to lesson or fly in the curve if you will of increases and so when we receive when we see numbers like we have seen and our fable campus over the last week or so we recognize that it is possible that that mask wearing and social distance in in particular perhaps is not being taken as seriously as we need it to be taken by our students At the campuses it's not to simply not to say that it is the only campus for which there might be you know situations occurring but it in particular we felt the need to I think it the fate bill campus to communicate with our students that this is very very important not only for the campus to be able to remain open but to make certain and students are being as safe as I possibly can for themselves for others and for folks within that community and so as a consequence that communication was sent on Friday it's it is intended to I think to get people's attention that the expectation is that social distancing a mask wearing it will be it needs to be complied with at both from standpoint on campus I think you be fair to say from the reports that I have received in my understanding is that it is being it here to one followed on our campuses are on campus but that we have had some reports of that it has not been followed as closely as possible off campus I think we have a responsibility you know to let our students know what the expectations are in those expectations were outlined in doctor Robinson's letter on Friday to the entire you have a community now there is a code of student life for code of student conduct if you will it every campus that I've ever been associated with or am familiar with in it outlines expected conduct having nothing to do with covert nineteen but just in general and it list certain actions that a campus could take in the event a student for instance fell short shall we say of you know particular conduct or behavior I've certainly I don't have a list of all of those you know in front of me in every campus sign it's fairly consistent I would imagine from campus to campus although there may be some you know changes and some differences fight Any report no one's being asked to tattle on any one or anything of that nature but the but the letter does indicate that students you know it the way it's written assist students must hold each other accountable it indicates that you know if a complaint or wrote a report for instance is provided or is sent in that it's going to need to be verified now what that verification will be may be dependent upon the particular situation you know what an individual campus I'm. I I can yes jump in here just a second To thank senator we're going to have another meeting a month from now and I think that's a very good question for us to because we haven't had any incidents of that only the for lack of a better word the threat. so we'll maybe in a month will have some of those and I think it's a very relevant question Melissa I think also these guidelines have the force of law you are following what are. Secretary department of health has sent correct. Are you talking about with respect to manage your guidelines that sensually follow what the secretary of the department of health has said and his directives have the force of law you can they can be jailed up to one month or find one hundred to five hundred dollars because they're not only violating your code of conduct they're violating the directives set by our secretary of health it's one of the reasons that I've been fighting so hard to get the legislature involved because senator regardless of what we question here we have zero authority to carry out anything in response to that so whatever the university decides to do whatever the secretary of health the science to do is outside of the purview of the Arkansas legislature good question thank you very much will be following that up in a month resolve if I may Sir if I may add on July fifteenth or board of trustees voted to require facemask at all of our campuses and so first and foremost you know we are complying with the requirements of you know the board of trustees which is our governing board for all of our institutional there under the in there underneath our governor correct. There is there reportable to the higher read department of education. Well I governing board is appointed by the governor but today or an independent okay I apologize I've got this off topic and I didn't intend to do that I'll let you make a closing statement go ahead I'm I'm finished current members for coming up on noon I see Now the question Representative Lowery. Thanks thank you Mr chairman and I'll try to try to make this short really just put it out since since you've reference that we're going to have another meeting I would just ask Millicent in the other representatives from the universities to have an answer for this I'm I'm guess I'm just not been reading closely I appreciate Senator Davis is a question because I was not aware of this issue especially as it applies to student code and ramifications when I was when I was in the undergrad at the university of Arkansas served on the all university judiciary I would hope that students would still have their due process rights. Of debt administration would not be making would not be the final determiner or arbiter of whether they violated student conduct that those entities that are already in place and I don't care what the government mandates are those students have rights on a campus and I and I would hope it that you can give us feedback it it it doesn't have to be by email we can hold this till the next meeting but I would hope that those structures that are in place to protect students to give them due process rights of which still still be in place so I you don't have to respond to that I would just ask that we would get some kind of report back from the campuses of of. You know what we've done have we suspended those kinds of rights just because you know Whatever you want to call it hysteria or what we're gonna we're gonna we're open up a whole different track to tact here and we're gonna come back right now we're just talking about what we might potentially have the intent was to share let our university share all the wonderful things that are doing and the efforts they're making and I think you have you have a a made some tremendous efforts and very difficult circumstances to address the needs of our community and the rest of our institutional leaders have to we appreciate it thank you all very much and we are joined. What.