While the date of return to campus remains unknown, students, faculty and staff can expect temperature checks, new computers and online food ordering services for campus locations when returning to El Camino College.
The College Council met via video conference on Monday to discuss a variety of topics and changes that will affect the school. Among the topics discussed was how the college is preparing to handle an influx of students once campus reopens.
The COVID-19 Task Force Committee has recently been on the hunt for an integrated service provider that can provide internal COVID-19 testing, contact tracing and temperature checks for ECC.
Both students and faculty will need to get their temperature recorded in order to be on campus. A high temperature may require a self quarantine of 10 days.
These checks would be done by the same vendor in charge of campus contact tracing, although ECC is still currently looking through vendor proposals, Michael Pascual, Purchasing and Risk Management director at ECC said.
For non-COVID-19 related high temperatures, students and faculty will still need to provide a doctor’s note stating so in order to be on campus.
“That’s just an extra, seemingly to me and to [those who need a doctor’s note], unnecessary step, and it can also impede our manpower or person power,” Iris Ingram, ECC Vice President, said during the meeting.
The school will also be using Medicat to help combat the spread of any COVID-19 cases on campus by requiring students to fill out an online health survey every day before stepping onto campus.
The COVID-19 Task Force is also utilizing the company Forensic Analytical Consulting Services to work with individual divisions for their perspective on how best to reopen campus.
Forensic Analytical Consulting Services will be looking into proper social distancing, signage, physical barriers and layouts in classrooms in order to help the school with reopening, Maloney said.
“This company is helping do the deeper analysis of our teaching and learning spaces so that when we’re ready to reopen, we are truly ready to reopen,” Maloney said during the meeting.
Students can also look forward to the College Council’s plan on replacing the fleet of desktop computers and laptops at ECC. Currently, 74% of desktop inventory and 81% of laptop inventory are outdated, according to Loic Audusseau, ECC chief Technology Officer.
The proposed plan by Audusseau to replace the technology can save the college up to $2 million over the span of five years, he said.
“We can actually either use that savings to purchase more computers or we can use that price difference to purchase computers with better configurations, so it’s a win-win,” Audusseau said during the meeting.
Additionally, the College Council is also working with Pacific Dining Food Services Management, the food vendor for ECC, to bring a system to allow online ordering and pick up to its locations.
The system will first be utilized by Café Camino starting in July but can be expected to be used by the rest of the food service locations once students return.
