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Category: Community

We Salute Our Essential Workers

Posted on by San Mateo County Community College District

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, certain categories of professionals have been designated “essential workers” for their role in maintaining the health and safety of the community. While most of our classified staff, faculty, and administrators work from home, these employees still come to work to keep campuses, buildings and technology running smoothly to support the District’s educational mission. With three college campuses and the District Office to support, and with the complexities of intensive sanitization and safety procedures, these teams are more essential than ever.

Facilities
The District Facilities team continues to work full time during the pandemic. Every classroom, lab, hallway, staircase, door handle and elevator associated with a face-to-face class must be sanitized every day in order to keep people safe. Approximately 85 groundskeepers, engineers and custodians are onsite every day.  Three facilities managers and three custodial supervisors, and a project coordinator oversee these operations. 

Prior to the pandemic, the Facilities custodians had already been certified hospital-grade cleaning and disinfecting techniques by the Cleaning Management Institute. They have kept up to speed on Coronavirus sanitization techniques by participating in workshops through the Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC). Teams also now use a specialized Clorox 360 electrostatic disinfecting machine.

The team also continues to maintain District physical assets, monitoring central boiler and chiller plants, monitoring critical life safety and building systems, and performing regular grounds keeping. 

Information Technology Services  
With most employees working remotely, and nearly all classes being taught online, technology is more important than ever. A team of 30 information technology professionals is on campus every day to support the District’s networks infrastructure, learning management systems, databases, business and records systems, communications systems, websites, and equipment. The team provides remote technical support for employees working from home, loans laptops and other equipment to employees and students, and has built the infrastructure to offer free Wi-Fi for students in the college parking lots.

Public Safety
The pandemic and its restrictions make safety, security, and controlling campus access of paramount importance. Access to the campuses and their buildings must be protected in order to offer food and technology distributions, face-to-face classes, and other high-priority campus operations. A team of 37 Public Safety employees makes this possible, working round-the-clock onsite at the three campuses.

Public Safety added six temporary employees to assist with staffing the campus access points, where people are screened for entry to the campuses. These employees work outside in summer heat, winter cold, rain and smoke, and have become experts at safely contacting and communicating with hundreds of people at our access points.

A grateful community member brought flowers to Officer Zorie Gomez, in appreciation of Officer Gomez’ cheerful and helpful disposition every week at the entrance of the District Emergency Food Distribution event.
A grateful community member brought flowers to Officer Zorie Gomez, in appreciation of Officer Gomez’ cheerful and helpful disposition every week at the entrance of the District Emergency Food Distribution event.

Public Safety has assigned several employees to assist with the facilitation of every food distribution event at Skyline and CSM since they began. Officers also assist with other campus operations like technology distributions and flu shot clinics.  

The Public Safety emergency manager and emergency management coordinator have taken a lead role in the startup and ongoing work of the District’s Emergency Operations Center.

SMCCCD International Education Program Honored with Prestigious National Award from U.S. Department of Commerce

Posted on by San Mateo County Community College District

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that the San Mateo County Community College District’s International Education program – San Mateo Colleges of Silicon Valley – has been awarded the U.S. government’s highest honor for export success.  Secretary Ross conferred on the program The President’s “E” Award, which was first established by President Kennedy in 1961, for contributions to American export growth.  The SMCCCD program is the only educational institution among the 28 companies and businesses nationwide honored with this year’s prestigious award.

“It is an honor to receive The President’s “E” Award and be recognized for the tremendous work our team has done to grow and support our international educational program,” said SMCCCD Chancellor Michael Claire.  “We believe that engaging international students to come and study at our colleges enriches the culture, education and diversity of our campuses and our community. This award is further validation of that belief.”

From 2015 to 2019, the SMCCCD’s International Education Program served more than 6,500 students from 135 countries.  In recent months, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the international program has pivoted its offerings to increase access for international students from the convenience of their home country.  Through enhanced online classes, programs and support services, international students are able to enroll at the colleges of the SMCCCD – Cañada College, College of San Mateo and Skyline College – through the District’s Global Online Learning (GOL) initiative. 

“We are thrilled that our Global Online Learning program has been recognized for its reach from Silicon Valley to parts across the globe, while emphasizing local connections and support for students,” said Dr. Jing Luan, Provost for International Education and leader of the District’s San Mateo Colleges of Silicon Valley.  “As we diversify our delivery methods and bring our classrooms to students’ homes across the world, we expect greater opportunities for learning and success for all students.”

For more information on the international education program, visit smccd.edu/international.

San Mateo County Launches Partnership to Support Equity in Middle School Math Education

Posted on by San Mateo County Community College District

The San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE) and the San Mateo County Community College District (SMCCCD) announced today the development of a new series of courses designed to promote greater equity in mathematics education. The courses, offered in partnership with Education Trust-West, will provide educators with an integrated approach to mathematics that centers on Black, Latinx, and multilingual students in grades 6-8, addresses barriers to math equity, and aligns instruction to grade-level priority standards.

Equity gaps for historically disadvantaged student groups are well documented. In the 2019 California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) administration, 17 percent of Black/African American and 24.2 percent of Hispanic/Latino 8th graders met the Math standard, compared to 73.9 percent of Asian students and 51.6 percent of White students. On the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a national test of student performance, California’s students are 4 percent points below the national average, with Black, Hispanic, Low Income, Students with Disabilities, and English Learners performing in the lowest performance band (NAEP basic).

Responding to this glaring need to improve math outcomes for all students, SMCOE, SMCCCD, and Education Trust-West gathered instructional designers, math experts, teachers, and teacher-trainers to design and deliver the online series of classes. The program is based on Education Trust-West’s toolkit, A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction Dismantling Racism in Mathematics Instruction, which addresses gaps in student outcomes with activities for uncovering bias and strategies for infusing antiracist pedagogy.

The training will address methods for deepening content understanding and relevance; creating environments and practices that support students’ social, emotional, and academic development; and strengthening the interconnectedness of English language learning and the development of mathematical thinking.

“We are thrilled to partner with the Community College District and Education Trust-West on this critical initiative,” explained San Mateo County Superintendent of Schools Nancy Magee. “It is only by working together, especially across systems, that we can accelerate success for all students.”

The series launches today on October 27, 2020, and includes a set of short courses held once a week over five weeks. In this first offering, SMCOE and SMCCCD, through its Community, Continuing & Corporate Education (CCCE) division, anticipate training up to 200 middle school teachers. The California Partnership for Math and Science Education will organize special groups to provide follow-up support and give teachers the opportunity to speak with each other about their work implementing the toolkit.

With this training series, SMCOE and SMCCCD build on their experience designing and delivering training for teachers on distance learning throughout the summer and early fall. That training, which is still in demand, has equipped 20 percent of San Mateo County educators with the skills not only to teach online, but also design lessons, conduct assessments, keep students engaged, and communicate effectively.

For more information on this partnership, please visit the Micro-Course website.

FREE Drive-Up Flu Shot Clinics for Students and Employees

Posted on by San Mateo County Community College District

In collaboration with SMCCCD District Nurses, San Mateo County Health is offering free flu shots for SMCCCD students, faculty, and staff. If you work or take classes at Cañada College, College of San Mateo, or Skyline College, you can get a free flu shot on Nov. 18, Dec. 2, and Dec. 9. See covid-19.smccd.edu/flushots for details.