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Iowa Central to help staff balance their schedules

-Messenger photo by Elijah Decious
Members of the Iowa Central Triton football team practice at the field on the main campus of Iowa Central Tuesday. The college’s fall semester begins soon.

Faculty and staff at Iowa Central Community College will be offered some schedule flexibility to help balance work and family or personal responsibilities this fall.

Because of circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic, some staff may need flexibility to handle child care and other appointments and responsibilities during the workday.

“One of the steps that we as an administration believe is very important is how we work with our employees through these times where we have no control,” said ICCC President Dan Kinney during Tuesday night’s board meeting.

The flex time schedules will have to be approved by department supervisors, but will prioritize “core hours,” or times in the workday that are most critical for department employees to be at work, like during class periods. The flexible hours will be other parts of the day, when employees can change their scheduled attendance on campus. Employees will still be expected to work the same number of hours they are contracted to each week, but they won’t necessarily need to work 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day.

“We just have to continue to be flexible,” Kinney said.

With the fall semester to start in less than a week, students have begun moving into on-campus housing at Iowa Central. Kinney said about 600 to 700 students have already moved in.

Students this fall will receive a welcome kit that includes an Iowa Central face mask, information on health care resources, an oral thermometer, hand sanitizer and more.

Kinney said masks, face shields or face coverings will be required for students and staff in classrooms and inside buildings on campus. The masks and shields won’t be required outdoors.

Each staff and faculty member will receive two masks and a face shield, many of which were made on campus in the industrial technology department.

“We’re excited to get school back up and going,” Kinney said. “I want to see students back on campus.”

Kinney said the college is discussing the possibility of becoming a Test Iowa site for students and staff to receive COVID-19 testing.

“We’re looking into that to see if we are eligible to do that,” he said.

For students living in on-campus housing, Kinney said the college has living spaces for students who test positive for COVID-19 to stay in while in isolation.

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