Business Community Liaison Jacob Groves gets his temperature checked by Security Officer Freddy McFarland upon arrival for work.

Adjust to ‘New Normal’ as center prepares to welcome back students

On June 11th Muhlenberg Job Corps Center leadership staff returned to center for the first time since mid-March.

All staff are now working at some capacity on center. Senior staff and management were the first to come back to center, guiding staff that were working at home.  Now all staff are working a split schedule (half the time at home, half the time on center) to minimize the number of people in each department so that social distancing can be effectively enforced.

As staff returned they quickly noticed important protocol changes put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Upon arrival on center, all employees have their temperature taken using a no-touch forehead infrared thermometer to ensure no one comes to work with a fever.

As the number of staff on center and opportunities for contact are increasing, face masks are becoming the norm in common areas and when social distancing isn’t possible. Staff are heeding the guidelines issued by the Center for Disease Control to ensure safety in all areas.

Hand sanitizers and cleaning/disinfecting supplies are abundant throughout the center to encourage staff to wash their hands regularly.

Although the center has not yet received a definitive timetable from the Department of Labor about when students will return to center, staff are taking steps to ensure the center and its staff are ready to welcome students back, including creating proposed student return plans and schedules. It is anticipated that the center will institute a three-phase return of students, with groups of 5-10 percent of enrolled students returning at a time with three weeks between groups of students. Arriving students will be quarantined for two weeks, and will be housed one student per dorm room initially. Each group will be housed in different dorm areas to minimize contact between the groups. Students’ health will be monitored daily.

Students will access remote learning from their dorm rooms. Limited hands-on career technical training will begin in Phase 2 and will be expanded in Phase 3.

Health & Wellness Manager Jason Young is leading a new task force to ensure compliance with the Department of Labor’s standards to help students stay safe as they return to center. Members of this task force are going through numerous possible scenarios to ensure safety, maintain social distancing and minimize contact when students return. Possible ideas include offering hybrid courses that include in-person classes that maintain social distancing and online portions of the class, changing class schedules so that fewer people are in each class or adding lunch periods to facilitate social distancing.

“Safety is the number one priority for our staff and students,” said Center Director Gavin Gorham. “We want all to feel safe and secure as well as ensure the most minimal risk for transmission of the coronavirus.”