Previous COVID-19 Updates
This page contains previous COVID-19 updates.
Face Covering Protocol (1/6/2022-3/8/2022) A face covering is required to be worn over the nose, mouth and chin indoors in all indoor public and shared/communal spaces, and outdoors when in a dense crowd, regardless of vaccination status. Face coverings are also required to be worn in vehicles with more than one occupant during MCCS-related travel. Exceptions to the face covering requirement are: Employees when alone in an office or other personal workspace, with the door closed; Residential students when in their own bedroom in campus housing when only the assigned occupants of that bedroom are present; When eating or drinking in a space where eating and drinking is permitted and only for the duration necessary to consume the food and/or beverage. The colleges may impose additional rules governing eating and drinking in order to meet operational and health and safety needs; and Children under 5 in a daycare setting and all other children under 2 years of age.
Under updated COVID safety protocols announced Tuesday, Maine’s community colleges are requiring COVID-19 booster shots for all students participating in on-campus programs. The Maine Community College System (MCCS) already requires COVID-19 vaccinations for all students attending classes in person or participating in athletic functions. Students who are fully remote and are never inside a campus facility do not require proof of vaccination. The updated protocol, announced December 21, requires all Maine community college students to provide proof of a booster shot no later than one month after becoming eligible for a booster. Under CDC guidelines, a person is eligible to get a booster shot six months after the last shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or two months after the J&J vaccination. “We remain committed to doing everything possible to protect the health of our community and minimize the disruption caused by COVID-19,” said MCCS President David Daigler. MCCS Vaccine Protocol Frequently Asked Q&A CLICK HERE TO UPLOAD YOUR UPDATED COVID-19 VACCINE CARD WITH BOOSTER DETAILS
The spring semester will now begin on January 18, 2022. Please view a message from President Mingo here
Due to a surge in COVID-19 cases and the latest information about the Delta variant, the Board of Trustees of the Maine Community College System (MCCS) have voted to implement a vaccine protocol requiring all students attending classes in person at all Maine Community Colleges to be vaccinated against COVID-19. All WCCC students must provide proof they received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine prior to attending their first in-person class. Students who require a second dose of a vaccine must provide proof of the second dose no later than 30 days from the date of their first in-person class. Spring 2022 classes begin January 10, 2022. Students who are fully remote and will not be entering campus buildings for any purpose will not need to submit their vaccination documentation. MCCS Vaccine Protocol Frequently Asked Q&A Medical Exemption Request Form Students can email proof of vaccination to elapointe@wccc.me.edu OR submit documentation below (must login with WCCC student email to upload online). CLICK HERE TO UPLOAD YOUR COMPLETED COVID-19 VACCINE CARD
*New and returning students enrolled in a program of study who submit their COVID-19 vaccination cards to the college will be entered into a drawing for this scholarship. The scholarship will cover up to 18 credit hours of tuition and fees for the Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 semesters. Scholarship does not include books, room and board, or other expenses outside of tuition and fees. CLICK HERE TO UPLOAD YOUR COMPLETED COVID-19 VACCINE CARD
Face Covering Protocol – May 24-July 28, 2021 Governor Janet Mills announced that the State of Maine will adopt the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (U.S. CDC) new guidance which allows fully vaccinated Americans not to wear face coverings indoors, effective May 24, 2021. Until further notice, members of the public will continue to be required to wear a face covering indoors as there is no practicable means to differentiate between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated on a daily basis. Students and employees must submit their vaccination card for review and receive email approval if they would like to be exempt from wearing a face covering on campus. For additional information about submitting your completed vaccination card, please read the email sent to the campus community on 5/21/2021 from the Office of the President.
CRRSA ACT Student Fund Report: September 30, 2021– Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Quarterly Report September 2021 CRRSA ACT Quarterly Budget and Expenditures Report: September 30, 2021 – 00923100_HEERF_Q093021_100621 CRRSA ACT Quarterly Budget and Expenditures Report: June 30, 2021 – Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Quarterly Report June 2021 CRRSA ACT Initial Report: June 30, 2021 – Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Report (CRRSA) – June 30, 2021 CRRSA ACT Quarterly Budget and Expenditures Report: March 31, 2021 –Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund CRRSA Quarterly Report March 2021 CARES ACT Quarterly Budget and Expenditures Report: March 31, 2021 –Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund CARES Quarterly Report March 2021 CARES ACT Student Fund Report: May 12, 2021– Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Report (CARES)- May 12, 2021 CARES ACT Student Fund Report: March 26, 2021– Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Report (CARES)- March 26, 2021 CARES ACT Student Fund Report: February 21, 2021– Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Report (CARES)- February 21, 2021 CARES ACT Student Fund Report: January 07, 2021– Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Report (CARES)- January 07, 2021 CARES ACT Quarterly Budget and Expenditures Report: December 31, 2020 –Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Quarterly Report December 2020 Corrected CARES ACT Student Fund Report: November 20, 2020– Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Report (CARES)- November 20, 2020 CARES ACT Quarterly Budget and Expenditures Report: October 30, 2020– Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Quarterly Report CARES ACT Student Fund Report: October 9, 2020 – Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Report (CARES)- October 9, 2020 CARES ACT Student Fund Report: Aug, 25, 2020 – Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Report (CARES)- Aug, 25, 2020 CARES ACT Student Fund Report: July 11, 2020 – Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Report (CARES)- July 11, 2020. CARES ACT Student Fund Report: May 27, 2020 – Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Report (CARES)- May 27, 2020.
POTENTIAL FOR GRADE CHANGE DUE TO COVID-19 Summer is right around the corner. Final grades were posted on Wednesday, May 20, 2020. Please remember that you have additional options regarding your grades for the spring of 2020. For example, if you earned an F in a course, you have the option of requesting a No Pass (NP), which will not impact your grade point average. If you earned a D, you have the option of requesting a Low Pass (LP), which will not impact your grade point average. You can review your full options, below. Please note that you have until August 7, 2020 to request a grade change for the spring of 2020, only. Please complete a Grade Change Request Form in the MyWCCC portal by going to https://portal.wccc.me.edu/ICS and then, click on ACADEMICS tab and then, Student Forms. You will see Grade Change Request: COVID-19 Related. Please read, understand, and complete the form. Please note that you have until August 7, 2020 to request a grade change for the spring of 2020, only. If you have questions, please contact us at (207) 454-1000 or enrollment@wccc.me.edu. QUESTION & ANSWER REGARDING GRADE CHANGES: I was not as successful as I wanted to be in a class. It is impacting my Grade Point Average (GPA). We recognize that students may face unexpected personal and academic challenges this semester. For that reason, students in most courses will be allowed the option of converting a letter grade to a Pass/Fail option once grades have been assigned at the end of the semester. Students who choose the Pass/Fail option will have one of three grades recorded on their transcript: Students may want to consider choosing the Pass/Fail option for 2020 spring semester courses for the following reasons: Students may want or need to record their regular grade, rather than opt for Pass/Fail, for the following reasons: Once a student has chosen a pass/fail option, the grade cannot be converted back to a letter grade. If you need assistance in understanding this procedure or have questions, please contact us at enrollment@wccc.me.edu or (207) 454-1000.
WCCC is committed to working with you to help you get through the current coronavirus crisis which we are all faced with navigating. Unfortunately, the current state of the pandemic does not allow us to come back together in a face-to-face community after our vacation on April 6th; however, we can still connect with one another through technology. The days, weeks and months ahead will be filled with uncertainty as we transition into this world of remote learning. I strongly encourage you to do so and to stay connected with your faculty, fellow students, and the WCCC staff. Your health, wellbeing and safety is our top priority and the following decision has not been an easy one to make. As of today, it looks more and more like the remainder of our semester will be in this new remote learning environment. WCCC is prepared and I want to reassure you that we have a robust online learning system to support your learning. I know you will have many questions so I’m attaching (Guidance for students) some well thought out questions you might be contemplating. This document is meant to try to ensure that students are fully supported and that we maintain academic continuity so you can complete your program this year and on time. I hope you will find the attached document helpful. Please reach out to your faculty, or support personnel at the College if you have additional questions and/or need clarification. You will see that several individuals and their contact information are listed throughout the document to guide you so you know the best resource to get immediate answers to your most pressing questions. On campus, we are maintaining a skeleton crew of essential personnel only each day. In an effort to remain safe and to practice the health professionals advice, we are practicing social distancing and the doors are locked as we monitor and limit those who can enter the building. As of today, approximately 85-90% of faculty and staff are now working from home and are ready to be of service to answer your questions and to help guide you through this transition! I know this won’t be easy for many, but our faculty have been working hard to ensure your academic success. They have come up with many creative ways of delivering your program objectives, and I applaud them for their hard work and dedication to each of our student’s success. I’ve been extremely impressed with some of the options they’ve put in place so you can continue your work as seamlessly as possible. I strongly encourage you to give this new learning modality a try! It’s built to be engaging, create, and fun; but more importantly with the academic integrity necessary to ensure you receive the best education possible given the difficult situation we are all faced with managing right now. You will see from the attached document, that we’ve tried to significantly reduced the risk with moving into this new remote learning environment. Some of the strategies we’ve adopted are an option for students to request a pass/non-pass option at the end of the semester so you can still graduate on time and the semester will not count toward your GPA. We are bringing to bear many financial resources to help you with emergency funding, up to and including financial help with technology if you have a need. We will ensure we have online tutoring options available, counseling and advising services as well as instruction. I can assure you, the WCCC Team of faculty and staff are available and awaiting your questions so we can support you through these uncertain times. I would remind you that together we are stronger, and we will get through this if we come from a place of strength and compassion toward each other! The halls are not the same without our students, faculty and staff!! We miss you and look forward to connecting with you on Monday, April 6th in our new remove deliver options! Enjoy your loved ones and most importantly, Be Safe! Thanks,
Susan L. Mingo
President
Dear WCCC Community, I am deeply grateful for everyone in our college community for the support you have shown in the midst of the rapidly evolving COVID-19 outbreak. The current situation demands that we take immediate, difficult action to protect the health and safety of our communities. We do so with tremendous regret and understand that these actions will be disruptive and difficult. Everyone on campus is working to make these transitions as manageable as possible. And we will need the continued cooperation, understanding and kindness of everyone in our college community to move through these challenging days. We do not have perfect answers for any of the hard decisions in front of us, but we are all committed to doing our very best to ensure the health and safety of our college and our communities and to continue the teaching and learning underway this semester Thanks,
Susan L. Mingo
President
Dear WCCC Community, As you are probably aware, the University of Maine System, Bowdoin College, and a number of other colleges and universities have announced that they will move all instruction on-line and close residence halls after their spring breaks in response to the potential spread of COVID-19. Many of you are wondering if WCCC will do the same. This morning, after careful review and discussion, we have decided to extend our student break by one week in order to prepare to transition as many courses as possible to new modalities should the need arise. For WCCC this means that, for students, our break will extend from March 23, 2020 through April 3, 2020. Employees will be on the regularly scheduled break from March 30th-April 3, 2020 and at work during the week of March 23rd – 27th. Our response team is working in close collaboration with COVID-19 planning teams across the Maine Community College System. The highest priority of each of these teams is the health and safety of our college communities. The work that is underway is concerned with all aspects of college operations. Having a non-instructional week will enable faculty and staff to focus on the most important of those areas so that we can be as ready as possible to continue educational delivery throughout the current semester. As of today, no college has closed its residential facilities. Those decisions will be made in close consultation with public health experts and will be made before the conclusion of breaks. If we are forced to close residence halls, we are committed to providing students who have legitimate reasons for remaining on campus a place to stay through the end of the semester, and those decisions will be on a case-by-case basis. Maine, as of today, does have one presumptive positive test for coronavirus in the state in Androscoggin County. The decision to extend the break in order to prepare is based on the fact that the vast majority of our student body is from Maine and commutes to campus from the local area. We are continually monitoring the virus spread within our area and consulting with public health officials. Based upon the factors as they currently exist, we believe the prudent course of action is to continue our normal operations as much as possible. These are challenging days for everyone. I want to assure you that we are determined to do everything we can to keep our communities safe and healthy. The situation is provoking anxiety and disruption in even daily tasks for many of us, and we are all understandably left with a sense of unease and uncertainty. Our dedicated students, faculty and staff work hard year round to create a robust, warm environment where we can all do our best work. During this difficult time, we fully intend to continue supporting our community and ensure we provide the resources they need to get through this difficult time. As I communicated with you yesterday, regular updates are being posted to the WCCC website www.wccc.me.edu, the portal https://portal.wccc.me.edu/ICS, and to the MCCS COVID-19 information page. Also, please know that the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC) and 211 Maine have announced a new option for Mainers to get answers to questions about COVID-19 at any time. This service is available by dialing 211 (or 1-866-811-5695), texting your ZIP code to 898-211, or emailing info@211maine.org . Susan L. Mingo
President