Interim Pierce College President Ara Aguiar has announced that all full time and adjunct faculty at the Los Angeles Community College District must be COVID-19 tested by October 8 at any of the approved testing locations.
LACCD has partnered with the company Biocept to provide on-campus testing for employees and students on a rotating basis at the nine colleges and District facilities.
During her president’s report, Aguiar said that Biocept is requiring all employees to take a ‘baseline’ test.
“It’s a protocol that this company has because this is now a condition of employment,” Aguiar said. “All employees, whether on campus or off campus, need a baseline, regardless of vaccination status.”
Both Los Angeles Trade-Tech College and East Los Angeles College will have testing available on Sept. 16 for LACCD employees from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Faculty will need to create an account with Biocept (also called Clear4) prior to scheduling the first COVID-19 test.
Beginning next week, regular testing will be available twice a week at Pierce from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Mondays and 10 a.m to 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays. Testing will also be available at the other LACCD campuses.
Aside from the COVID-19 updates, the board also discussed the termination of the program Proctorio by the end of December.
Proctorio allowed professors to conduct exams while ensuring that no students were cheating. Media Arts professor Jill Connely shared her concerns about losing the Proctorio application by December.
“We’re doing a lot of Hyflex classes in our department, and it seems like if some students are in person and the teachers are watching them [while they’re testing] and then the ones online aren’t being watched just doesn’t seem right,” Connely said. “There’s some issues to still think about in that area, and I was hoping we could look into some alternatives.”
Clay Gediman from the Distance Education and Instructional Technologies Committee said that there is a proctoring consortium that’s being offered as an alternative to Proctorio.
“There are compliance issues with [Proctorio], and that’s why the District is not interested in supporting it,” Gediman said. “Students can go to any community college campus that’s part of the consortium, and they’re going to be proctored there. It’s not a great alternative, and we understand that, but it’s what’s being offered right now.”
The Senate also discussed the new OWL devices being used for some of the hyflex classes and fake bots filling up registrations.
The next Senate meeting is scheduled for September 27 at 2:15 p.m. on Zoom.