CONTRIBUTED PHOTO IVCCD Board members met over Zoom on April 22 to address COVID-19 responses and other business.

The Iowa Valley Community College District Board addressed the district’s continued action regarding COVID-19 during their regular meeting on April 22.

Kathy Pink, Vice Chancellor of District Finance, brought to the board’s attention the CARES, or Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, Act signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 27.

“What it does for us, it gives us additional funding to use to help students and to help out the institution due to COVID-19 related additional expenses,” Pink said.

For both Ellsworth and Marshalltown colleges, half will go to students in the form of grants and the other half to the institution.

Marshalltown was awarded $636,628, and Ellsworth was given $715,943.

Chancellor Kristie Fisher spoke on the IVCCD’s continued attention to COVID-19 concerns.

“We’re going to be responsible. We have to understand we have individual health that we’re worried about. We’re helping contribute to the public health in our community and understanding that this has a financial impact on us,” she said.

The COVID-19 Response Team meets twice a week to problem-solve regarding issues created by the pandemic.

Along with this, all staff meet twice a week to stay updated on the situation and address concerns.

Student athletes will have to wait a little longer to hear updates on fall sports, including summer practices. Fisher said they are waiting on a national decision and they hope to know more in the coming weeks.

Of particular interest to students, Fisher mentioned they are working on dispersing refunds for housing and food service.

While most students have gone home, there are currently 19 students in housing at MCC and 11 at Ellsworth.

Jacque Goodman, Vice Chancellor of Education and Training, shared that they will partner with Raymon Donco for mask distribution. While they have been distributed at the Marshalltown Police and Fire building, it will move to the college due to traffic issues around the station.

This will begin on April 28 and will last from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. They plan to distribute around 1,000 masks daily.

The college will also take over the handing out of masks from Smokin’ G’s.

“We hope to have multiple lines to avoid the mile long backup that Smokin’ G’s has had to deal with,” Goodman said.

Fisher mentioned that students are allowed on campus with strict guidelines. Appointments must be made to enter the buildings and masks are required. Groups are limited to five. A staff member escorts students in and out and there is a cleaning procedure for the rooms. Students are coming for meetings and to use the computer lab and personal training. Fisher mentioned that without these services, some students would not be able to continue their college education.

“Those are some of the things that we are bringing people in extremely small [groups] and very rigorous protocol to allow them onto campus,” she said.

In other business:

• Chancellor Fisher spoke on projects funded by general obligation bonds, including improvements to parking lots and bathrooms at MCC.

• Iowa Jobs Training Agreements were approved with ASI Signs/Latimer Associate, Inc., Barnhart Electric and Montezuma Manufacturing.

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Contact Anna Shearer at ashearer@timesrepublican.com