Students who are placed on probation for missing a COVID-19 test are those who are not responding or complying to the school’s COVID-19 protocols.
That is according to Director of Community Standards Matthew Salter.
“The students who are referred to the community standards systems are the students not responding to outreach who are missing [testing] week after week after week or are just blatant ‘I’m not going to testing,’’’ Salter said.
Salter added the office of community standards tries to work with students to get tested without having to go through the conduct office. Salter said students could miss testing for numerous reasons. “Accidents happen,” Salter said.
Although repercussions for missing a week of testing can go as far as a student being placed on probation, Salter said students are given the opportunity to get back into testing protocol without any consequences. When students miss a week of testing they are sent an email with a scheduled hearing. However, students are told in that same email that if they get tested immediately the hearing will be canceled. Associate Vice President of Student Engagement Jennifer Ferrell said students will be given a warning, then a hearing and then probation depending on the reason for missing COVID-19 testing.
“There’s a lot of chances for students to get tested, to get in compliance before there’s anything I would consider too harsh of a penalty or sanction,” Ferrell said.
“Our main goal is not to punish students, we want people to participate in testing,” Salter said. “It keeps the campus safe, it keeps the students safe so everything we can do to get that student to get tested, that’s our goal.”
Keene State College President Melinda Treadwell said that when a student is placed on probation, it means they are on watch, and will be unable to attend classes, inperson or on Zoom, until they get back into the testing protocol.
President Treadwell said she thinks it’s a reasonable consequence of missing testing, given how quickly the virus spreads.
Previously, Treadwell said she was shocked that the first violation of testing could result in probation. Treadwell corrected that this was due to a misunderstanding in which she thought she was talking about a suspension, not a probation.
A student can be suspended due to missing testing, Treadwell said, although this would result after five to six weeks of a student not complying to testing. The school has had no students placed on suspension as a result of missing testing.
Treadwell said she is pleased with the compliance of students in regards to getting tested every week. “We have the best numbers in the system.”
During the week of October 25, Keene State had 95% compliance for employees and 94% compliance for students and 100% compliance for the Chartwells team, according to COVID-19 Testing and Vaccination Coordinator Nicole Feml.
