Parents of students at Nova Southeastern University have been voicing their concerns about the COVID-19 policies in place, with numerous direct messages have been sent to parent coordinator and associate director of undergraduate admissions, Brooke Stevens over social media and email. The concerns picked up when the Fall 2021 semester began and NSU prepared for in-person classes.
Stevens has heard many diverse viewpoints from parents.
“Sometimes I’ll have parents reaching out, hoping that their kid will go back to a normal school year … They want no masks, and they want class sizes full again and then other families that reached out to me are worried about sending their child to Florida during the pandemic,” said Stevens.
Beth Welmaker, executive director of environmental health & safety at NSU, has seen what has worked for NSU.
“I think we’ve been most successful with two key things on campus. First, we require masks inside all buildings, and we have mandatory seating charts in all of our classrooms. These two things are demonstrating to us that we’re not seeing COVID case transmission in our classroom settings and we have very low numbers of cases on campus, so it appears to be working,” said Welmaker
Stevens cited Blendflex’s unavailability this semester as an issue that has some worried.
“One of the biggest concerns that I’ve seen from parents is wanting Blendflex to be back in place because they enjoyed the flexibility of Blendflex last year,” said Stevens.
Although Welmaker could not comment on Blendflex, she did address concerns regarding events on campus with high student turnout such as Sharkapalooza and Waterworks.
“We have been very careful and rigorous with our assessment on allowing events to take place on campus and the research supports that having functions and events outdoors reduces transmission by up to 20% risk,” she said. “So, we’ve only been allowing events to occur outside and as the weather continues to improve in Florida, we’re going to be able to offer students more opportunities for outdoor events,” said Welmaker
Sharkapalooza, usually held in the Rick Case arena, is an annual event with a routinely large turnout where student organizations and other departments can meet students face-to-face and get them involved. Last year it was held online, this year it was held in an outdoor setting.
Welmaker said that, “by moving it outside we felt we were able to do it. It was a safer option for our students… I believe we were successful at having a safe event.”
“If we felt that events were contributing to COVID on campus, we would terminate all events. So, if students indicate to us that the events are unsafe, and we feel we can’t make that offering to students, then we would terminate events if that’s the right thing for our students because I prioritize their safety,” added Welmaker.
Parents have also been concerned about sending students to another state during a pandemic.
“The biggest concern that families have been voicing is that (students) don’t have that safety net of their parents to take care of them when they’re sick,” said Stevens, “If a student just came down with strep then (parents) could come and pick them up from the residence halls and bring them home, you know, make them chicken noodle soup and take care of them from their own comfort whereas at the schools there’s quarantines and isolation and students have to stay put where they are.”
Welmaker has spoken to other schools across the state, putting the situation into context.
“I met with individuals who do my job at Florida State schools, and these are public schools… they’re not allowed to require masks on campus but what’s interesting to me was they said they see about 50% of their students choosing to wear masks and they also are not seeing COVID transmission in their classrooms,” said Welmaker.
According to the NSU’s website’s COVID-19 tab, there were 37 total reported cases on campus for the entire NSU population last week. Out of 7,831 people who have voluntarily reported their vaccination status at NSU, 7,341 have reported to have been vaccinated.
