Contact your primary healthcare provider or the MVCC Health and Wellness Center on the Utica Campus at 315-792-5452 to complete the screening process protocol.

Any employee coming to any of the MVCC locations is required to wear a face covering, according to Executive Order 202.16: 

“Face coverings include, but are not limited to, cloth (e.g. homemade sewn, quick cut, bandana), surgical masks, N-95 respirators, and face shields.”

If you do not have a face covering, the College will provide one for you. If you are working on campus regularly, your supervisor will contact you with additional information. While you may not expect to interact with the public or a “customer” while making your visit, there is always a chance you may encounter someone unexpectedly due to the open access to the campuses. It is expected that all employees will have a face covering with them that can be used in such an instance. 

The Facilities & Operations Team has designed door hangers to help keep track of workspaces that have been disinfected and those that need to be disinfected. If you come to campus and enter your workspace, please call one of the Facilities staff at one of the numbers on the door hanger, and then turn the hanger around so the red side is out. They will then come and disinfect the area after you leave. If you are working regularly on campus, Facilities will know that and disinfect on a daily basis. 

This and all other technology-related information can be found at mvcc.edu/information-technology/student-kickstart-guide.pdf

Based on current recommendations from global public health organizations, orders from the state government, and to protect the health of our community, we are moving this year’s Spring Commencement ceremony, originally scheduled for Friday, May 8, at the Adirondack Bank Center-Utica Aud, to a virtual celebration that will be broadcast online on Friday, May 29, 2020, featuring formal remarks and sharable presentations honoring each graduate. While this will not be the same as our traditional ceremony, we are committed to finding the best way possible to recognize our graduates, and will strive to make it meaningful, memorable, and sharable. We also recognize and share the interest of students who wish to commemorate in a more traditional way, and are providing the opportunity to invite all members of the Class of 2020 to participate in our December Commencement ceremony, if public health guidelines allow at that time. Click here for more information.

Employees are encouraged to use alternative formats (teleconferencing platforms, etc.) for meetings.

Information about the College’s efforts is available at mvcc.edu/covid19/what-we-are-doing.php

All food service is now to-go. The dining hall is still open from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. for to-go meals only, just for students and employees on campus. To-go containers will be distributed at the register, and entire meals will be taken to go. The dining hall is not available for dine-in service at this point.

If a confirmed case has been identified on campus, the College will communicate the event and any necessary action steps and follow-up, but will not release any individual information to the public.

Generally, yes. A parent or eligible student must provide written consent before an educational agency or institution discloses personally identifiable information (PII) from a student’s education records, unless one of the exceptions to FERPA’s general consent rule applies. FERPA requires that a consent form be signed and dated by a parent or eligible student and (1) specify the records that may be disclosed; (2) state the purpose of the disclosure; and (3) identify the party or class of parties to whom the disclosure may be made. 

Although educational institutions can often address threats to the health or safety of students or other individuals in a manner that does not identify a particular student. FERPA permits educational institutions to disclose, without prior written consent PII from student education records to appropriate parties in connection with an emergency, if knowledge of that information is necessary to protect the health or safety of other individuals. This “health or safety emergency” exception to FERPA’s general consent requirement is limited in time to the period of the emergency and generally does not allow for a blanket release of PII from student education records. Typically, law enforcement officials, public health officials, trained medical personnel, and parents (including parents of an eligible student) are the types of appropriate parties to whom PII from education records may be disclosed under this FERPA exception.

For purposes of FERPA’s health or safety emergency exception, the determination by an educational institution that there is a specific emergency is not based on a generalized or distant threat of a possible or eventual emergency for which the likelihood of occurrence is unknown, such as would be addressed in general emergency preparedness activities. If local public health authorities determine that a public health emergency, such as COVID-19, is a significant threat to students or other individuals in the community, an educational agency or institution in that community may determine that an emergency exists as well.

Under the FERPA health or safety emergency exception, an educational institution is responsible for making a determination, on a case-by-case basis, whether to disclose PII from education records, and it may take into account the totality of the circumstances pertaining to the threat. If the institution determines that there is an articulable and significant threat to the health or safety of the student or another individual and that certain parties need the PII from education records, to protect the health or safety of the student or another individual, it may disclose that information to such parties without consent. This is a flexible standard under which the Department will not substitute its judgment for that of the educational institution so that the institution may bring appropriate resources to bear on the situation, provided that, based on the information available at the time of the institution’s determination, there is a rational basis for such determination. We note also that, within a reasonable period of time after a disclosure is made under this exception, an educational institution must record in the student’s education records the articulable and significant threat that formed the basis for the disclosure and the parties to whom information was disclosed. 

Yes. If an educational institution, taking into account the totality of the circumstances, determines that an articulable and significant threat exists to the health or safety of a student in attendance at the institution (or another individual at the institution) as a result of the virus that causes COVID-19, it may disclose, without prior written consent, PII from student education records to appropriate officials at a public health department who need the information to protect the health or safety of the student or other individuals. Public health department officials may be considered “appropriate parties” by an educational institution under FERPA’s health or safety emergency exception, even in the absence of a formally declared health emergency. Typically, public health officials and trained medical personnel are among the types of appropriate parties to whom PII from education records may be non-consensually disclosed under FERPA’s health or safety emergency exception.

It depends, but generally yes, only if that information is in a non-personally identifiable form. Specifically, the the educational institution must make a reasonable determination that a student’s identity is not personally identifiable, whether through single or multiple releases, and taking into account other reasonably available information. If an educational institution discloses information about students in non-personally identifiable form, consent by the parents or eligible students is not needed under FERPA. For example, if an educational institution releases the fact that individuals are absent due to COVID-19 (but does not disclose their identities), this would generally not be considered personally identifiable to the absent students under FERPA as long as there are other individuals at the institution who are absent for other reasons. However, we caution educational institutions to ensure that in releasing such facts, they do so in a manner that does not disclose other information that, alone or in combination, would allow a reasonable person in the school community to identify the students who are absent due to COVID-19 with reasonable certainty.

FERPA permits educational institutions to non-consensually disclose PII from education records in the form of contact information of absent students to the public health department in specific circumstances, such as in connection with a health or safety emergency or pursuant to other applicable exceptions.

While FERPA generally permits the nonconsensual disclosure of properly designated “directory information” (e.g., name, address, phone number, grade level) when parents or eligible students have not opted out of such a disclosure, it does not permit an educational institution to disclose “directory information” on students that is linked to non-directory information (such as information regarding a student’s illness). For instance, an educational institution may not disclose directory information on all students who are receiving special education services or those who have been absent from school.

Therefore, unless a specific FERPA exception applies, educational institutions should prepare consent forms for parents and eligible students to sign to allow the potential sharing of this type of information if they create, or intend to create, a tracking or monitoring system to identify an outbreak before an emergency is recognized.

No. FERPA only permits nonconsensual disclosures of PII from students’ education records under the health or safety emergency exception to “appropriate parties” (such as public health officials) whose knowledge of the information is necessary to protect the health or safety of students or other individuals. While the media may have a role in alerting the community of an outbreak, they are not “appropriate parties” under FERPA’s health or safety emergency exception because they generally do not have a role in protecting individual students or others at the educational institution. “Appropriate parties” in this context are normally parties who provide specific medical or safety attention, such as public health and law enforcement officials.

In most cases, it is sufficient to report the fact that an individual in the school has been determined to have COVID-19, rather than specifically identifying the student who is infected. School notification is an effective method of informing parents and eligible students of an illness in the school. For settings in which parents are primarily doing drop-offs and pick-ups, posting signs on the doors may be effective. In other settings, sending home or emailing a notification may also be effective. These methods serve to notify parents and eligible students of a potential risk, which may be particularly important for students who may be more susceptible to infection or to developing severe complications from an infection, and to alert parents to look for symptoms in their own children and eligible students to more closely monitor themselves for symptoms.

Nothing in FERPA prevents schools from telling parents and students that a specific teacher or other school official has COVID-19 because FERPA applies to students’ education records, not records on school officials. However, there may be State laws that apply in these situations.

There may be a rare situation during a health or safety emergency, however, in which schools may determine (in conjunction with health, law enforcement, or other such officials) that parents of students or eligible students are appropriate parties to whom to disclose identifiable information about a student with COVID-19. For example, school officials may determine that it is appropriate to disclose identifiable information about of a student with COVID-19 to parents of other students if parents need to know this information to take appropriate action to protect the health or safety of their children. For example if a student with COVID-19 is a wrestler and has been in direct and close contact with other students who are on the team or who are in the school and have higher health risks, school officials may determine it necessary to disclose the identity of the diagnosed student to the parents of the other students. In these limited situations, parents and eligible students may need to be aware of this information in order to take appropriate precautions or other actions to ensure the health or safety of their child or themselves, especially if their child or they may have a higher risk of susceptibility to COVID-19 or of developing severe complications from COVID-19.

School officials should make the determination on a case-by-case basis whether a disclosure of the student’s name is absolutely necessary to protect the health or safety of students or other individuals or whether a general notice is sufficient, taking into account the totality of the circumstances, including the needs of such students or other individuals to have such information in order to take appropriate protective action(s) and the risks presented to the health or safety of such students or other individuals.

Yes, for dependent students and generally yes, but see below. Under FERPA, an educational institution, including an institution of postsecondary education, may disclose, without the eligible student’s written consent, PII from an eligible student’s education records to his or her parents under certain conditions. For example, a university physician treating an eligible student for COVID-19 might determine that the student’s treatment records should be disclosed to the student’s parents. This disclosure may be made, without consent of the eligible student, if the parents claim the eligible student as a dependent under section 152 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. If the parents do not claim the eligible student as a dependent, then the disclosure may be made to the parents, without the eligible student’s written consent, if the disclosure is in connection with a health or safety emergency provided certain conditions are satisfied. 

FERPA permits educational institutions to release information from education records without consent after the removal of all PII, provided that the agency or institution has made a reasonable determination that a student’s identity is not personally identifiable, whether through single or multiple releases, and taking into account other reasonably available information. Thus, it would be problematic to disclose that every student in a particular class or grade level is absent if there is, for instance, a directory with the names of every student in that class or grade. Therefore, it is prudent that educational institutions obtain written consent to permit the disclosure of PII from students’ education records to the public health department. If the parent or eligible student will not provide written consent for the disclosure of the PII, then the educational institution may not make the disclosure unless it has determined that there is an applicable exception to the general requirement of consent that permits the disclosure, such as if a health or safety emergency exists and the PII is disclosed to an appropriate party whose knowledge of the information is necessary to protect the health or safety of the student or other individuals.

Yes. FERPA generally requires educational institutions to maintain a record of each request for access to and each disclosure of PII from the education records of each student. Moreover, when making a disclosure under the health or safety emergency provision in FERPA, educational institutions are specifically required to record the articulable and significant threat to the health or safety of a student or other individual that formed the basis for the disclosure and the parties to whom the institution disclosed the information. The record of each request for access to and each disclosure of PII from student education records must be maintained with the education records of each student as long as the records are maintained. This requirement enables parents and eligible students who do not provide written consent for disclosure of education records to see the circumstances under which and the parties to whom their information was disclosed. However, educational institutions are not required to record disclosures for which the parent or eligible student has provided written consent.

For any questions about Paid Sick Leave and Expanded Family and Medical Leave Under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, please visit New York Paid Family Leave COVID-19: Frequently Asked Questions

For the overview, please check out Employee Rights Families First Response Act Poster.

See Families First Coronavirus Response Act Poster.

The Residence Halls will not re-open as originally planned on March 22nd and will remain closed for the Spring semester. Students with a housing or food insecurity can contact Dean Gibbons in the Residence Life Office by emailing reshalls@mvcc.edu. Requests will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. 

Yes, you can continue your classes, similar to the commuting students, with alternative delivery methods.

All food service is now to-go. The dining hall is still open from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. for to-go meals only, just for students and employees on campus. To-go containers will be distributed at the register, and entire meals will be taken to go. The dining hall is not available for dine-in service at this point.

Yes, your housing is reserved. The Room Selection Process will continue. Please watch your student email carefully over the next weeks regarding information regarding actual room selection. We will also assist you with scheduling your Fall classes.

In an effort to comply with social distancing obligations, the College will schedule residence halls students for specific windows of time and day to come to campus and remove their belongings. We anticipate these times will be communicated to your student email by the morning of Friday, March 20. Please do not arrive on campus without a scheduled time.

Yes, there are R.A. positions available for next year. We invite you to apply at: https://mvcc.csod.com/ats/careersite/JobDetails.aspx?site=3&id=699

The College is in discussion now about what the pro-rated refund/credit will be and will communicate this to all affected students as soon as possible.

The College is continuing to provide programming in an alternative format. No refunds will be issued. Please refer to the Program Board social media accounts and the Hawks Life app for the daily and weekly programs and activities that are available.