Today's Update: Wednesday, August 24, 2022
August 24, 2022
Dear Student Life team.
As you have undoubtedly heard, and many of you are experiencing direct effects, Columbus City Schools opened the school year today under virtual instruction. I can only imagine what a difficult time this is for everyone throughout the district.
This morning, I want to reiterate our culture commitments of Care and Support and offer the following reminders and requests.
- Flexibility: I am asking all supervisors to look for any and all ways to be as flexible as possible with their team members’ schedules. This may take the form of allowing staff members to fully utilize Flexible Work Arrangement opportunities. For staff members who must work on-campus, I’m asking supervisors to look for alternative ways to offer as much flexibility as possible, including leveraging Student Life’s recently released Attendance Policy to minimize negative impacts for those who may be struggling to find alternative childcare. As a reminder, the Attendance Policy was designed specifically to give supervisors more discretion in allowing for greater degrees of flexibility, so this is an excellent way to put it into action.
- Compassion: As I mentioned above, this is a very difficult time for everyone involved in the negotiation process, which of course includes the kids, and also teachers’ and administrators’ families, and most certainly the families of the tens of thousands of children in the district. While there are certainly strong viewpoints from many different stakeholder groups, please keep compassion and respect at the core of conversations.
- Welcome: With many different schedules and transportation routes, we may see many more children in and around our campuses over the next days, so please be patient, kind and welcoming to little (or not-so-little!) visitors.
Thank you so much for being there for one another and for showcasing how caring and supportive the Office of Student Life is, for one another and for the broader community. I remain Scarlet and Grateful to be a part of this team.
Melissa S. Shivers, PhD
Senior Vice President for Student Life
The Ohio State University