Required Health Screening Questionnaire (HSQ) In-person Classroom Compliance

Dear Beach faculty,

Early in the pandemic California State University, Long Beach implemented its COVID-19 Health Screening Questionnaire (HSQ) as an important safety measure for employees physically coming to campus. As a reminder, the HSQ must be completed every day before faculty, staff and students come to campus. The HSQ uses a green check/red X visualization which, based on responses provided, either immediately clears an individual to come to campus (“green check”) or prompts further evaluation (“red X”) based on a self-report by the employee about their current health. When someone receives a red X, medical professionals follow up with the student or the employee to obtain more information about their current health status.

What this means for the in-person classroom environment:

An effective approach to add to the safety of the classroom environment is to ask students to present their daily HSQ status before entering the classroom. The date of the HSQ status is prominently displayed on the screen and should be reviewed to ensure that the status is current for the day of class. If any student refuses to show their current HSQ, actions may include asking them to complete/update the HSQ before entering, reminding students that HSQ completion is a campus requirement, asking the student(s) to leave the class, notifying the Dean of Students and/or dismissing the class session. It is a good practice to distinguish students who have to miss class due to HSQ status from traditional absences. In addition, please remind students of the mask requirement for indoor spaces. Masks are available to have on hand through your department office.

What this means for faculty as employees:

If an employee has a red X HSQ status for any given day, they are not cleared to work on the physical campus and will need to cooperate with the medical professionals that contact them before returning to campus.

If a faculty member receives a red X on the HSQ, but class will take place before the follow-up contact occurs, they should follow normal procedures for calling in sick for a day with the following modification:

  • Faculty member alerts department;
  • Faculty member emails students;
  • If the faculty member feels healthy, they can teach class AMI (particularly if the classroom has a screen projecting from computer) with the following procedures:
    • The department places appropriate notice to students in the classroom (and if applicable, sets up computer projection at start of class so professor can conduct class via AMI).
    • The department may assign a representative to check the students’ HSQ before class begins if applicable.
    • If the classroom does not have HyFlex/projection capability, then students can use the classroom to access the AMI version of class.
    • If the instructor teaches class AMI, this will not count against sick leave.
  • If the faculty member does not feel healthy enough to teach class via AMI, class is canceled, instructor takes sick day.
  • If instructor must cancel class and take a sick day, this is counted as usual sick leave.

Should students receive a red X HSQ status that prevents class attendance, temporary accommodations are recommended to the degree possible:

  • The student may ask the professor for previously recorded lectures if available, or alternative assignments that would address the in-class information.
  • The instructor may choose to contact ATS for a mobile HyFlex set up, to record the class session for future viewing, or to integrate students into the class synchronously.
  • The student is encouraged to pick up missed information from classmates.
  • Faculty members are encouraged to submit midterm grades and to remind students of withdrawal deadlines. It is important for students to be aware if their course grade is jeopardized due to missed class sessions, and have the option to withdraw if indicated.

If you have further instructional questions, please contact your department chair or dean’s office. For leave questions, please email the Office of Faculty Affairs at facultyleaves@csulb.edu. For general health/contact tracing related questions, please contact Student Health Services at wellness@csulb.edu. If you have personal medical questions, please contact your primary care provider.

Safety is priority #1 for the entire Beach campus community, and each member plays an important role toward best assuring a safe Beach learning and working environment for all.  

Go Beach! (safely)

Karyn Scissum Gunn, Ph.D.
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs