By Rachel Sawicki

DOVER — Delaware Technical Community College President Mark Brainard said Thursday the college may be revisiting its vaccine mandate.

As it stands now, all students, even those learning remotely, are required to provide proof of vaccination to register for summer and fall classes. Additionally, beginning May 1, even visitors will need to be fully vaccinated in order to be permitted on college grounds.

“If a faculty member gets a request from a student to come on campus and give them an appropriately distanced tutoring or advisement session, they are permitted to do that,” Dr. Brainard told the Joint Finance Committee.

“So when we first made the decision, sticking with that student-centered approach, we thought ‘these students are going to have to access the campuses,’ and there’s no effective way to administer that so it has to pertain to remote students as well.”

Even during the highest point of the pandemic, campuses, computer labs, advisement centers, math labs and writing centers are open. Heavy pushback came from students, staff, and lawmakers alike, which Dr. Brainard said moved him to reconsider. He said many responses from students said they do not plan to utilize in-person resources and therefore did not see a reason to get a vaccination to enroll.

Dr. Brainard said they are “close” to a decision, but was unclear exactly when they will announce changes, if any.

In hearings Thursday, DelTech is requesting an increase of 2.5 million for FY2023 to $91,427,600 to bolster health care and education programs and address a workforce gap, as well as salary increases for professors.

Mr. Brainard said DelTech served over 25,000 students last year, 97% of whom are Delawareans, and graduated just under 2,000 students. Additionally, 1,300 high school students across the state are in dual enrollment programs.

DelTech is still operating remotely for most programs and the last two graduations have also been virtual. Enrollment dropped 9% last year, equal to the national average. Dr. Brainard said surveys showed that students faced additional challenges with the COVID-19 pandemic whether for childcare, health or financial reasons.

“The board does not want to raise tuition on students who are navigating this pandemic and quite frankly we don’t want to recommend it to the board either,” he said. “There are countless things they’re trying to manage right now and we just made a collective decision that we were not going to (raise tuition) over the next couple of years.”

Professor salaries are barely on par with what high school teachers make in Delaware, Dr. Brainard said, noting that DelTech ranked 17th when compared to the 19 school districts in the state, as shown by a study about three years ago.

“We were able to address that last year and we went from 17th up to 12th,” he said. “But as you know, local school districts continue to add to their compensation plans … We continue to struggle to just stay in the middle of the pack and that’s all we’re asking for as we come forward with comprehensive employee compensation support.”

DelTech is also requesting an additional $22,127,700 in their capital budget, which is separate from operating, for critical capital needs and deferred maintenance.

Dr. Brainard outlined several capital projects that have been completed such as a ventilation project in the Arts & Science Center at the Georgetown campus, roof and air handlers replacements in the Wilmington Campus East Building as well as a major renovation project for that building.

Still in progress are major renovations to B Wing on the Stanton Campus, major renovations at the Terry Building and most notably, the Healthcare Center of Excellence at the Dover campus.

“That (health care) building is being extensively renovated to have allied health labs there,” Dr. Brainard said. “We’re going to be offering 11 eight different programs like certified nursing assistant, community health aide, and EKG technician. There’s an entire job market that’s out there waiting for these positions to be filled. When that building is complete, we’ll start operating those programs out of there and I think that’s finished by the spring.”

Dr. Brainard said that in 2017, several hospitals said that a bachelor’s degree is the preferred credential.

“When the hospital said we really need this, there are thousands of nurses out there that need to get a bachelor’s degree,” he said. “We developed this (RN to BSN) program and we have over 400 students enrolled now, serving 24 different facilities across the state and we’ll graduate almost 100 this year as well.”

Executive Order 43, signed by the governor last year, directed federal funds into short-term training programs. DelTech’s workforce development area identified some health care specific-credentials and under the initial funding for EO 43, 375 Delawareans completed those certification programs. Additional funds between October of last year and in April of this year will serve another 143 students for that initiative.

Dr. Brainard also highlighted the Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education program, which launches this fall. He said the program responds to the needs of Delaware school districts and prepares teacher candidates to work with Delaware’s diverse student population.