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The state is planning to take over a large portion of the Goddard College campus to house vulnerable populations recovering from the coronavirus.
Goddard President Bernard Bull told staff on a conference call Tuesday that the state had initially reached out last week and that conversations had quickly escalated. Officials with the State Emergency Operations Center, which is coordinating Vermont’s response to the pandemic, in particular liked that the Plainfield school was close to a hospital but still relatively isolated, Bull said.
Candace Morgan, a spokesperson for the Agency of Human Services, said the state was in the process of scouting facilities and “evaluating all possible uses of space to adequately prepare for the COVID-19 crisis.”
Goddard, Morgan added, would be used to provide alternative housing for those recovering from the virus who do not require hospitalization but cannot yet return to where they were before. That includes homeless individuals, as well as those who lived in group homes or residential programs who could not effectively self-isolate.
Bull acknowledged that accommodating the state’s request would create some challenges. The school may need to pivot its upcoming residential semester to go online, and staff wouldn’t be allowed to enter those parts of the campus being used to quarantine individuals. But he added he was heartened the school could be of help during the crisis.
“I’m looking at it thinking it’s an honor to be considered and to think that Goddard can play a significant role in addressing these needs in the community,” he said.
While the state is scouting additional facilities, Morgan said, Goddard is the only institution with which Vermont is currently in the process of signing a lease. Details about the lease weren’t available Friday evening.
Other college leaders, meanwhile, say they’ve received similar, tentative inquiries from the state.
Bob Allen, the former president of the recently shuttered Green Mountain College, said trustees had been contacted about the campus being used in the state’s response to the pandemic. But officials hadn’t yet made a visit to the Poultney campus, Allen said, and he hadn’t received any additional specifics.
Jeb Spaulding, the chancellor of the Vermont State Colleges, said state officials had visited all of the system’s residential campuses but that the conversation hadn’t advanced past that stage so far.
“No direct talks about timing, what they might use the facilities for, and other details,” he wrote in an email.
