Montgomery College announced on Wednesday afternoon that it has canceled classes for the rest of the week because of coronavirus concerns. It will also switch to online-only lessons from March 23 until April 3.
Spring break is next week.
College President DeRionne Pollard sent a message to faculty, staff and students that said classes on Thursday, Friday and Saturday are cancelled.
“The College is not closing. The College will continue to provide instruction, including counseling and support services, but will do so remotely,” she wrote in the message.
The cancellations are to “prepare for a transition” to emergency remote teaching and remote working, she said. Resources and training will be provided to faculty and staff.
The decision to cancel classes for the rest of the week was made by Pollard, the senior administrative leadership team, Pollard’s executive cabinet, and the MC Coronavirus Advisory Team. The group includes faculty, a dean and public safety professionals.
“Montgomery College takes this responsibility seriously and will be taking several steps to help limit the spread of the virus,” she said. “These efforts will require careful coordination among MC faculty and staff in order to continue to thoroughly support student learning during this period.”
No coronavirus cases have been confirmed among the faculty, staff or students.
During the spring recess next week between March 16 and 20, employees will work remotely. Employees who will need to be present on campus during the transition are asked to practice “social distancing” and frequent hand washing.
During the spring recess, some labs or other spaces will be open on the campus to “provide support to faculty and students,” Pollard said.
“There will be restrictions on the number of employees or students that can be present in a given space at any one time,” she said. She did not say what these specific restrictions would be.
College leadership will re-evaluate its operations by April 1 and communicate any further plans.
The college advised students to monitor their emails and its information page at montgomerycollege.edu/coronavirus. Questions can be directed to publicsafety@montgomerycollege.edu.
Briana Adhikusuma can be reached at briana.adhikusuma@moco360.media.