(CENTREVILLE) – Glen Oaks Community College is moving to on line classes for the remainder of the Fall Semester.

In a communication with the public, Glen Oaks President Dr. David Devier says this is similar to when the College closed campus on March 17 and moved most instruction online in a response to the State of Michigan going into shutdown.

After spending the Summer having staff working from home, Glen Oaks was poised to return to a more regular mode of operations for the Fall. The campus underwent a thorough and deep cleaning and the reallocation of large campus spaces converted to serve larger classes with social distancing a priority.

Devier says for Opening Day on August 31, everything was in place to begin the semester safely. Hundreds of masks were passed out, every classroom and gathering space was equipped with cleaning materials, employee and student daily health screening was initiated, and COVID quarantining protocols were in place.

However, despite all the precautions that have been taken, Devier says eleven weeks into the Fall Semester, the challenge is mounting. In recent days, as the COVID numbers have increased in St. Joseph County, the efforts have increased to continue to control it on campus.

Devier says with four-weeks remaining in the semester; the plan is to move most of the current campus based classes to online. The exceptions include the technical courses and the nursing and allied health offerings for their laboratory components.