Northwest College to start ‘soft opening’ in July

Posted 6/18/20

Northwest College continues to plan for a reopening of its campus, but there remain too many unknowns for the school to say when or exactly how a complete reopening will be executed.

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Northwest College to start ‘soft opening’ in July

Posted

Northwest College continues to plan for a reopening of its campus, but there remain too many unknowns for the school to say when or exactly how a complete reopening will be executed.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the campus has been closed to the public since mid-March.

Gov. Mark Gordon announced last week that in-person instruction could resume at higher education institutions, furthering the possibility that life at NWC will see a partial return to normalcy in the fall, as well as a complete opening by spring.

“Governor Gordon’s recent announcement allowing colleges to reopen facilities and resume in-person instruction is great news,” said Lisa Watson, vice president for administrative services and finance.

Watson said there wouldn’t be too many changes to instruction and operations for the summer semester, since it’s already well underway, but the announcement will impact the fall semester.

Assuming the state doesn’t reverse the relaxing of restrictions in the coming days, the college will move forward on July 6, with a reopening of the Orendorff Building.

“Enrollment services, financial aid, the business office, and academic affairs will be open at that time, following social distancing protocols,” Watson said.

  

Fall enrollment

The NWC Board of Trustees met on June 8, prior to the governor’s announcement, and discussed what the fall semester could look like. Northwest College President Stefani Hicswa highlighted some of the considerations that have gone into the planning.

“It takes a tremendous amount of work,” Hicswa said.

Hicswa said current enrollment numbers at NWC are down only 18.3% from last year. Just last month, they were down 26%.

“I am pleased with these numbers and that we’re shoring up that gap,” Hicswa said.

Further, NWC’s numbers are beating national estimates for two-year institutions, which predict 20% average declines in enrollment as students forgo a semester of college due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The school received permission from Park County health officials last month to allow a limited number of face-to-face classes this summer — and also to reopen Johnson Fitness Center — but Hicswa said many summer classes are normally online anyways. With students traveling and doing other summer activities, tying them down to a schedule doesn’t really appeal to them.

This does create a problem with state funding, as the formula laid out a few years ago only counts online classes at an 80% rate for the funding that the school receives based on full-time equivalency numbers.

“That’s a bummer, but it’s how the statute works,” Hicswa said.

Hicswa said leaders expect to do a limited reopening of the college in fall, but they still don’t know exactly what that will look like.

Prior to the governor’s announcement, which will likely impact some plans, the college was anticipating a phased reopening, which would follow federal planning guidelines. They’re currently in a phase 1 state, which is a complete closure of the campus. In phase 2, they would have a partial reopening, which would include residence halls.

Due to low enrollment, the school has plenty of units available to give students a single room, which would help maintain social distancing.

“There are some advantages, perhaps, to our enrollment situation being where it is that we do have that capacity for students to be safe,” Hicswa said.

In the third phase of the reopening, employees would resume regular travel and in-person classroom instruction. At the June trustee meeting, Hicswa said they weren’t expecting to enter phase 3 in the fall, but it was possible for the spring semester.

  

Sports and activities

As far as what will happen with NWC’s athletics program, Hicswa said she wasn’t certain. College sports require NWC students to travel out of the state, as well as having students from other states travel to Powell. The school is seeking guidance from the National Junior College Athletic Association on how they might begin to restart its athletics program.

NWC leaders are also looking at how they might handle clubs and activities. Some activities, such as student government meetings, can be done online easily, whereas concerts and speaking events might not easily transfer to online formats.

Hicswa said a reopening plan may require students, staff and faculty to wear masks, and she wasn’t sure how well such a requirement would be received.

“We’ve only had two cases in the last few months, so you don’t see many people wearing masks,” she said. (Additional cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Park County since the meeting.)

Hicswa cautioned that if indicators show a resurgence of COVID-19 this fall, the school would need to reverse course and shut down campus again. To prepare for that possibility, fall classes are going to be doing a lot of face-to-face instruction prior to Thanksgiving so that they can more easily transition to online if needed at the end of the semester.

In a May 26 communication to students, fall enrollees were told to expect greater workloads for classes with a lab component, as those portions of the class would be condensed into the first part of the semester.

The college is also still planning for how to approach recruitment of international students. Despite states opening up, federal restrictions and restrictions in the students’ home countries could impede them from getting to the U.S. One option NWC is considering, Hicswa said, is having those students do online learning from their home countries until they are able to come to Powell.

Besides state orders and federal guidance, the college also has to consider eligibility for funding, as stimulus money passes from the federal government through state coffers. How the school opens up may depend on what the requirements are for that support.

Board President Dusty Spomer solicited the other trustees’ thoughts on the direction the college was taking with plans to reopen. The trustees expressed support for the path the school was taking.

Trustee John Housel said he thought the course being taken by the college was wise — and he commended the actions of the NWC incident response team. He recommended the board continue to defer to their judgement in the matter.

“I’m sure if I were a parent looking at Northwest College for my student child, I would certainly go on the conservative side to make sure all safety precautions are followed,” Housel said.

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