Great Plains College features campuses throughout the surrounding region, including Biggar, Warman, Rosetown and Kindersley . (Facebook/Great Plains College)

By Martin Martinson

School’s back for summer

Great Plains College moves forward with summer reopen plan

Jun 17, 2020 | 2:01 PM

Great Plains College will reopen this summer in accordance with phase three of the Re-Open Saskatchewan Plan.

President and CEO of the college, David Keast, said while the school will be reopening its doors for some select programing, it will not be back to ‘business as usual,’ as restrictions authorized by the Government of Saskatchewan and Saskatchewan Health Authority remain in place.

“The summer programming will be very selective, and it will include skills and safety training programming that is directly linked to our partnerships with industry,” Keast said. He added more regular programming will begin with the implementation of the fall semester. It will coincide with the next phase of the reopening, the plan of which has not been released yet.

Great Plains college has campus locations in Biggar, Warman, Rosetown and Kindersley among others.

While the locations in Kindersley, Swift Current and Warman will offer skills and safety training programs to support critical areas of the job market, the Biggar campus will not feature any credit post-secondary programing over the summer.

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However, Biggar’s campus will offer exam invigilation opportunities for students enrolled with external educational institution partners available by appointment, along with the other campus locations.

Keast said because of the current precautions in place, classes and the campus itself will feel different.

“I think probably the biggest adjustment is to make sure people understand that they need to ease into the reopening of a college campus,” he said. “The traffic flow will be controlled at — I’m going to say at this point in time – roughly a 50-50 split. You will see some staff working from home part of the week and some staff working on campus part of the week, and then that may shift. In other words, when we open it will not be 100 per cent.”

He added there will likely be a similar model implemented for the fall semester, as social distancing and provincial protocols remain in place.

Plans regarding the summer reopen plan are still being finalized. Keast encourages those interested to keep tabs on the Great Plains website and social media platforms to keep informed with the latest developments as they progress.

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Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1