Coast Colleges Resume Classes, Online, March 30

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — It was a timely spring break that brought Coast Community College District to a screeching one-week halt as the schools pivoted to online learning platforms. The Coast District is comprised of Coastline College, Golden West College, and Orange Coast College.

All classes that were able to make the move to online learning or remote classes will resume on Monday, March 30. Students should monitor their email for a letter from their professors on how to start the process.

In general, student support, academic support, and administrative services will be provided at a distance, except for limited functions that cannot be performed remotely, the college Chancellor John Weispfenning said.

The colleges remain closed to the public, with only authorized individuals on site.

“The Coast District is committed to sustaining our educational mission through this emergency situation so that students are ready to resume their lives, academic paths, and careers,” Weispfenning said. “Preparing some 3,000 face-to-face classes for distance learning in just two weeks was a tremendous amount of work requiring a great deal of ingenuity and dedication from our faculty, with support from management and staff.”

Thousands of classes will resume in an online learning environment or in modified format, either immediately or in the next two weeks.

The Coast Colleges are working to resume a small number of programs critical to the health, safety, and core infrastructure needs of the state and nation in person, with appropriate enhanced social/physical distancing and other safety measures.

Despite best efforts, there are some classes that could not go online this quickly and do not fit into the allowable exceptions. In accordance with guidance from state and local health authorities, these classes will be canceled or suspended.

Students should expect to be refunded in this case, they told Patch.

“Canceling or suspending classes mid-semester is a difficult decision to make, and I know this will be painful for both our faculty and our students,” Weispfenning said. “Ultimately, we must weigh the long-term social benefit that education brings with the immediate health concerns for students, employees, and our communities.”

The Coast Colleges are providing and updating lists of classes and their statuses on their respective websites. Districtwide updates continue to be posted at www.cccd.edu/virus.