GEORGIAN COLLEGE OF APPLIED ARTS AND TECHNOLOGY

Administration

Procedure: #2-102

Effective Date: 03/11/26
Revision Dates:89/12/01, 91/04/24. 95/01/18, 00/01/05, 03/11/26

UNSCHEDULED COLLEGE CLOSURE PROCEDURE

PURPOSE:
To provide guidelines for College administration when faced with circumstances which warrant cancelling classes, campus closure or closing the entire College

RATIONALE:
The College will normally make every reasonable effort to be open and accessible to students. Certain conditions, however, may arise from time to time such as severe winter storms, or the loss of water, power or heating service. (It is not the intention of this procedure to define all the causes or combination of causes that could lead to closure.) Those conditions may require cancellation of classes, suspension of College operations in particular buildings, or closure of a campus as a whole, for reasons that include personal health and safety. In these situations, a decision of whether to close or not is necessary.

DEFINITIONS:
A distinction should be clearly made between “building closure” and “campus closure”. In a building closure situation, all individuals will be prevented from entering a specified building. No classroom activities or services will take place in the building. Both classroom and service activities will continue to operate in other buildings on the campus. With a campus closure, all classroom and service (except potentially those deemed essential) activities will be suspended on the campus. Individuals may be prevented from entering the campus. This procedure does not deal with individual class cancellation procedures.

SCOPE:
All College staff, students and visitors

PRINCIPLES:

A. Delegation of Responsibility

Where responsibilities have been assigned through this Procedure to a particular position, that employee will make arrangements for delegating this responsibility should the decision on closure be made during the individual’s absence.

B. Students Implications

When a building closure or campus closure occurs, all formal classroom activities at the affected location will be discontinued so that students will not be detrimentally affected. Any arrangements to the contrary should be approved by the Vice President Academic or designate if the Vice President Academic is not available. In instances where the College is closed, or students are prevented from attending class due to inclement weather, faculty will determine an acceptable means of covering the course material and achieving the learning outcomes through discussion with their Dean. This may includes such strategies as the re-scheduling of missed class or lab time, additional assignments or readings or other measures. In such circumstances, faculty may also agree to change deadlines for assignments and/or test dates. If the College is closed on a scheduled exam date, the Registrar’s office and the Academic area will re-schedule the exam to a suitable date and time.

C. Staff Implications

Where classes are cancelled, staff will normally remain on the campus and continue to perform their duties.

When a building is closed, staff will work with their supervisor to determine if their work might be conducted at another site on the campus, from home or by other appropriate arrangement.

In a campus closure or other situations where employees are sent home, the employees will be treated as though they were actively working for pay purposes only. Employees who are assigned essential services after the campus has closed (e.g. Payroll, Switchboard, or Physical Resources) will be entitled to additional time on an hour-for-hour basis for each hour worked while the campus is closed (generally excluding the Residence and Kempenfelt Conference Centre which operate continuously). The College will from time to time determine which services are deemed essential. The Supervisor of each department will decide which elements of their operation are essential depending on the circumstances of the closure.

Employees who claim that they are unable to report to scheduled work due to inclement weather may be eligible for personal leave with pay or without pay depending on the extenuating circumstances. Such requests for leave are discretionary and will be considered by the College solely on the merits of the individual’s circumstances. Such requests will not be unreasonably denied, bearing in mind the College’s commitment to employee health and safety.

Employees who claim that they have been unable to report to scheduled work due to inclement weather in situations where leave with pay has been denied may choose other methods to be paid for the day (e.g. make up the missed time, lieu time, vacation day, etc.).

Employees away on scheduled vacation, sick leave, or other approved absence are not affected by College closures provisions.

D. Residence Operations

The residence will remain open and accessible as long as students or guests are residing in the building. Staff are required to operate the facility as long as students or guests are in the building. Staff should be encouraged to work their scheduled shifts as long as it is safe for them to work and safe for them to travel to the residence. Other staff should be asked to work if scheduled staff are unable to attend at work. Safety should remain the highest priority when considering the nature of the work and ability to travel. Residence maintenance staff, with support from Physical Resources, should make every reasonable effort to ensure that building services remain in place.

E. Voice Communications

When appropriate, telephone callers to the College should be able to receive recorded information on the status of the College during closure. This requirement covers main campuses, regional centres, main campus call centres and Kempenfelt (if applicable). The responsibility lies with the Marketing & Communications Department in Barrie; the Manager, Campus Services in Orillia; the Director or senior administrator in Owen Sound; and managers at regional centres.

F. Non-Closure Situations

All students and staff make their own decisions about the remoteness of their residence and the distance they are required to travel to the College. They are expected to use common sense and good judgment in situations where they may face hazardous travel conditions but the College remains open.

G. Closure of Non-College Facilities

The closure of non-College facilities (e.g. clinical nursing placements) will be subject to the decisions of those institutions irrespective of any decisions made regarding College closure. Employees are expected to report to the College at those times when a non-college facility has closed and the College remains open. Those employees placed at a non-college facility will remain on their assignments at those locations should the College make the decision to close. It is advisable for employees to contact their supervisor in circumstances as outlined above.

PROCEDURE:

1. Campus Closure

a. Who Makes the Decision?

Discussion of the situation will occur to determine if closure is the appropriate course of action. The following, or designate, will reach a decision at the campus indicated:

* Barrie – Vice President, Administrative and Human Resource Services in consultation with the Director of Physical Resources and the President
* Orillia – Manager, Campus Services
* Owen Sound – Director or other senior administrator Regional – Campus Manager
* Kempenfelt -General Manager

They will consider:

* Safety of staff, students and visitors
* Types of activities planned for the day
* The accessibility of the campus
* The operational status of public transit
* Road condition reports
* Weather condition reports
* The status of closure decisions at other nearby campuses, schools, business, etc.
* Highway closures

For closure during the business day consideration will also be given to the safety of those leaving the campus and whether forecast changes in conditions may allow for a safer departure later in the day.

Input to the decision with a variety of individuals may be advisable but perhaps not possible given the urgency of the situation. If a decision to close for the evening or weekend is considered necessary, the appropriate staff from Community and Business Development should be consulted. Staff in the following areas should contact those listed under 1 a., above, when evening or weekend conditions may require consideration of closure: security, snow removal, part-time studies, Community and Business Development Services.

b. When will the Decision be Made?

A decision to not open the College on a particular day normally should be made prior to 6:00 a.m. to allow contact with the media prior to 7:00 a.m. The decision to close should be made by 4:00 p.m. for evening closures. The decision to close may be made at any time during regular business hours should conditions exist to warrant closure

c. How will the Decision be Communicated?

When the decision to close an operation has been made the following will be contacted:

* President and Vice Presidents
* Physical Resources / Campus Security
* Human Resources – SAC (where applicable),
* the local media,
* Marketing and Communications
* Switchboards / Campus Connections
* Registrar’s Office
* Student residence
* Director, Student Life
* Other campuses

They will be contacted by the decision-makers in 1.a. above with the exception of Barrie where the Manager Corporate Communications (having been informed of the decision to close by the Vice President, Administrative and Human Resource Services) will carry out the communications.

All contacts with the media should be confirmed by facsimile or other appropriate means (wherever possible) to avoid media broadcast of fraudulent closure or opening announcements. Such procedures should be established by the foregoing campus / facility representatives.

The Marketing and Communications staff (for the Barrie campus), and the official designated in 1.a above for the other locations will ensure closure information is available to students, staff and the public from the following sources:

Regional radio and television announcements.

The main telephone number for the campus with an automated response. A voice message will be sent to all employees at the affected campus notifying them of the closure and will provide regular updates.(Each department at each location of the College will appoint an individual (and back-up) responsible for ensuring that all present on campus (e.g. teachers in classes including portables; students and staff in the Library Commons, on-site contractors, guests, etc.) are aware of any closure announcement.)

The College’s web site and Blackboard. When a decision to close a campus has been made, all College buildings will be secured. Staff, students and visitors will be required to leave the premises immediately. Each campus will designate a common waiting area for those who are unable to leave immediately. It may be necessary to close the campus to vehicles to prevent individuals from encountering a dangerous situation, facilitate snow removal, etc.

Instructors will take all reasonable efforts to ensure that students have evacuated classrooms, labs, etc in which they are teaching at the time of closure. Security will ensure that affected buildings / the campus have been evacuated.

2. Campus Re-Opening

Any decision to re-open the campus for the balance of the day or the evening should be made in conjunction with the same individuals in 1. a. above.

Staff will be expected to carry out their duties in situations where the College opens for evening activity after having been closed during the day.

To avoid any confusion, the College will not run ‘re-opening’ messages on the telephone system. Standard telephone messages will be used for regular business operations.

3. Individual Decisions

When an employee has decided to not attend work for reasons outlined in this procedure when the College is open, the individual should contact their supervisor as soon as possible to inform them of this decision. The individual may request a leave of absence with pay or make alternative arrangements. If a request for a leave with pay is denied the individual may contact their supervisor’s manager to appeal the decision.

GEORGIAN COLLEGE OF APPLIED ARTS AND TECHNOLOGY

Administration

Procedure: #2-102

Effective Date: 03/11/26

Revision Dates:89/12/01, 91/04/24. 95/01/18, 00/01/05, 03/11/26