How North Central College has adjusted fall, spring semester schedules amid COVID-19

North Central College undergraduate students are receiving a final round of routine COVID-19 testing before heading home next week for the remainder of the semester.

Thanksgiving break begins Nov. 25, after which final exams will take place remotely the first week of December. The college will continue providing housing, meals and services during the holiday break for students who are isolated or quarantined and should not return home, campus leaders said Monday.

Undergraduate students won't resume classes until Jan. 25 - a later start to the spring semester than usual - as the college continues to navigate the challenges of the pandemic and mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, President Troy Hammond said in a letter to students in September.

The spring semester aims to replicate the fall academic calendar as closely as possible, he said, with a shortened break March 12 and a regularly scheduled commencement May 9, subject to allowances under the state's Restore Illinois plan. The calendar remains unchanged for graduate students, who resume classes Jan. 11.

The college's Institutional Response Team is expected to review operations from the fall semester and share more details with the campus community during the winter break. Hammond said earlier the college intends to continue its "'learn from anywhere' approach in spring 2021 by offering a range of instructional modalities and leveraging technology to create inclusive learning opportunities for all students."

Data on North Central's website shows positive COVID-19 cases reported among 222 students, one faculty member and nine staff members since early August.

Additional information about the college's spring testing plans will be released before the December holidays, officials said. Campus community members are asked to fill out the college's COVID-19 form if they test positive, are exposed to a positive or probable case, or experience symptoms during the break.