Harrisburg Area Community College has announced that its five campuses will remain closed through the end of 2020, although the college will remain open and classes will continue this fall through remote instruction and virtual learning.
HACC campuses – Gettysburg, Harrisburg, Lancaster, York, and Lebanon – will limit in-person classes to credit and workforce development courses which require experiential/hands-on components. HACC said in a release that class sizes would be limited for these courses and PPE and social distancing requirements would be in place. The only course at the Lebanon campus that meets these guidelines is Microbiology (BIOL 221).
HACC referred to this approach as “Phase 3” of its four-phase reopening plan (PDF). During Phase 3, HACC employees who can work remotely will still be required to do so.
Phase 4 would see the school reopen completely, but the guidelines note that “the College may revert to Phase 1 at the direction of the president’s Cabinet or by state mandate.”
Laurie Bowersox, executive director of the Lebanon Campus, referred LebTown to HACC public relations for comment, which directed us to the college’s coronavirus page.
The college is currently in the process of divesting the HACC Lebanon campus, although it plans to remain a presence in the Lebanon community and even lease space in the campus building on an ongoing basis.
Read More: [Letter] HACC is not leaving Lebanon
In late December, the Lebanon City Council approved a plan from Sherry Capello that would see city municipal operations move from the Lebanon County-City Building to the HACC building. The resolution specifies that settlement for the property should be made by Jan. 1, 2021, with the price not to exceed $2.2 million dollars.
Read More: Council greenlights HACC purchase; Capello lays out downtown vision
The Lebanon campus re-opened in 1990 following its destruction in a fire that killed firefighter Tim Stine. Philanthropist and businessperson Francis “Frank” J. Dixon has been widely recognized as the key person in the rebuilding of the Lebanon Campus of HACC, including by HACC President John Sygielski, who said in 2013 that the campus owed its presence to Dixon.
Here is a 2016 video tour of the HACC campus, which notes that it is the only downtown location in the five campus college system.
Read all of LebTown’s COVID-19 coverage here.
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