Heritage College & Seminary Moves into Red-Control on Tuesday, February 16

As the Region of Waterloo transitions into a Red-Control zone under the Ontario COVID-19 Response Framework, Heritage College & Seminary is announcing a number of changes to current protocols.

Posted February 16, 2021

After the announcement from the Government of Ontario on February 12, all communities under the Region of Waterloo Public Health will officially enter the Red-Control zone of the province’s COVID-19 Response Framework when the Stay-at-Home Order ends on Tuesday, February 16^th at midnight.

Given the move back to the provincial framework, Heritage College & Seminary will be making a variety of changes to our current protocols and campus operations in order to continue our efforts to create a safe learning environment for our students and seek the safety and good of others.

Please note that these protocols will continue to be subject to change as the government will be re-assessing the effectiveness of health and safety measures every two weeks.

Course Delivery for college students will move back to in-person classes starting Monday, February 22.

All on-campus, Section 1, college classes at Heritage will once again be offered in an in-person format.
College students enrolled in Section 23 (live-stream) will continue to join classes online.
Heritage will continue to use our larger classrooms in order to maintain physical distancing and to ensure a healthy on-campus learning environment.
All students enrolled in on-campus college classes, living on campus or off campus, will be welcome to attend classes at Heritage while adhering to physical distancing guidelines and properly wearing a mask.
All classes for Heritage Theological Seminary will continue to be delivered online.

Library will be open for in-person service.

The Heritage Library will be open to enrolled students, staff, and faculty from Monday to Thursday from 11:30am to 4:30pm and 6:30pm to 9:30pm, Friday from 11:30am to 4:30pm, and Saturday from 11:00am to 2:00pm.

Students will once again have access to the Heritage Community Centre.

The Heritage Community Centre will be open for regular hours starting Tuesday, February 16.
All furniture has been rearranged in order to create a safe space for students to use while under Red – Control. Students are asked that all furniture within the Heritage Community Centre remain where it is placed and are not to be moved.
Other than for classes, Chapel services, or Cafeteria usage, each room in the HCC will not exceed a capacity of 10 people unless otherwise posted.

The Fitness Centre will reopen for pre-booked use effective Tuesday, February 16.

All visits to the Fitness Centre must be booked in advance. To book a time, please be in contact with Cassie Talabis at ctalabis@heritagecs.edu.
Please maintain a physical distance of 3 metres at all times.
Masks are required, except when exercising.
Please immediately clean and wipe down equipment immediately after use.

The Gym will reopen for individual physical activity and all team sports will remain cancelled.

Under Ontario’s public health measures for regions designated Red – Control, team sports must not be practiced or played. As a result, all team sports have been cancelled and will not be allowed in the Gym.
The Gym will remain open for use with a maximum of 10 people and can only be used for individual physical activity. (ex. Shooting a basketball)

Limiting Off-Campus Trips for Essential Purposes including attending church.

Following the recommendations from Waterloo Region’s Medical Officer of Health, all students are asked to carefully consider and limit all trips off-campus.
It is important that each student only make trips for essential purposes which include groceries, pharmacy, school or work, and medical appointments.
Under the Red-Control level, churches will resume to be open and students will still be allowed to attend church while maintaining physical distancing, wearing masks, and following public health measures.

The Cafeteria will be open for dining and will continue to provide take-out options starting Monday, February 22.

All furniture will continue to be arranged in order to ensure physical distancing is maintained and all tables and chairs will be required to stay in their given space and must not be moved.
Students will be required to continue limiting table capacity to a maximum of three people.

Heritage Staff and Faculty will continue to be encouraged to work from home.

If a staff or faculty member requires access to the campus or to work from Heritage, they are required to receive approval from their supervisor.

All protocols will continue to be in effect.

As the winter semester begins, all campus protocols will remain active, including:
- You must wear an appropriately fitting mask inside of all campus buildings, with the exception of your residence room.
- You must swipe in and out of all campus buildings using the swipe card issued by the main office. When you use the swipe card, you are confirming that you are feeling well and are not displaying any of the common symptoms of COVID-19. Please use the Ontario COVID-19 Self-Assessment found at https://covid-19.ontario.ca/self-assessment/.
- You must sanitize your hands when you enter and leave all campus buildings and keep a physical distance of 6 feet or 2 metres.