MOSES LAKE — Facing a Friday announcement from Gov. Jay Inslee that all public and private colleges, universities and technical programs in the state are barred from conducting in-person classes, Big Bend Community College is going online starting Tuesday.

Except for certain professional technical courses, all classes will be moved online through Canvas or video conferencing, according to college officials.

In addition, the start of the spring quarter has been delayed until April 6, and classes will remain exclusively online at least for the start of the quarter. It is unclear whether spring quarter classes will return to their classrooms at some point.

“It’s just so fluid right now with the changes coming daily, we’re just planning on making the content available online, and we could definitely move back to face-to-face, but it depends on the situation,” said Matthew Killebrew, Director of Communications at the college.

For certain technical courses where online learning is not an option, Killebrew said the college is working to split classes up into smaller groups, so they may continue learning in the classroom while maintaining social distancing guidelines.

The college is also working to ensure that staffing levels can be maintained as working parents are asked to look after their kids during public school closures.

“We’re going to work and be as flexible as possible with our schedules and our human resources department is working with employees to try to find alternatives, including working at home or training opportunities that can be done online,” Killebrew said.

Killebrew said he believed the college was also working to create a shared pool of paid leave to support staff who need to take additional time off.