Students are heading back to class Tuesday at St. Clair College after a five week long faculty strike.
College President Patti France met with a handful of concerned students Monday to discuss how the remainder of the semester will roll out.
She says the normal 15 week semester will be condensed to 14 weeks and the college will be open over the holidays.
Final exams will wrap up January 20 with the winter semester start date delayed to January 22.
France says faculty and students are trying to remain positive.
"It's been an emotional roller coaster, I think, for five weeks for everybody. Faculty are glad to be back into the classroom, although I'm sure an agreement would have been the preferable method to get them back, but a lot of students that I've spoken to are very happy that the work stoppage is over."
The west entrance to St. Clair College, formally known as Geraedts Drive, was renamed St. Clair College Drive for the College's 50th anniversary (Photo courtesy of St. Clair College)
Paralegal student Brennon Jacobs met with France and says it's been a tough five weeks, but he's ready to get going.
"It's been tough just trying to figure out what I want to do with myself exactly. Work, study, school, all that. It's been hard, it's been all kinds of things. I'm very eager to get going again. I'm very eager to get going again. I'm very eager to continue on with my life. There's no point in being upset about it now. I'm ready to keep going and I can't wait to see what happens."
France says they're doing their best to get the latest information to the student body.
"There's a lot of information online and to be honest, I wish the information could come faster for our students. Unfortunately it's coming out daily and hourly. So we're trying to work with our colleagues in the province and the ministry so that we can communicate all of those details to students."
France adds, faculty will be tweaking course content to fit fewer classroom hours.
"The faculty were asked to look at their individual courses and determine how to best deliver those courses. We didn't want it to be administration determining that. It's not our place. I have every confidence that our professional faculty and support staff will do everything that they can to ensure students are as successful as they can possibly be."
Jacobs says he's confident the college will support students through the process.
"I know there's so many rules and so much that a college can do when you're bound by provincial legislation. I am so grateful for everything this college is doing and I know that they have rules they have to follow, they have boundaries and I respect everything they're doing and I understand and I very much appreciate everything that they're doing."
Faculty on strike at St. Clair College. November 16, 2017 (Photo by AM800's Teresinha Medeiros)
Jacobs adds, he's feeling better moving forward after meeting with France.
"I'm just going to continue on with school. Money is money. Money will come. The government will figure something out. We'll figure something out. The college will figure something out. I'm just going to continue on learning the best I can and I appreciate all this that's going on with the school and they're trying their best to help up in any way."
Teachers were forced back to the classroom without a new contract after back-to-work legislation was passed over the weekend.
Monday, Minister of Education Deb Matthews announced students can apply for grants or full tuition reimbursement.
Students now have a two week window to withdraw to receive the refund.
- with files from AM800's Rob Hindi