MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. – SUNY Orange President Dr. Kristine Young informed employees and students Thursday evening that the College will be extending Spring Break an extra week for students to allow the College time to develop plans for providing alternative distance learning formats and to develop and implement alternate modes of operations in response to the spread of COVID-19.

SUNY Orange’s Spring Break is scheduled for March 16-20 but students will receive an extra week off (March 23-27) before being expected to return to their academics on Monday, March 30. The decision to give students the extra week is in keeping with guidance from Governor Andrew Cuomo and SUNY Chancellor Kristina Johnson as the state’s colleges and universities seek to do their part to limit the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

While students are away, SUNY Orange has contracted with an outside vendor to conduct an expansive and thorough deep clean of both campuses next week. No on-campus services will be available that week in order to accommodate the cleaning. Employees will return to both campuses on Monday, March 23 and will spend the week developing creative ways to deliver academic instruction, as well as academic and student support services, from a distance.

Once instructors re-connect with students to share their plans for their respective courses, students will be expected to work with their instructors to understand their choices for continued academic instruction.

All SUNY Orange non-instructional on-campus events from March 16 through April 1 are canceled. The status of all subsequent events will be evaluated later in March. The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) has canceled all athletic competitions through April 3. International trips and other off-campus student club trips are also canceled.

Updates on the College’s response to COVID-19, as well as information on events and other communications, will be posted to www.sunyorange.edu/covid-19.