FARMINGTON – In January of next year, Franklin County Adult Education will be moving to an existing learning center site on the Mt. Blue Campus. For several years now, FCAE has been housed in a mobile home site that, while served its purpose for a while, has proved to make for an inefficient and impractical learning environment for both staff and students.
“The building has used up its life expectancy,” director Nancy Allen said.
The new space is a current, more permanent, building that will be undergoing some remodeling before it’s ready for Adult Ed in January. It will offer better air circulation, storage, and different offices for the school’s staff and the Literacy Volunteers that also work closely at the school. Having outgrown their current location, Allen says that while navigating a move during a pandemic may be an added challenge, it’s one the school is willing to embrace for the benefits it will bring.
“It will help with student interaction, but also their privacy,” said Allen on the new building and the flexibility that its room allows for.
The move is at its core a change to be made with the students’ success in mind. Along with room for short and long-term storage for teachers’ curriculum supplies, there will also be fireproof furniture for storing students’ files, to improve security, and an office space for the student advisor.
“She can be right there to work with the students. Now, students have to go out to another building to talk to her, and well, we’re all lazy, so sometimes that doesn’t happen. This way they’re more likely to meet with her,” said Allen.
The move is being funded by the CARES act grant that has allowed other education programs to adapt to these changing times. Between the pandemic and the preparations for the new move in January, Allen has had a full plate for her first year as school director, but this has been a change that the school has been planning since before Allen was brought on as director. According to Allen, other members on the school board have been looking for a way to make a move possible for years.
“When the money became available, there was a big push to make it happen,” she said.
Currently, there are no new plans to expand the programs offered once the school moves into the new space. The top priority is to make the move as fluid as possible as the school transitions to virtual instruction over the next few months while their new location is renovated. While the new space would offer the opportunity for the school to grow, there are other more imminent matters to take care of.
“Our numbers are down considerably,” said Allen on the student population impacts from the pandemic.
The emphasis is on securing a safe and effective learning environment for the students currently enrolled in the Adult Education programs, as well as ensuring that they don’t feel isolated in the time of transition.
“We want to keep the students connected,” said Allen.
After the pandemic, and once the school has settled into their new location, allowing the students and staff to adjust, then there might be room to grow even further, but for now the priority is reaching a baseline of stability.
