After Trillium Lakelands District School Board (TLDSB) announced that it would move its adult and alternate education centres (AAEC) into the region’s high schools, students at the centres were nervous about what the change would mean for them. But now, a month into the school year, Huntsville Adult Ed/Alternate Ed teacher Kim Fairhall says that local AAEC students have realized the benefits of being on the same campus as Huntsville High School.
“We are better serving the high school-aged students that could have benefited from the program but didn’t want to leave their social setting they were comfortable in,” said Fairhall. “We held a lot of meetings at the beginning in order to work out the kinks and growing pains. We wanted to be sure our students had a voice and were heard during this process.”
The Huntsville AAEC is now located at the front of Huntsville High School with a separate entrance in order to make it feel like its own environment.
The adult learning and alternate learning programs were created to provide an education for both adults who didn’t complete their high school diploma as well as for students under 18 who don’t learn well in a traditional high school environment.
“By having both programs together it helps our younger students to rise up to adult standards and creates a nice blend,” said Fairhall. “There are so many people who graduate in our adult education program who never thought they could do it. It’s so incredible to see. Graduation is a really special day.”
The move was due to provincial budget cuts, which were announced in April 2019 and affected other areas of the provincial education system including educational assistants, teaching positions, and classroom sizes.
The Huntsville AAEC teaching team comprises three teachers and one EA and there are currently 60 students enrolled, both part-time and full-time.
Contrary to some media reports, jobs were not lost when the budget cut was made in April. Teachers, EA and secretarial staff were either shuffled into other positions or moved to the new location, which provided constancy for their students.
“We have lots of different program that will meet the need of any particular learner at any time in their lives and we invite people to come try them out,” said Fairhall. “It’s so neat to watch them succeed and overcome all the barriers in their lives. There are lots of adult students who are parents taking care of small children and work full time but are still able to get their diploma.”
High school students interested in the AAEC program who don’t want to change over completely to the learning centre are able to be cross-enrolled, taking both traditional high school courses and alternate learning courses.
Adults returning to school to get their diploma are often able to finish schooling within one year. They are there due to a variety of circumstances, from dropping out 20 years ago after having a baby to immigrants who want to get a Canadian high school diploma.
The AAEC offers several options for learners, including Day School (three periods a day from 9 a.m. to 1:05 p.m.), Continuous Intake (online and in-class at their own pace, often paired up with a paid co-op), a dual credit program with Georgian College in Bracebridge (students are taxied from the AAEC to the college campus in Bracebridge), and PLAR (students over 18 who have been out of the education system for more than 10 months).
For information about the AAEC program, contact Kim Fairhall at [email protected] or call the school at 705-789-4764.
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