Alliance Career Center to end all adult education programs

Kelli Weir, The Repository
·2 min read
Students in the adult welding program at the Alliance Career Center demonstrated their aluminum welding skills in March. The Alliance Career Center will close at the end of classes later this month.
Students in the adult welding program at the Alliance Career Center demonstrated their aluminum welding skills in March. The Alliance Career Center will close at the end of classes later this month.

ALLIANCE – For the first time in more than a century, Alliance City Schools will no longer offer adult education programs.

Superintendent Rob Gress said the district will close Alliance Career Center when classes end later this month.

The center at 500 Glamorgan St. offers adult education programs for cosmetology, medical billing and coding, STNA and welding. The center also housed the Robert T. White School of Practical Nursing, which also will end its operations.

“We are proud of all the career center has done for the community over the years,” Gress said. "However, as the district works to ensure we meet our goals, it’s becoming more and more evident that we need to focus our time and resources on educating students from preschool to high school.”

More on the Alliance Career Center: Alliance's adult education center was thriving in 2016

Gress, who formerly oversaw the career center's operations, said the landscape for education has changed. For students from preschool to high school, the district now has more responsibilities to help students overcome barriers that could prevent them from learning, such as mental health challenges.

Adult learners now have more educational options in or near Alliance that offer the same programs the center has provided over the years. He believes Alliance City Schools has been offering some type of adult education – whether it was community interest classes or career-based programs – since 1912.

Gress said the career center's enrollment often ranged from 36 to 50 total completers. He said only four students in the district's two-year cosmetology program will be affected by the closure. School administrators are working with the students to ensure they can continue their education in a nearby cosmetology program.

June 30 is graduation day, according to an online calendar.

Current career center students and graduates can access their transcripts by completing the form located on the Alliance High School website. Graduates of the career center should click the “Alumni Transcript Request” button on the homepage to complete the form.

Pearson Vue testing and background checks also affected

The career center also has served as a location for Pearson Vue testing and BCI/FBI background checks. The district will no longer offer Pearson Vue testing after the center closes. Alternate testing locations can be found on the PearsonVue website.

The school district will continue to offer background checks.

Reach Kelli at 330-580-8339 or kelli.weir@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @kweirREP.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Alliance Career Center to close its adult programs in June