Springfield, IL  (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Wednesday afternoon, District 186 sent a statement about the subject of this story. The statement is below this original story.

Tuesday’s Springfield city council meeting generated bigger District 186 news than most District 186 school board meetings do.

“Staff learned last week of the closure of Lawrence Education Center at the end of the current school year,” said Alex Rockford, the center’s workplace coordinator.

The news took council members, including Ald. Erin Conley, by surprise,

“In 2022, you had over 200 students how many do you have?” Conley asked. “This year we enrolled 270,” Rockford responded.

A District 186 school board member told WTAX News via text message Tuesday the idea is to move programming to expand alternative education.

From District 186:

“After considerable collaboration with Lincoln Land Community College, LLCC will be the sole grant writer for this cycle of the adult education grant that is available from the Illinois Community College Board. Every three years communities have the opportunity to apply. In the past, both District 186 and LLCC held separate grants. This actually hurt both programs by splitting funding into two different models in our one community. We will still serve as a liaison to support students in gaining access to LLCC programming and use our communications platforms to support LLCC. After attending conferences for adult education programming, the shift has moved from school districts having adult education programming to community colleges serving in this role as they have more resources and career programming readily available upon completion.

“Our goal is for the District to work with LLCC and utilize their GED / Equivalency program for our students that are identified as qualifying candidates. This will be one grant with one program offered, but a “partnership” to identify students, assist in signing up for courses and mutual encouragement across our organizations.

“Our dedication to students of all ages in this community continues to be unwavering. We respect the legacy of serving our adults in our community and feel confident that this will allow for this program to thrive in new and exciting ways.”