JAY — At the Regional School Unit 73 board of directors meeting on Thursday evening, Oct. 10, Robyn Raymond, director of RSU 73 Spruce Mountain Adult and Community Education said more young people are enrolling in adult education programs.

Regional School Unit 73 Spruce Mountain Adult and Community Education is seeing more students aged 16-20 using its programs. The adult education program is located at right in the Central Office, 9 Cedar Street in Livermore Falls. File photo

“I think it is critical that I address some of the manor issues that we are seeing in our classrooms, some trends,” Raymond stated. “We are seeing a significant increase in young students. When I last reported to the state the number of students we were serving between the ages of 16 and 20, over a six month period we had 36 students enrolled. For this year, in just one month we are serving 46 students between the ages of 16 and 20.”

Raymond emphasized what she was sharing is a complex issue, that there are many factors at play. “It is not a direct correlation to area high schools and drop out rates with this,” she stressed. “I do think it is worth acknowledging and at least starting some dialogue about the shifting needs of our students.”

When Raymond became director 10 years ago, students were in the 30 to 50 year old range, she said.

“This is really a critical need,” she noted. “Students are hungry. They don’t have natural supports, so just the efforts with our instructors are sometimes not with instructing.”

Raymond wanted to make the board aware of shifts happening in adult education programming. “I plan to come to you next month with a full data report of exactly what we are seeing,” she said. “Kind of looking at it through a statistical lens and also anecdotally.”

The shift in younger students in adult education is not unique to Regional School Unit 73, Raymond stated. “We are actually seeing this across the state, but specifically in our community it is a very high spike,” she added.

In other news, the culinary arts program started this month, Raymond stated. The To Go Cafe is expected to begin the week of Oct. 28 with menus and ordering links to be posted on the Facebook page, she said.