Adult Ed Back Open On The Blvd.

Is the money for this project coming out of next year's BOE budget? The one that is currently already $12 million in the hole? And if the lease ends June '25, but the construction doesn't finish until May '26 (if it's on time), where does adult ed go for that year? Seems like another case for school building consolidation.

Moving the adult education program to Bassett St in Newhallville puts it in territory that is not neutral for those from neighborhoods with rivalries. This will impact adult ed learners who can not safely attend classes in that neighborhood.
It should be moved to a neutral location where everyone who needs adult education can safely access it.
I know the BOE and BOA has members on both boards who are perfectly aware that the new location doesn’t work for some adult ed students because of neighborhood affiliations conflicts, and that it would make more sense to locate it either downtown or in the Long Wharf district, or even better, on the ground floor of the new development at the Church St South location across the street from where the new multi-modal transit center is supposed to be built. If every bus that goes through New Haven stops at the transit center, adult ed students can safely get to the school, or walk from downtown to get there.

Heather, I don’t know that Bassett Street is the best location for Adult Ed. But none of the alternatives you suggest are plausible in the near to mid-term, and staying at the current location is not a viable option in the long-term.

Church Street South is an empty lot and will likely remain one for many years. The Housing Authority has just begun the planning process for the site. There is commercial space available downtown. But I very much doubt you could find 40,000 square feet in an existing building (or adjacent buildings) that met the Americans with Disabilities Act and other legal requirements. A Long Wharf site would almost certainly require new construction. Most of the existing buildings there are at or past there useful lives.

One final note. As the earlier NHI article noted, 1,000 of Adult Ed’s 1,300 students are English Language learners. Most are immigrants and refugees. The neighborhood conflicts you mention are real, but are not salient to this population. FWIW, my wife taught English as a Second Language in NH Adult Ed for a decade. She regularly spoke of the challenges her students faced. Neighborhood conflicts was not one of them.

Heather, as I said, Bassett Street may not have been the best site for Adult Ed. There were intelligent people who argued that the former Strong School would have been a better site. But as folks say at the Capitol, that train has left the station.

Even in the scenario that the state and city were willing to reconsider their decisions, the alternatives you offer are not plausible. Among other things, an alternative site would require additional state legislation and almost certainly additional state funding. In the case of downtown or Long Wharf, the city would have to pay for the new site. In the case of Church Street South, the school would displace revenue-producing uses. And then the city would have to hire an architect to restart the design process.

Heather, the city should address the root problem of youth violence and gangs.

Schools have a life expectancy of decades. I will make no prediction as to what will have to Newhallville in this period, other than it is very likely to change markedly.You likely know that the play West Side Story was set in what is now Lincoln Center. Within a decade of the play’s debut, that neighborhood had changed radically.