Eastern Suffolk BOCES Opens New Adult Ed Program

Adults on the North Fork looking to go back to school for a degree won't have to travel far anymore.

The Eastern Suffolk Boards of Cooperative Educational Services opened a new adult education program at the  H.B. Ward Career and Technical Center on Thursday.

Building 5 on the BOCES campus, located on North Griffing Avenue, is now devoted exclusively to adult education and will offer several more daytime classes, and a variety of evening adult education classes ranging from small engine repair and landscape design to cake decorating and dog grooming. BOCES officials said classes would begin on Sept. 19.

"This is a major step in terms of our ability to serve the East End and especially the North Fork," said BOCES Chief Operating Officer Gary Bixhorn, adding that the audience for adult education on the North Fork has long been underserved.

The classrooms in Building 5 have been upgraded with smartboards and fresh paint, while an old custodial garage has been altered into a workshop for automotive education, said BOCES Assistant Principal Marie Davis. Two clinical medical assistant laboratory feature dummy arms to practice taking blood as well as other medical supplies.

"We change due to the community's needs," Davis said. The facility will now focus on career technologies, special career training, and general adult education, she said.

The non-profit organization will fund the classes entirely through tuition costs, though they insisted BOCES offered a cheaper and faster alternative to traditional four-year colleges.

Local political leaders praised the expanded program as an important tool for helping prepare residents for a challenging job market.

“People can’t get a job because they don’t have the training they need,” Suffolk County Legislator Ed Romaine said at the ribbon cutting ceremony. "This program gives that training."