BROCKTON – The Brockton School Committee voted Tuesday night to relocate the Brockton Therapeutic Day School and the Edison Day Academy, adding to a list of schools and programs that will have new homes next school year.
The Brockton Therapeutic Day School, a school that provides special education services, will move from its home at the Westgate Mall to the Jones Building on Sumer Street. The Edison Day Academy, also known as the Champion School, will move from Brockton High School to the Paine Building that previously housed the Adult Learning Center.
These changes come as Brockton Public Schools must vacate the Westgate Mall location by August. The school committee has discussed and approved several facilities moves over the last few weeks to make room for the programs that are housed at that building.
In addition to the Edison and Therapeutic schools, the Adult Learning Center, Promise High School and Community School programs will also be relocated ahead of next year. Those moves were approved at a previous school committee meeting on May 7.
Brockton Therapeutic Day School
The Brockton Therapeutic Day School is currently located in the building Brockton Public Schools leases at 365 Westgate Drive. Next year it’ll move to the Jones Building, a 34,000-square-foot facility that can fit 150 students and also includes a gym and a cafeteria.
Since the school serves students with special needs, the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education must approve the building before the therapeutic school can move in. James LaBillois, assistant superintendent of unified student services, said the Jones Building will likely have a smoother approval process from the state compared to other buildings in the city.
“The smaller classroom spaces lends itself relative to the smaller class sizes that we have in the Therapeutic Day School,” LaBillois said. “As well as the accessibility of smaller office spaces for our therapeutic staff to work with our students.”
LaBillois said “the availability of a gymnasium, a functional kitchen that actually cooks food for the students, as well as the neighborhood setting in which the building was located” are ideal for the students that attend the Therapeutic Day School.
School committee member Jorge Vega called the facility “Zen.”
Previously, the building housed the Promise High School, which the school committee voted on May 7 to relocate to the Huntington School.
Edison Day Academy
Brockton’s Edison Day Academy, a choice school for student who excel in a smaller environment than Brockton High, is currently located in Brockton High’s green building. The program has had several homes since it was created.
Just before the 2022-2023 school year, the Jones Building was renovated to suit the specific needs of the Edison, which at the time was called the Champion School. The school reopened and operated out of that facility for one year before moving into Brockton High School.
A look inside the Jones Building: How Champion High in Brockton went from old nursing home to school
Now the program will leave Brockton High and move to the Paine Center at 211 Crescent Street. The committee voted on May 7 to move the Adult Learning Center out of that building to make room for Edison Day Academy.
“The large classrooms at the Paine Center, the ALC, would fit Edison Day beautifully,” said Michele Conners, assistant superintendent of teaching & learning for grades six to 12.
More: Adult Learning Center moving to Goddard School despite opposition from students, staff
Conners said the building is big enough to allow Edison Day to increase enrollment and grow the program.
The school committee is still considering where to move the New Beginnings Reengagement Center, which is currently at a leased property on the Brockton Fairgrounds. The fairground lease comes to an end this summer and the committee voted at its May 15 meeting to send out a request for proposal for a space for the program.
The school committee has postponed a decision on the location of this center, pending the outcome of the request for proposal.
