Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Almost exactly three months after the Jefferson County Commission agreed to lease the former elections office on Dogwood Street to a homeschooling organization, the group has moved its operation into the building.
Tammy Brookins, president of the Jefferson County Homeschool Association (JCHA), reports that the group completed its move into what it calls its new resource center on Saturday, May 1.
“We cleaned, painted and moved everything over the week, culminating in the major load on Saturday,” Brookins emailed. “We are in the process of organizing classroom space and the resource library for parents to come get their curriculum now or plan their school year.”
She said the organization was looking forward to the next school year, with planned co-ops, academic classes and an arts program beginning in the fall.
The JCHA, she said, would hold its second annual homeschool graduation ceremony at the First Baptist Church at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 22. Meanwhile, on Thursday, May 20, the students would perform Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing at the Monticello Opera House, beginning at 6 p.m., she said.
Brookins expressed gratitude to the Jefferson County Commission for allowing the use of the elections office. And she also expressed gratitude to the Monticello Opera House for allowing the group to complete its school year there after it lost the space that it had formerly occupied.
The latter space was at 575 Water Street, what formerly had served as the school district’s administration offices.
In early January, the Jefferson County School Board asked the group to vacate the premises after the two couldn’t agree on the amount that the association should pay for the building’s utilities.
The district was asking for $512 monthly, based on an average of how much it paid in utilities for the entire building. The association, meanwhile, was willing to pay $100 monthly at most, arguing that it was only occupying a small part of the building.
Unable to reach an agreement, the group had no choice but to vacate the building. It was shortly thereafter that Brookins approached the commission with a request to use the former elections office building, which had been vacant since the elections office had moved to its new location on West Washington Street.
The commission was amenable to the request, and over a couple of weeks, the two worked out an agreement that was executed on Feb. 4 and that called for the JCHA to pay a $25 monthly fee plus whatever the utility costs.
The group had hoped to move into the building by March 1. The move, however, had to be delayed because of repairs that the building had to undergo, as well as the confidential information and elections equipment that was still being stored there and that had to be relocated to another climate-controlled environment.
For more information about homeschooling and how to get involved with the JCHA, call Brookins at (850) 210-3653. Or simply show up at the Wacissa River on a Thursday, when the group regularly congregates there. Call Brookins for the exact hours when the group meets.
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