Depending on the day and the time of day you visit Churchill Community Education Center, you might encounter Head Start tots, youngsters carrying down-sized violins, teenagers playing badminton in the halls, or adults of all ages in classrooms. Sponsoring a wide range of activities and education over the years, besides the school district, have been nonprofit groups and for-profit organizations which rent Churchill.

Patrick Wolynski, Director of Continuing Education, who moved to Royal Oak from South Lyon, has been managing all these activities for the last ten years.

Churchill, a former junior high school, was closed in 1998, due to district wide declining enrollment, and converted that same year to a continuing education facility. For a short while, there was thought about attracting enough rentals to help the facility break even financially, and I was among several residents working with Wolynski and Andy Linell, Executive Director of Business Services, to explore the possibility of serving the training needs of private sector entities, like companies, technical societies, and trade associations

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Pat describes the scope of Churchill-users with enthusiasm, even those which have come and gone.  Genesis Church and the youth-focused Community Coalition, are examples.

Churchill’s current “education” offerings are listed at the end of this review. In terms of serving the “community” named in the school’s official name: The widely recognized Borgo Sisters Dance Studio conducts recitals over four or five nights . The Suzuki School of Music has been offering violin lessons to children aged 3 to 18 years for the past six years.

And the Royal Oak Historical Society Museum, for which I serve as registrar, is temporarily housed in a former shop classroom. The museum’s collection includes yet-to-be catalogued memorabilia from most of the closed elementary schools. The intention, after the museum moves early in 2010 to its permanent home in Fire Station Nbr. 1, is for high school students to participate in cataloging the artifacts from the elementary they might have attended, and posting the catalog records into the museum’s database.

An example of Wolynski’s dedication was displayed in 2007 when he alerted the society, at night, of the accident which caused water damage to over 100 artifacts and later made it possible for volunteers to sit on hallway floors at flexible hours to begin the task of restoring those items which could be restored or separated to be sent to professional restorers.

Once a month, Churchill conducts a Teen Night. About 400 students participate in dancing or gym activities.  High school athletic teams practice at Churchill: cheer leaders, basketball, and tennis. I encountered badminton in the hallway during some summer PhysEd program.

Pat and I spent considerable time discussing alternative education, a term which I know some people interpret to mean education for troubled students.  I commented that the experiences of cities here and there might seem to confirm such interpretations. Reluctant to render judgment about other schools, Pat comments, “There are a lot of great kids here, and lots of rules required to maintain a respectful learning environment, and we enforce the rules.” Enforcement includes monitoring the comings-and-goings of student. “Our students cannot expect to be readmitted if they have disappeared for days or weeks.”

Alternative education at Churchill has 150 daytime students, most of them Royal Oak residents who have dropped out of high school. There are 85 students at night, mostly adults. Alternative education classes run Monday through Thursday. Graduation is held at Royal Oak Middle School, and 500 friends, parents, and spouses show up.

I asked about the teachers. Is there a real or perceived loss of status when teaching alternative education? “They are here by choice. My six teachers have been here a minimum of 5 years. Then we have 11 years, and 25 years.”

Churchill also offers Adult Education and Adult Enrichment courses (everything from Computers to Retirement Planning), Early Childhood Education (including Childcare, Latchkey and Preschool), English as a Second Language, and GED Preparation and Testing.

The Historical Society has found that Pat Wolynski’s cooperative and enthusiastic mindset is duplicated in his staff, from office to custodians.

For further information: 248.435.8400 or www.royaloakschools.com. -- Sep 2009