Adelphoi Village is adding career training for students in its education program, which is being relocated to Specialty Outreach Services at the former Institute Hill School on First Street in Butler when it opens in the fall.

Butler City Council recently approved a zoning permit allowing Adelphoi to use three rooms as classrooms for the program.

Adelphoi is moving from its location on Cunningham Street, where it has been operating for about 20 years, and moving away from referring to the program as alternative education.

“We're going to call it a private school. We're getting away from the alternative education lingo. We're a private academic school,” said Douglas Carlquist, Adelphoi chief operating officer.

The program accepts students in grades six to 12 from the Butler Area, South Butler County, Moniteau, Karns City Area and Slippery Rock Area school districts who are not succeeding in regular education programs, he said.

Adelphoi is licensed to have up to 36 students in its program, but it usually has 30, he said.

Career and technical training, which Carlquist described as a “mini vo-tech” program, is being added to the three existing programs Adelphoi runs.

“We were looking for space to expand programming. We're adding a career readiness program at the Butler location to provide kids with a mini vo-tech program. They get to explore miniature versions of regular vo-tech programs to see if they're interested in pursuing a trade,” Carlquist said.

The staff — which includes one teacher in each room, a licensed, school based therapist, support staff and a principal — has been trained to conduct the career readiness program.

The three main programs are day treatment, emotional support and dropout prevention.

The school districts refer students to the emotional support and dropout prevention programs, and the Butler County juvenile probation office refers children to the day treatment program that is licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Resources, Carlquist said.

The emotional support program is a temporary placement to assist students in successfully returning to their home school.

The Your Educational Success (YES) Dropout Prevention Program helps students recover credits to graduate.

The day treatment program offers a therapeutic setting for students who are disruptive in traditional schools or charged with truancy.

“These kids aren't meeting with success in public school. They can be regular or special education students,” Carlquist said. “We take the place of the public school in these cases.”

Adelphoi offers the “Adelphoi Promise” to students who successfully complete the program.

“Any student who completes the program is eligible to go to one of eight community colleges for free at Adelphoi's cost, and Butler County Community College is included. We cover tuition; we cover their books. We give them a computer,” he said.

Brenda Alter, executive director of Specialty Outreach Services, said she welcomes Adelphoi.

“I'm really looking forward to the partnership,” Alter said. “They have remarkable teachers.”

Specialty Outreach provides classes in parenting and co-parenting, anger management, independent living skills and social skills, and supervises child-parent visitation for Children and Youth Services.

Referrals come from Butler and Armstrong counties, she said.