CER is on the move
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FAIRMONT - After having left five years ago, Fairmont Community Education and Recreation (CER) is returning to the Fairmont Elementary School this week.
CER had most recently been in the south side of the elementary school, where the orchestra program currently uses space. When their needs expanded, CER was shifted over to the Southern Minnesota Educational Campus (SMEC) building.
At the March 24 school board meeting, the agreement between the district and the city of Fairmont for CER to be in the SMEC building was not renewed after 2025's one-year lease.
Conversations have been continuing within the city about what to do with the SMEC building moving forward, which CER Director Stephanie Busiahn said was part of the reason for the move, but not the only one.
"Our school board really wanted us back into a school facility," she said. "There is something to be said about collaborative work when we’re all in the same spaces."
Going into this move, where they will occupy the space Open Door Health Clinic had previously been, Busiahn said they knew they wanted to be back in the building before the students start the school year.
"Summer is a really busy time for us, our busiest time typically, with a lot of different pieces," she said. "This actually aligned with everybody’s schedules, the moving company. We had a little bit of a lull from a programming standpoint."
As for why the elementary school is their new location, Busiahn said it was a natural fit for CER.
"There’s a lot of clientele here that we service with after-school youth programming, those types of things," she said. "It made sense for us if we were going to go back into a school facility to be the elementary school. In addition to that, then it came down to space availability. Great space, easily accessible from door number one, as families and students come right in that area."
In addition, Busiahn said it will open up more opportunities and communication on what works and what doesn't with programming.
"There is certainly growth for us to really hear and understand what we’re looking at from a programmatic standpoint, and offering some additional classes based on timing of those pieces," she said. "For a lot of our after-school programming pieces, it’ll be really convenient that it’s located right here. We have staff right here that can bridge some of those gaps based on start times of programs."
Starting Monday, CER partnered with Fitzgerald Moving to get all of their stuff boxed up, and Tuesday was spent moving everything into the new offices. By this afternoon, Busiahn said all of their stuff will be in the new space, and everything should be solidly in place by the end of the week.
Throughout the process, Busiahn said it has been the best possible scenario.
"We’ve had a lot of support," she said. "We truly have the best maintenance and custodial staff ever. They have done a ton of work leading up to this, making sure that our spaces are ready to go for this move. Countless hours during a time frame when their plates are very full the way it is. They have a very short period of time to be able to get both buildings turned around for the school year. To throw in a major move, our maintenance, IT and custodial staff have been fantastic."
Through the move, Busiahn said people can still contact CER at (507) 235-3141 or Sbusiahn@fairmont.k12.mn.us.