Nova Howard, 5 months old, on Tuesday explores the room she’ll receive care in while her mother, Rhonda Howard, and Howard’s fiance, Raymond Oakes, attend adult education classes at the Buker Community Center in Augusta. Augusta’s adult education program is offering free child care on Tuesdays and Thursdays for those who need it to be able to take classes. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal

AUGUSTA — Rhonda Howard cradled her 5-month-old daughter, Nova, to sleep with a bottle, hoping the infant would nap before Howard’s class started Tuesday afternoon.

Howard is two credits away from earning her high school diploma through Augusta Adult and Community Education, and once she completes that program, she plans to take classes to become a certified nursing assistant. She travels to the Buker Community Center from Waterville with her partner, Raymond Oakes, who is also taking adult education classes there to become a mechanic.

Without someone to watch Nova, Howard said continuing her studies — something she said she is inspired to do for her daughter — would be “very difficult.”

She is one of two students at the city’s adult education program making use of a new program that provides free child care on Tuesdays and Thursdays for those who need it to be able to take classes.

“It’s so helpful,” Howard said. “It makes it so people who want to go, can go.”

Director of Augusta Adult and Community Education Kayla Sikora started the “child watch” program in conjunction with the city’s Parks and Recreation Bureau two weeks ago after another student brought her 2-year-old son to her exam.

“Me being a mother, I was like, ‘I will hang out with her while you take the test,'” Sikora said, adding that she started to think of possible ways she could make the situation work. 

She then approached Augusta Parks and Recreation, which already runs a daily before- and after-school child care program in the Buker Community Center for elementary school-aged students. Director Bruce Chase and Beth Sproul-LeBrun, the city’s child care director, agreed to help.

According to Sproul-LeBrun, about 115 children use the city’s aftercare program on a daily basis.

Sproul-LeBrun said child care in the area is hard to acquire and can be expensive for some families.

Eunice Mabiala attends an adult education class Tuesday while her son, Lusiel, 2, receives care at the Buker Community Center in Augusta. Augusta’s adult education program is offering free child care on Tuesdays and Thursdays for those who need it to be able to take classes. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal

The new program for adult education students is licensed to serve up to four students and runs Tuesdays from 1-2:30 p.m. and Thursdays from 9-11 a.m.

Officials hope the offering will “increase and strengthen” Augusta’s adult education rate, according to a memoriam of understanding between the city’s adult education program and the its parks and recreation department, signed Oct. 25.

Augusta Adult and Community Education, which does not require people to live in Augusta to enroll, serves anywhere from 50 to 100 students at a given time, Sikora said.

It costs $60 each week to run the program, and funding comes out of the adult education budget. The price could increase if more than four students are able to use the service at a time.

“If we (can’t afford it in the future), we will find a way to make it work even if it’s only on Tuesdays and Thursdays for two-hour blocks,” Sikora said. “It’s so important.”

Eunice Mabiala brings her son, Lusiel, to the program so she can take classes to learn English. Lusiel, 2, sits with the child watch teachers and plays during the two hours his mother is in class.

Adult Education Director Kayla Sikora plays Tuesday with Lusiel Mabiala, 2, at the Buker Community Center in Augusta as his mother, Eunice, attends an adult education class. Augusta’s adult education program is offering free child care on Tuesdays and Thursdays for those who need it to be able to take classes. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal

“It feels good to have no problem,” Mabiala said about having the opportunity to drop off her son just a few classrooms away.

As the new director of the adult education program, Sikora said she feels “so passionate” about making sure people have access to an education that if the program could not afford to pay the child care option, she said she would figure it out if it meant paying out of her own pocket.  

Sikora, who previously worked for Waldoboro-area Regional School Unit 40, pointed out that the students who are involved with the adult education program are contributing to the economy by continuing their skills. 

“I am very passionate about students being able to access education,” said Sikora. “It directly affects the economy, and we want them to be contributing members of society, and for them to get to the next level if it’s education, or moving on to college, we want to help them because we believe in education.”