The Warsaw Adult Education Program has grown from 128 students five years ago to 412 last year, program Coordinator Brenda Utter told the Warsaw School Board Tuesday night. “We’re the only ones in our region who have increased in numbers,” she reported. She said adult education is mostly grant funded. “We run programming in Kosciusko County and Fulton County,” Utter said. “We get approximately $950 per student, and we have students ages 16 to 68.” Currently, she said WAE has students from 10 different countries. “We run a curricular just like any one else. We have students at the third-grade reading level and the 12th-grade reading level, and they’re all in the same classroom,” she said, noting how well-rounded teachers must be. Utter teaches a “Transition English as a Second Language” class two nights a week. Her students have a variety of backgrounds. One has a doctorate in China, another has a bachelor’s degree from Korea while one woman only has a sixth-grade education from Mexico. Adult education in Indiana is operated by the Department of Workforce Development, not the Department of Education, she said, so the goal is to get students job-ready. Washington STEM Academy Principal Tom Ray told the board, “Brenda prepares them, I test them.” He said Indiana no longer administers the General Educational Development test. Instead, it uses the High School Equivalency test, one of only four states to do so. Tests are also conducted only by computer now, Ray said. When the state changed its mind in the last eight months to go from the GED to HSE, that led to some computer problems, he said. “We’re hoping to get back to the numbers we were testing at this time last year,” he said. Utter also informed the school board that about 60 percent of WAE students come in between the fourth- and sixth-grade reading levels. “This really meets a need in our community,” David Robertson, Warsaw Community Schools chief academic officer, told the board. “It’s encouraging to hear the numbers continue to grow for us.” In other business, the school board: • Approved the 2015 budget as advertised. The public hearing was Sept. 5. The budget totals $73,449,672 for all funds, but the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance must still review and cut it. • Heard from Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert that the school corporation’s total enrollment for pre-kindergarten to 12th grade for September was 7,220 students. That total is down 27 students compared to this time last year. Of the 214 transfer students to Warsaw, 79 were from Tippecanoe Valley; 35, Wawasee; 71, Whitko; and 29 were from other school districts. • Heard a “thank you” from board member Dan Metzger to Warsaw’s boys and girls cross country teams who coordinated with Wawasee cross country teams to help an autistic student achieve one of his dreams of winning a race. “To see the students working together was amazing,” Metzger said. • Heard the November school board meetings will be moved up. The work session will be at 4 p.m. Nov. 11, and the regular meeting will be at 7 p.m. Nov. 17.
