The developing Carroll County Adult Education Program now has a five-member Advisory Board. There are openings for additional members.

Now serving are Judy Berkshire of Camden, retired Special Education teacher; Melissa Bishop of Flora, director of the Flora-Monroe Twp. Public Library; Michael Gonzalez of Delphi, chairman of the Carroll County Diversity Task Force; Joanne Lytton of Burlington, Extension Educator; and Peggy Stone of Camden, retired elementary school teacher.

Adult education is now a regional initiative, in partnership with the Department of Workforce Development. Although it has a regional umbrella, each county will have its own program. The Lafayette Adult Resource Academy (LARA) is taking the lead in program development. LARA representatives have initially concentrated a lot of their time in Carroll County, to help get a countywide program up and running.

Beverly Seese of Delphi, who is an academic and career counselor at LARA, is serving as the local program coordinator and has been leading a series of monthly meetings to establish the program in Carroll County.

The next meeting originally was set for Sept. 9, but has been changed to Sept. 23 at 9 a.m. at the DCSC superintendent’s office. It’s a meeting of the Advisory Board, but the public is welcome to attend and offer suggestions and comments.

Federal money

LARA applied for and received a federal grant for Region 4, to be divided among the 12 counties. Based on a funding formula, Carroll County will receive $12,276 for 2011. It was previously announced that Carroll County would receive $8,857. Beth Davilla, assistant director of LARA, said Carroll County’s allocation has been revised because the first allocation didn’t take into consideration the existing GED class enrollment at DCHS. Part of each county’s allocation is based on past adult education enrollment. Davilla said the primary use of the federal funds will be for teacher salaries. She added that volunteer teaching assistants would also be welcome.

Existing programs

Carroll County’s existing programs of GED classes, ESL classes, and literacy tutoring all stand to benefit and grow if they are incorporated into the county-wide program.

At the adult education meeting in August, representatives gave overviews of the three existing programs in the county.

Carolyn Pearson represented the GED program. She is one of two teachers of the classes, held at Delphi Community High School two evenings a week, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in room AA4. Pearson said she has been with the GED program since 1990-1991. There were no classes this summer, but they will resume Sept. 14. She said students who complete the program have to go to the White County Learning Lab or to LARA for the testing.

Pearson said the program’s success rate is about 15 percent because a large number don’t complete the classes. She attributed this to “a multitude of problems in their lives.”

Davilla said a total program, that includes more services, could reduce some of those barriers to education.

JoAnn Vorst, director of LARA, said there is a possibility that one of LARA’s testers could come to Delphi.

Ralph Walker, superintendent of DCSC, said the school corporation is the fiscal agent for state funding for the GED classes. He said the classes are not just for people in the Delphi school district, but for anyone in the county. He also commented that the school corporation has been subsidizing the classes because the costs have been greater than the state funding received.

Michael Gonzalez spoke about the ESL (English as a Second Language) classes that came out of the Carroll County Diversity Task Force. The teacher is Rinda Garcia, who works as an interpreter at the Family Health Clinic in the Brook Center. Gonzalez said the classes began in January.

He said classes were held the first 12 weeks without any resources, because there was a need. Then they received a $1,000 Round-Up grant from REMC and a $1,722 grant from Focus on the Future. Classes are held in the Delphi Public Library and at the Brook Center.

Gonzalez said the ESL classes teach language/survival skills, and they are operating on a shoestring. There are 795 Hispanics in Carroll County, according to Gonzalez, and their two main sources for employment are IPC in Delphi and Tyson in Logansport.

Gonzalez said some interest has been shown by local businessmen in a class in Spanish as a Second Language.

He said becoming a part of the county and regional program will help the ESL/SSL classes move forward.

Peggy Stone said she has worked individually with six adults over the past year, helping them learn to read. She has volunteered her time, and picked up free materials from the White County Learning Lab.

LARA sees advantages to these and other services all being located in one building, for the convenience of learners, for pooling of resources, and for public awareness of one place where people can go for adult education, job seeking, and career planning.

Next steps

One of the duties of the local Advisory Board will be to find such a place. The Delphi Armory has been discussed as a possibility. Another responsibility will be to seek local funding sources to supplement state and federal funding.

Davilla said for funding purposes, the local program also needs a strategic plan. She and Linda Warner, adult education liaison for Tippecanoe Area Partnership, said they would come up with a skeletal plan by the next meeting, for review by the local Advisory Board.