Survey will ask adult ed wants

By Nick Gevock - 10/22/2008

The Butte school district's adult community education program is striking out.

More than a dozen of the classes have had to be canceled over the past year because they lacked the minimum 11 enrollees. To deal with the problem, Butte school trustees on Monday said they will survey the public to determine which classes it wants from the program.

"We're not hitting it with our community," said Trustee Shain Wolstein.

Kathy Cannon, who oversees the program, called it "problematic." She said that's reflected by the 13 classes that had to be canceled this fall. The total intake from the program came to $5,795 and $225 had to be refunded to people who signed up for classes that were canceled.

"We still seem to get not a lot of interest from the community," she said. "Obviously right now what is coming forward is not sparking an interest." The most popular classes do fine, she said. Those include quilting, pottery and computer classes.

But finding instructors to teach the computer classes has been a challenge, Cannon said.

Superintendent Chuck Uggetti suggested some type of public survey to determine what the public would like from its community education program. He said if the current trend continues, it might be scaled down to offering classes one night a week.

"We're losing the program," he said. "It's alarming that the numbers are dropping so much." The board did not lay out specifics but will put together a committee to look at the program.

— Reporter Nick Gevock may be reached at nick.gevock@mtstandard.com