Less familiar community education programs

Community Education Director Paul DeMorret presented an informational report to school board members at their October 27 meeting.  DeMorret’s slide show illustrated the number of programs currently taking place in Waseca under the umbrella of community education–some of which may be less familiar to the public, including the Family Education Center, Adult Basic Education (ABE), Opening Opportunities, and the enrichment/recreation programs for persons with disabilities. The Family Education Center, located in the west wing on the first floor of the Central building, houses seven preschool sections and four parent/child classes. The remaining first-floor rooms are used for the School Age Care (SAC) program. DeMorrett explained that enrichment and recreation classes such as cooking and dance are found on the second floor (along with the school district administration’s offices).  

Other entities not associated with Community Education such as Head Start, the high school Alternative Learning Center (ALC), and the Southwest Metro level four program (a special education program) are also housed in the Central building. When asked by school board member Dave Dunn how much of the building is currently being used, DeMorret replied “During a school day, there are probably four empty rooms.  That’s during the day. But those four rooms are used after school.”  Board member Charlie Priebe commented “That’s one of the questions we get with the whole Hartley issue. ‘Why can’t you use Central? What’s wrong with Central?’ Well, it IS being utilized.”  DeMorret agreed: “There’s a lot more in here than I think most people know.”

Additional items covered at the meeting included approval of the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school calendars, and of staff sharing contracts with Team Academy and NRHEG.