The Community Education Advisory Board members met on Tuesday in the Crookston High School conference room and established the purpose and goals of the board meetings and board member roles.
The Community Education Board will meet three more times during the school year. After discussion, board members agreed one of the main objectives of having these meetings is to share what services are available to the community created within the school district and other entities.
“Under the umbrella of community education, there are all sorts of programs that we offer through the school district,” said Director of Community Education and Principal of Washington Elementary School Denice Oliver, “We offer programs for people from birth to age 99 and beyond. One of our purposes of the community education board is to figure out what our community needs and wants for services.”
The board is made up of 16 community members that represent the school district, UMC, Alluma, Parks and Rec, Golden Link Senior Center, Lake Agassiz Regional Library, Builders Club, and more.
The purpose of having not just education representatives explaining events and services within the community but other local organizations as well as serving on the board is to collaborate and enhance ideas or to create programs that are not currently offered that can be provided through the Community Education board.
During the meeting, each member that attended gave program updates on what events they held in the Summer and so far in the Fall. After program updates were finished, discussion commenced regarding what the community should be offered in the upcoming months. They discussed possible classes in which people may be interested in developing a new skill, building more knowledge, or providing enrichment courses to develop new hobbies.
“A woods class would be an example, or we’re offering a child care clinic program,” said Oliver, “This is for people that want to be babysitters, and they learn how to take care of children in a safe way. They also learn how to do first-aid and what they need to know if they are caring for young children.”
One program highlighted during the meeting was the Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE), which has numerous events in November and December. “They offer many things throughout the year,” said Oliver, “Some of them are classes that people need to sign up for, and there are class lists that we can provide. We have classes like ‘Pop in and Play’ where kids can just come in and play in the Washington School gym. Specific dates are set up for that, but no registration is required for those.”
“Un-Plug and Play” is another event from the ECFE where children can show up at Washington Elementary School and interact with one another. Community events from the ECFE are posted every month on the Crookston Public Schools website.
There was only one item that received a motion during the meeting. The board approved that the last three scheduled board meetings will be face-to-face with no video call option.
The next Community Education Advisory meeting will occur on Tuesday, January 23, at 12:00 p.m.
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