Community members will be able to take night classes for the first time through ConVal’s adult diploma program, thanks to a grant from the state.
Program director Tyler Mudrick, who is also a special education teacher and English and social studies co-teacher at ConVal High School, said the grant came about unexpectedly, when he received the application from the state before February break.
“I wrote up a justification that essentially said, in our current budget, we don’t make enough to pay teachers to teach at night,” he said. “Not thinking it would be granted, and then Monday morning we came back from vacation, I had an email in my inbox that said ‘Congratulations.’”
The one-time grant of $25,000 was given with the explicit intent of providing expanded credit options for the program, otherwise known as night classes.
“It’s not a game-changing sum of money, but it’s definitely something that can help students in need that we haven’t had the opportunity to do in the past couple years,” Mudrick said.
Classes will begin Monday, March 21. This is a fast turnaround, but a necessary one, Mudrick said, as the grant funding has to be spent by June 30.
“In order to get things running, we have to start as soon as possible,” he said.
The classes will run through June 6, with English classes being held Mondays from 5 to 8 p.m. and High School Equivalency Test tutoring in the same time slot. Social studies classes will be Tuesdays starting March 22, from 5 to 8 p.m., and math will begin March 23 to continue on Wednesdays in the same evening timeframe.
The importance of these classes for the community, Mudrick said, will be reflected in the way they are taught. The adult diploma program includes the ability to build up credit hours as necessary to meet credit requirements, as well as options for work-study, credit recovery, one-on-one work and career and technical education. The new night classes will include opportunities for independent work and other ways to showcase skills that aren’t exclusive to class time.
“It’s just providing the opportunities for as many students as possible,” Mudrick said. “It’s delivering the instruction in ways that students can show their skills and competencies.”
Mudrick said these kinds of classes are an important option for many community members, including students at the high school who have struggled due to the pandemic or other reasons and adults who missed out on high school credits. The night classes will particularly benefit the latter group, he said.
“We’re in a really good spot where can finally offer more opportunities to those adults in the community, but we can also offer it to students in the building who have lost credits over the past couple years,” he said. “It’s just nice to have a few extra options.”
By and large, the adult diploma program has been used mostly by students already at the high school, according to Mudrick. There have been a number of reasons for this, he added, most recently related to pandemic restrictions of adults in the building.
“Because we mostly serve dually enrolled students, the budget funding is very minimal,” he said, making it difficult to fund programs such as night classes in previous years. Therefore, Mudrick said, the more adults who join the night classes, the more funding the adult diploma program as a whole will receive.
“Right now, there’s been a pretty good interest by adults in the community,” he said. “Definitely a little bit better than expected. The more people we can secure now to put numbers and seat numbers in the classrooms, that’s more funding for next year so we can potentially run something like this again.”
Enrollment is ongoing, and there will be no deadline, according to Mudrick. Even in the middle of the class offerings in the coming months, those who are interested can reach out.
“If there’s an adult or student that finds this opportunity viable for them, I think the best thing for us is to accept them,” he said.
Those interested can reach out to Mudrick at tmudrick@conval.edu, and more information on the adult diploma program can be found on the district website, convalsd.net.