No return planned for SCPPS’ community education program

St. Charles Parish Public Schools has no plans to bring back its community education program, which provided community members with an opportunity to learn new skills and participate in activities such as line dancing, wellness, cooking, art, and music.

“Based on the yearly net loss in budget and extensive drop in registration since Fall 2018, the Community Education Program was dissolved at the conclusion of the Spring 2022 semester,” SCPPS Director of Public Information Regina McMillan said.

The Community Education Program was established during the administration of Superintendent Dr. Bob Rice in the late 1960s.

“Community education participants were charged fees depending upon the courses selected,” McMillan said. “However, this revenue did not equal to the total cost of the program with the remaining expenses covered by St. Charles Parish Public Schools. Although it was never the intention of the Community Education Program to be financially self-sufficient, a balance was always sought between minimizing expenses while maintaining a valuable program for the community.”

According to McMillan, an internal audit was conducted in 2017 to review the operations and procedures of the program, and in 2018 the program was revised to address the net loss produced each year in the community education budget.

“Fall 2018 and Spring 2019 saw substantial decreases in registrations,” she said. “The community education team worked tirelessly to connect with both instructors and participants to better understand the needs of the community and to develop actionable steps to lead to more participation in the program.”

While these action steps resulted in a slight increase in registrations for Fall 2019 and Spring 2020, McMillan said the Spring 2020 semester was eventually cancelled due to the pandemic.

“In Spring 2021, approximately 28 people registered for a virtual platform of community education,” she said. “In Fall 2021, approximately 25 people registered for a combination of virtual and in-person offerings.”

McMillan said while community education returned to all in-person programming for Spring 2022, the ever-increasing availability of online tutorials on sites such as YouTube, Pinterest, and Google led to registration numbers that continued to be less than a third of pre-COVID numbers.