New Adult Ed Director Discusses Changes in Program with Plymouth School Board

Jason Rivich, the Plymouth Community School Corporation’s new Adult Education Director.  He started with the corporation in early March.  He’s not new to the system, he taught adult ed in Plymouth for about a year and a half.  He also worked at the County Jail teaching inmates to take their high school equivalency test and English as a Second Language (ESL).  Jason also taught at St Michael and in Bremen.

Mr. Rivich said he’s been working on getting an honest assessment of the current program and looking at the numbers and graduation rates.  

He told the school board on April 4^th that Workforce Development owns Adult Education.  Jason wanted to highlight some of the changes that have been made.  He said the first thing was moving to a managed enrollment with orientation the first week of each month for new students.  (Monday & Wednesday from 9 a.m. to noon and 5 to 8 p.m.)  Rivich said it is more fiscally responsible and it lets the students know what our expectations of them are. They are also collaborating with Plymouth School administration, CTE, DWD, WorkOne, and other adult ed programs because typically it’s not just the high school education they need but more including transportation, resume writing, and even assistance in paying for the GED testing.  They are also collaborating with all community partners to serve our adult students.  

Jason said they are continuing to offer to test those students that have partially completed their education as a way to expedite them through the process of getting their GED. 

Other changes include becoming a GET test administrator site.  They have received a $9,400 technical grant from DWD to purchase the PCs that are used by students to take the GED testing.

The Adult Ed Director said they are also working on the ESL, English as a Second Language offerings, and being in the Lincoln Education Center has made it much easier with technology and internet accessibility. They are also working with them to make sure they have a plan for after their GED, either additional schooling or getting involved in CTE opportunities.

When asked about the current enrollment Jason Rivich said, “It’s been a bit of a challenging year.  I think for this year we are at 96. Something we want to build on.”  When asked what his goal was Jason said over the last three years, they have seen a decline in enrollment.  His goal is to get back up to an enrollment of 145 with 22 high school equivalency graduates.