Grant awarded to Royal Oak Schools adult education program

ROYAL OAK — It’s never too late to finish high school and receive a diploma.

Through the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer gave 15 schools in Michigan a total of $3 million to boost their efforts in helping adult learners ages 23 and older to obtain their high school diplomas.

Royal Oak Schools’ Churchill Community Education Center, 707 Girard Avenue, Royal Oak, received $58,000 of that money, which was announced March 10, and plans to put it toward transportation, salaries for teachers and mentors of the program, and upgrades to software, according to Joy Zug, adult education coordinator.

“The program is designed to help people who have families and jobs be able to finish their high school credential,” Zug said.

This is the fourth year Zug has applied for this grant, and the fourth time the school has been given the money. This grant money does not fully fund the program, but it helps the team of teachers and mentors in their work. Other funding comes from the State School Aid Act.

“We are very thankful for this, (the grant), it helps us out a lot. It’s not our main funding source, but it certainly helps with the high school diploma people,” she said.

Zug said that the program takes the average student around two years to complete, but it can be done at any speed. It’s all up to the students and their availability.

There are approximately 45 students currently enrolled in the high school diploma program. To complete the program, the students must bring in their transcripts from whenever they went to high school.

Whatever criteria they did not finish at that time is what they need to do in the diploma program.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re 47 or 27, whatever the requirements were when your cohort graduated, those are the requirements you need to complete now,” Zug said. “People can test out of classes; we can accelerate classes for people so that they learn at their own speed.”

The diploma program at Churchill Community Education Center is a statewide program open to anybody in the state of Michigan. But, it also requires the students to come into the building at least once a week, which can be difficult for some people.

Part of the $58,000 will be going toward helping those who need help with the transportation aspect.

“A lot of the people quit the program because they can’t get here. So, we recently instituted a reimbursement program,” Zug said. “We can’t incentivize people to come here by giving them gas cards, but we can reimburse, so it’s based on the IRS mileage rate of how long it takes you to get there, how many miles your house is away, and we just reimburse gas cards or bus passes to help people solve the transportation problem a little bit.”

Part of the money will also be going toward the software program Edgenuity, which the district uses to provide online classes.

“We use the software program to provide the online content of the classes, and then the teachers and mentors help the people during the weekly in-person class if they don’t understand something taught online,” Zug said. “And that software is, you know, kind of pricey, so the grant helps us pay for that every year.”

The students are split up between three mentors or teachers who specialize in helping the adults complete the requirements for their high school diplomas, according to Zug. The grant will also help to pay for their salaries.

Michiganders with a high school diploma can earn over $7,600 more per year than those without one, according to a press release sent out by the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.

“We want every Michigander, no matter who they are, to have a chance to learn more and earn more with a high-quality public education and a path to a good-paying job,” Whitmer said in the press release. “This investment will help the more than 600,000 Michigan adults who don’t yet have a diploma get one so they can earn more money to protect and provide for themselves and their family. Getting this done also helps businesses expand in Michigan by connecting them with the talent they need to succeed. Let’s keep working together to make our state an even better place to live, work and invest.”

The Churchill Community Education Center, 707 Girard Ave. in Royal Oak, is where students go to in-person classes.

The next round of the adult education program registration will begin on Aug. 1 for the fall semester. There is a $25 registration and testing fee. To register, visit ccec.royaloakschools.org.