Logansport Schools closing adult learning program

LOGANSPORT — Getting a GED or learning English in Logansport will get a little harder next year.

The Logansport Community School Corporation is set to close the Landmark Adult Learning Center at the end of the school year.

Julie Lauck, superintendent of the school system, said the schools were in a budget crisis much like school systems across the state.

“With all of our budget cuts, that was just one area that we thought we needed to take a closer look at, so we decided we would not offer adult education here,” Lauck said.

Ending the programs at Landmark will save the school system about $70,000.

Landmark, housed in the former Jefferson Elementary School building on Tanguy Street, provides GED classes and English as a new language classes.

Lauck said it was not clear yet what organization might take over those functions. She also said that the school system did not yet know how the closure would affect the teaching staff employed at the facility.

“Hopefully we will be able to place everyone, but we aren’t sure at this point,” Lauck said.

Clark Miller, the principal at Century Career Center, said officials were looking at who might fill the gap left by the closing of Landmark.

“I don’t know for sure, but there have been discussions with organizations and groups that want to pick those up,” Miller said.

Like many government agencies and educational organizations, Landmark has been a victim of current economic conditions. “That has caused a strain as to where that funding flow is going to come from,” Miller said. “We have budget restraints that we didn’t have before.”

He also said the state had begun to change how it wanted adult education done in Indiana.

“There is a state framework that is changing,” he said. “We haven’t gotten any information from the state as far as how that’s all going to play out.”

Miller added that the school corporation’s special-education program was not affected by the closure, though it is housed in the same building.

Even with the ending of the Landmark program, Lauck said Logansport schools were in a relatively strong financial situation.