GARFIELD Gleanings
by Marcia Walerstein-Sibony, Garfield Guild Steward

What is continuing education in Glendale, and whom does it serve? Is it the student who never finished high school and wants a second chance? Is it the immigrant who first has to learn basic English and then gain employment skills while still strengthening her English? Is it the unemployed engineer, production assistant, or hotel worker, whose job has been cut in this economic recession? Is it a mommy and daddy who never in their wildest dreams thought they’d be in class to learn about bringing up baby, or the kind that scours the Internet for the latest child development updates? At Glendale College’s Continuing Education program at Garfield, it’s all of these things.

Much of its success is the result of hard work and devotion by Jane Dilucchio, former chair of Continuing Education Business and Life Skills. Because of her many years of success and dedication to the program, building strong community ties along the way, Jane received the William F. Parker Exceptional Service Award at last spring’s commencement. This was entirely a surprise to her. But to those who have worked with her, it shouldn’t have been. Starting with just a few supplies in the back of a trailer, Jane built a program to help students pass the G.E.D. and improve their basic skills. As a teacher, she has a special relationship to her students, building their confidence until they realize, indeed they can and do “get it.”

From this start, she developed additional programs, honed her grant-writing skills and expanded the center to include the departments of Continuing Education Business and Life Skills, Parent Education, Developmental Skills Lab, Home Arts, and Life-Long Learning, geared for seniors. She got the Board of Trustees’ approval to offer our own high school diploma for returning adults. In the Noncredit Business program, she developed several courses that offer an approved vocational certificate upon completion of the program.

When asked what direction she would like to see the programs take, Jane said she hopes that more collaboration and smoother transitions between the programs can be developed, so that students can move easily between ESL or Developmental Skills and the vocational certificated programs.

Another challenge is the way to document and assess student achievement. Acknowledging the uniqueness of every student’s path or quest, she pondered what we actually mean by progress for these students, and how we assess it. A program may not begin or end with the semester; it is the student’s own mastery which determines completion. She believes that we cannot know how long this mastery may take, or even in what way the student will be able to demonstrate knowledge, so we must be open and flexible as to how we assess a student or a program.

The graduation ceremony is really important for these students, in Jane’s opinion. It means a lot to them and their families when they are awarded that certificate, which they know stands for knowledge. Friends and siblings often realize that if “they can do it, perhaps I can, too.”

Jane is active beyond the local level. She has been a board member of the Association of Continuing and Community Education (ACCE), where she shared ideas and experience with others in similar positions throughout the state.

When she wasn’t overwhelmed with teaching and committee duties, she…wrote a detective novel! Relationships Can Be Murder, published by New Victoria Press, got rave reviews. Another book is at a publisher, and works in progress are on the computer.

Presently Jane has left all her administrative duties and returned full-time to teaching the math and science classes at Garfield. She said she missed all the contact with the wonderful staff in the various departments, but is happy to be relieved of some of the headaches.

Jane’s years of devotion and accomplishment, and being the recipient of the William F. Parker Exceptional Service Award, has drawn much deserved attention to the Garfield Campus and its Continuing Education Business and Life Skills department.

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