Spare Adult Ed

It is imperative that as adults we have a say regarding the elimination of classes, and in ensuring that our instructors in the Adult Education programs of Santa Barbara City College are properly compensated! Additional administrators are not needed! The salary for additional people in the upper administration could be spread out among the fine instructors of Adult Ed who are underpaid for all their fine efforts, care, and love of teaching.

The vocational programs for a majority of the students should be started in the high school years, and not need City College to pick up the expense for these classes in their later years. The school system should be on top of the many needs of the community such as vocational and ESL classes beginning in the very early years.

For those of us who can pay the fees, please consider that before sweeping cuts through the arts programs.

The Adult Education classes are vital to this community and serve more than just a “learning” experience. They provide a social outlet for many older adults, plus the accessibility of Wake and Schott Centers make them easily reached by bus, walking or bicycling.

I firmly believe that as adults we have paid our “dues” and really don’t have a whole lifetime ahead of us. For the most part we have planned for our senior years and expect to be compensated for our efforts during our earlier years through paying our property taxes and all other taxes imposed on our households.

I attended the “Community Forum” held on Tuesday, October 27 at the Tannahill Auditorium, and came away with the following: It was crowded. There was no place to sit down. I had to stand outside. It was cold. I could not hear or see what went on in the auditorium-Rosalie Sandro

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Santa Barbara Bonding

I have worked as a fine arts model for nine years in the figure classes and during this time I have been a part of and a witness to many evens: growth, awakenings, tears, laughter, births of idea,s and doors that open the mind and heart. These classes allow us to be the creative beings that we strive to be.

I am also a student of clay and glass fusing and I have learned about structuring, planning, and finishing a design. I have learned how to work in a community with group projects. I have given my time to teach the new students and shared my supplies happily. These classes are the healthiest kind of therapy for they have taught me to let go, get over myself and become a better me.

I have made friends with people from around the world and gotten close to the friends from around the corner. Our community is thriving, alive, and full of commitment and devotion to learning and experimenting, helping and creating.

This not only serves me as a student, but as a model my job is a stake. I have taken a $2.50 per hour decrease in salary and two thirds of the shifts I used to work are gone. This is a significant cut to me and I am just one of the small fries. Cutting classes also means cutting out local income, so please let us find a way to fund this amazing community environment, our jobs, and the many opportunities Adult Ed classes lead us to.

Bringing people together for a productive positive event is worth preserving.

The many layers and lives you affect with the loss of so many classes is enormous.

Adult ed is something that is unique and sacred to us. Please understand these cuts strike at the heart of the things we love, the time and constructive effort we invest in the arts we come to work at and enjoy every week.

Please find a way to work this out so all of us get treated with fairness and equality.

I hope with the cuts to teachers, models, and aides that no employee involved in Adult Ed is getting any pay raises. Santa Barbara is a small and amazing town and there is enough for all of us to share so please keep an open mind to preserving this unique and art-wealthy community. Allow us to continue to be connected and thriving through the Adult Ed experience. In all my travel, and in talking to people about the Santa Barbara Adult Ed program, I have never run across anything like it.-Lauri Sherman