By Amy Baskin

Director of Community Education and Communications

Austin Community Education’s mission is to offer quality programming that enriches lives, builds skills and provides opportunities for recreation and leisure activities. This has been a busy year for Community Education with lots of new classes and opportunities.

Gardening season has finally arrived and Community Education is partnering with Berg’s Nursery to offer classes to make your homes beautiful. On Wednesday, April 23, you can learn how to have a beautiful lush green lawn and control weeds and lawn pests. On Wednesday, May 7, the folks at Berg’s will help you create a beautiful planter that will be the envy of your neighbors.

Another partnership with Vision 2020 offers a bicycle tour on Austin’s trails. Steve Kime will lead adults and children from Lions Park to Todd Park, covering seven miles of trails on Saturday, May 17. A limited number of adult and children’s bikes are available to use free for the day.

Students in grades fourth and eight can earn some extra money by learning how to babysit. Our child and babysitting safety course on Saturday, May 17, will cover basic first aid care, fire safety, proper feeding and diapering, personal safety, child development, medical emergencies and how to start you own babysitting business. This course was developed by the American Safety and Health Institute and is approved by the American Pediatrics Association.

Community Education is working with the school board to provide an information session on the roles and responsibilities of being a school board member on Wednesday, May 7.

There will be four open seats on the school board this year. The candidate filing period is May 20 to June 3. This session will be led by Superintendent David Krenz and Board Chairman Greg Larson.

Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) is offering a class on how to deal with children’s challenging behaviors on May 1. Parent Educator Cassie Boettcher will help parents understand their child’s behavior and what they can do about it through proactive strategies.

Community Education has recently started a Facebook page to keep the community up to date on our classes and activities.

This page will feature pictures of our classes, updates on new and expanded classes and give the community the opportunity to give us suggestions and ideas for new classes. Search for Austin Community Education on Facebook and share us with your friends.

For more information on Austin Community Education or to register for classes visit our web site at www.austin.k12.mn.us/clc or call us at 507 460-1700. We hope to see you in class this spring.