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Orono community education reports record summer enrollments, launches strategic plan
Summary
Community Education Director Tiffany Clifton told the board the program saw more than 7,600 enrollments this summer, and the office is pursuing website optimization, marketing and short-term programming after a Morris Leatherman community needs assessment.
Orono Community Education reported a record summer and unveiled a strategic plan focused on outreach, program alignment and customer engagement at the Sept. 8 school board meeting.
Director Tiffany Clifton told the board the department recorded more than 7,600 enrollments and offered 569 courses this summer, with 519 sections running and an average of about 47 camps per week across the season. Clifton said the enrollments represented roughly 2,059 individual students, with many students enrolled in multiple programs.
Key programs and numbers Clifton highlighted included Ready, Set, Kindergarten (120 current incoming kindergartners, about 62% of currently enrolled kindergarten students), 172 enrollments in Spartan Kids (pre-K–5 summer care), 143 students in targeted services, 34 participants across Camp Emoji offerings, 17 students in the Pathways to Success program, 44 children served at the Discovery Center and 27 high-school or college-age assistants supporting summer work. The program provided more than 550 free lunches and snacks to students during the summer, Clifton said.
Clifton said a Community Needs Assessment by Morris Leatherman showed strong program satisfaction — program ratings averaged about 93.1% among respondents familiar with Community Education — while identifying gaps in household reach (39%) and opportunities for growth among nonparent community members. The survey also recommended experimenting with shorter-term programming and improving digital and print outreach to reach broader community segments.
Planned changes and investments include website optimization to better connect descriptive program information with the district registration portal, expanded social-media outreach, a focus on storytelling to move perceptions from “good” to “great,” new member-management software for the activity center (including an app), and modest facility and branding work for early-learning programs. Clifton also noted the department had used an external consultant and internal strategic planning sessions to shape the plan.
Board members praised Community Education’s summer work and encouraged continued outreach. Clifton said the office will circulate the full presentation deck to board members. No formal board action was recorded on the presentation.
