Adult education staff and MAISD navigator urge Fruitport board to preserve adult-education program

During public comment on May 18, Rob Henry, an adult education staff member, and Jill Stamison, a career navigator with the Muskegon Area Intermediate School District, urged the Fruitport board to preserve the district’s adult education program amid funding concerns.

Henry said the district’s adult education program produced 62 adult learners who met graduation requirements for a high school diploma or GED in the 2025–2026 school year and asked the board to consider solutions to keep the program viable. Jill Stamison provided a brochure and explained the Linked Muskegon career training partnership, noting Fruitport sends more adult learners to the program (welding, electrical, HVAC, auto body) than other districts; she said closure of Fruitport’s adult education programming would be detrimental to that career-training pipeline.

Trustees later noted the Student Affairs Committee had discussed the program’s future during committee deliberations on staffing and revenue; the minutes record continued discussion about the adult education program’s inability to generate pupil membership revenue sufficient to sustain it. The board did not take a specific vote on the adult education program at the May 18 meeting.

The board set a schedule of follow-up committee meetings and a Truth and Taxation hearing as part of ongoing budget work, which may inform future decisions about program funding and staffing.

No formal motion or vote regarding the adult education program was recorded at the meeting.