School district expands adult and career education offerings

With the start of the new year come new offerings from PUSD’s Adult and Career Education Department as it gears up for the spring semester.

For the first time, the district is partnering with lern.org and YouGotClass to offer fee-based online classes and certificates in the areas of career education, parent/guardian education and personal advancement. Subjects include bookkeeping basics, Spanish for healthcare professionals, certificate in web design and more.

Start dates for online classes vary, with many beginning in February. Fees vary depending on the class, according to Adult and Career Education Department assistant director Beth Cutter.

“We realized (adding online courses) would allow us to offer some more specific classes and to really expand what we could do,” Cutter said.

She added, “The nice thing about it is any one organization like Pleasanton Adult and Career Ed doesn’t need to fill the class with just their own community members…we’re able to offer this to our community without having to fill the classes.”

Also among the department’s new offerings this coming spring semester are two additional English as a second language (ESL) courses, bringing the total to 13. One is a daytime class called “Advanced Bridge to College” — to help students transition from adult school to community college — and the other an evening class that could be focused in writing, conversation or pronunciation depending on student interest, Cutter said.

ESL classes, which are free, begin the week of Jan. 22. Placement testing is mandated for new students and will be offered Jan. 10-11 and Jan. 16. Preregistration is required.

Cutter says the department continues to see demand for ESL courses.

“Some of our daytime classes are already full with a waitlist,” she said. “There will be some people that do the placement test that won’t get into a class, but they’ll have priority for next go-around.”

The department is also bringing back classes newly introduced in the fall.

The “Exploring Health Care Careers” course, which provides students with a basic overview of human health, the health care system and affiliated careers, runs Thursdays from 6-9 p.m. at Pleasanton Middle School from Feb. 15-May 24. Taught by career technical education teacher Laurie Erceg and Joe Carlucci of Stanford Health Care-ValleyCare, the course fee of $129 includes required textbooks.

Community education classes like conversational Mandarin, knitting and crocheting will also be part of the slate of offerings once again.

And for those looking to encourage friends and family to sign up for classes, the department is now offering gift certificates that can be purchased online, according to Cutter.

Cutter said it’s “been an exciting couple of years” since PUSD restored the Adult and Career Education Department thanks to renewed state funding in spring 2016.

“We have found that there’s been an unmet need and we’re excited to be working to meet that,” she said.

For more information on offerings, including class start dates and fees, visit adulteducation.pleasantonusd.net. To register for classes, go to bit.ly/PACE-Classes.

Tensions boil over in District 14 debate as Hernandez accuses Wahab of ‘communications with the Taliban’October 9, 2026 5:52 pm

Campaign filings reveal who’s funding Pleasanton’s election racesOctober 9, 2026 6:03 pm

CHP-Dublin still looking for more witnesses to crash that killed teen girl11 hours ago