About Us
The mission of Hartland Community Education is to furnish the community of Hartland, through citizen involvement, programs in recreation, enrichment and cultural activities providing lifelong learning.
The Hartland Community Education office is located at 9525 E Highland Road (1 mile west of US 23) in the Hartland Educational Support Service Center (HESSC).
For more information call 810.626.2150.
Hartland Community Education can trace its roots back to the Hartland Area Project founded by local philanthropist Mr. John Robert Crouse, Sr. in 1933. The Hartland Area Project was a far-reaching plan designed to improve the health, social and educational conditions of the citizens of Hartland.
As part of the project. a Minister of Education was established. This position was the forerunner to the position of Director of Community Education. The function of the Minister of Education was to coordinate the teaching of enrichment, high school completion and associate level college classes for adult members of the Hartland community. These classes were taught in the evenings by the Hartland Consolidated Schools faculty. Classes were held in the original high school, called the 1921 building.
After the death of Mr. Crouse, Sr. in 1947, the Hartland Area Project continued but began to fade in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1970, the position of Director of Hartland Community Education was established and Mr. Larry Flowers was hired. The Community Education Department was housed in the Cook farmhouse, which stood in front of the new Hartland HIgh School on M-59. Here, the programs began to expand once more offering high school completion classes, youth and adult recreational programs and a number of enrichment classes.
In 1984, Hartland Community Education joined the Huron Valley Schools Community Education Consortium and was operated for the next four years by the Huron Valley Public Schools.
The Hartland Community Education program began to take its present form in 1988. It moved from a small office in Hartland High School (M-59 location) to the Village Primary School (1951 building) in 1988. The building was renamed the Hartland Community Education Center. On July 1, 1988, Mr. Stephen Assenmacher was named Director. One year later, the Community Education department was brought back under the control of Hartland Consolidated Schools and began to grow significantly.
In August 1988, the facility announced the opening of a new Day Care Center. Latchkey Service for students who needed before and after school supervision was also added and many new programs were launched. Dance programs were started and the gymnastics program expanded to become the largest community education run gymnastics program in the state. Evening enrichment classes were provided along with adult education programs. Over the next fifteen years, the Hartland Community Education Department would double, triple and quadruple in size.
In 2004, the Community Education Office moved to their current location-the Hartland Educational Support Service Center on Highland Rd (M-59). This move provided added space needed to meet the needs of our growing population. Housed in this building is the Hartland Gymnastics Academy, the Hartland Senior Center, a wonderful computer lab for the alternative ed high school students and a lab for adult evening computer courses, Preschool, the LEGACY alternative high school program, Dance Expressions, and many more fitness and recreational programs available now with a full size gym, outdoor track, tennis courts and fitness rooms.
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After serving the Hartland Community for over 24 years, Michelle Otis retired as the Community Education Director. She was hired as the Assistant Director in December of 1996 alongside Steve Assenmacher. When Steve retired in 2005 Michelle became the director. Carol Hayes was handed the keys in 2005 as the Community Education Director.
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