After years of working with at-risk high school and middle school students, Dowagiac’s Kara Cox will be taking on the task of overseeing the education of a new batch of non-traditional learners.

The Dowagiac Union Schools Board of Education named the guidance counselor the new director of the district’s Pathfinders Alternative & Adult Education program during the board’s meeting Monday evening. Cox will take over the position from current coordinator Sara Park, who will continue to supervise Dowagiac Union Schools’ special education program, said Union Schools Superintendent Paul Hartsig.

Cox, who has worked with Dowagiac students for more than 25 years, will now be responsible for the supervision of Pathfinders, handling all the day-to-day affairs of the alternative education program, including enrollment and hiring and evaluating teachers, the superintendent said. She will continue to put her years in the high school and middle school guidance office to use as a counselor for Pathfinder students as well, Hartsig said.

Park, who has served as Pathfinders coordinator since 2014, will step away from the position in order to focus more on her responsibilities as special education director, which requires her to visit buildings across the entire district. In order to fill her shoes, district administrators approached Cox to see if she would be interesting in taking over as coordinator of Pathfinders, Hartsig said.

“We felt she would be a natural fit for the position with her ties to the community, her background in counseling and the deep care she has for students,” Hartsig said.

The program is split into both an alternative education program, for students between 16 to 19 years old, and an adult education program, for students over the age of 18 wishing to earn a GED.

“Pathfinders gives students, who, for one reason or another, need more flexibility in their schedule a different way to learn outside of the traditional bell-to-bell structure at the high school,” Hartsig said.

The program has three certified instructors providing education to between 50 to 60 students currently enrolled, the superintendent said.

Pathfinders classes resume alongside the rest of the district buildings on Tuesday, Sept. 6. People interested in registering for classes are encouraged to call 782-4471 to signup.