School board removes agriculture program
By Mike Shands

Watauga High School will have no agriculture program during the 2005-2006 school year.

In a unanimous decision during its June 13 meeting the Watauga County Board of Education voted to not offer agriculture courses at WHS for the 2005-2006 school year.

The decision, based on low enrollment figures in agriculture classes, came after several community members spoke during the meeting in favor of continuing the program.

Dr. Bobbie Short, the school system’s superintendent, said WHS will continue to offer its FFA chapter in 2005-2006, though. She said the system will also work with about six or seven rising WHS seniors who will be directly affected by the absence of agriculture classes.

“We will be working with them to meet their individual needs regarding the courses they have to take or may need,” Short said.

She said the assistance might involve some independent studies courses.

“(The board) spent much time and deliberation making this decision, but it really comes down to the numbers,” Short said.

Mitchell Yates, the school system’s director of vocations and student services, said those numbers indicate a five-year trend of decreasing enrollment in agriculture classes at WHS.

From a peak of 97 students during the 2000-2001 year the number of students in agriculture classes fell to 82 the next year, 54 in 2002-2003, 51 the following year to 31 during 2004-2005. Only 17 were registered for the 2005-2006 year.

Those 17 represent the enrollment of the only agriculture class that had enough students register for it to be offered in 2005-2006. Yates said 10 students registered for another agriculture class, but that was only about half of the number needed to offer the course.

Yates said the reason for those decreasing agriculture numbers might be an increasing interest in other vocational courses such as auto tech, health occupations and communications systems. He said all three of those programs are in need of more instruction personnel and space because of increasing enrollment in them.

The increased demand for courses in those three areas and the decreased need for agriculture classes is ultimately what forced the decision to not offer agriculture this coming year.

“It’s basically an adjustment of dollars in some sense of the word,” Yates said.

Yates, who grew up with an agricultural background, said he had no intention of killing the WHS agriculture program.

“We may need to let this program lay dormant for a year,” he said. “We’re looking at a different approach to how we try to improve how we recruit people to this program.”

That approach may involved working with Caldwell Community College and finding a way to attract more students.

All five board members discussed their agricultural backgrounds and expressed a desire to resume an agriculture program as soon as possible, maybe as early as the 2006-2007 school year.

Lowell Younce, the board’s vice chairman, said that many students with a strong agricultural background, who previously would have taken agriculture classes, might instead have been opting to take auto tech and other vocational courses in recent years.

“We do know that numbers are what mandate these programs, and hopefully we can get this back to where it should be,” he said. “We really need to bring these (agriculture) numbers back up.”

Board member Steve Combs said his roots are in agriculture.

“When I was growing up, if it hadn’t been for agriculture my family wouldn’t have made it. That’s the way my mom bought my school clothes when we were growing up,” he said.

“I want to see us continue to pursue to be able down the road to have an agriculture program here at Watauga High School because it’s our roots.

“It’s where we all come from. It’s the basis of what we are. I want to see us continue to look at ways of getting these numbers up and continue this program.”

Wendy Thurston WHS agriculture teacher and FFA advisor, was the first to speak in favor of continuing to offer agriculture courses in 2005-2006.

“Our program is so much more than numbers on a page,” she said.

Thurston said figures indicate that the program’s enrollment numbers would actually increase after this coming year.

“The numbers reflect a small program that is growing – not one that is fading,” she said.

The WHS agriculture program and FFA chapter boast a rich history with a long list of awards and accomplishments by students past and present, Thurston said. She WHS students also performed exceptionally well in this year’s standardized tests given in all agriculture courses across the state.

“I believe in this program, and I believe in the students, parents and community that stand behind this program,” she said.

Derek Goddard, representing the Watauga Soil and Water Conservation District, read a resolution from the district’s board members. The resolution supported a strong agricultural program for Watauga County Schools.

“In our discussion today the board members understand numbers,” Goddard said. “We all operate with numbers every day, but they wanted to make it very clear that agriculture is a very big part of Watauga County and still is, and there are a lot of young people who need this vocation to make our county a better county.”

Frank Bolick, an agriculture extension agent with the Watauga County office of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, told board of education members that agriculture is the third-leading industry in the county behind tourism and Appalachian State University. He said agriculture accounts for about $27 million in income in Watauga.

“I think the thing we need to look at is, who’s going to be the new generation (in agriculture)? We’ve got to start somewhere,” he said. “There has to be somebody coming up along to take care of that, and somewhere along the line they have to start.”

David Tucker, president of the Watauga County Nurseryman’s Association, then spoke on behalf of the WHS agriculture program.

“I am here representing about 200 people – Christmas tree growers, ornamental producers, greenhouse producers and landscapers,” he said. “I’m here representing about $20 million.

“We were deeply disturbed when we heard this information about possibly cutting these programs. We are against cutting any agriculture programs in Watauga County. We strongly support agriculture.”

Briana Boone, a WHS student, said the WHS agriculture program and FFA chapter have taught her lifelong skills and values such as organization, responsibility, determination and leadership.

“Not only has it taught me useful skills, but it has also opened many doors and provided amazing opportunities,” she said.

“Next year the majority of our members will be eligible for scholarships that we have had our eyes on and worked toward since freshman year. By getting rid of the agriculture program you will be shutting a door that our future depends on.”

Tracy Johnson, another WHS student and the FFA chapter’s secretary, said shutting down the agriculture program for a year won’t increase its numbers.

“If our numbers are low right now, laying it off for a year isn’t going to help,” she said. “Nobody will know it’s there, and it will just fade away.”

She said several WHS FFA and agriculture students have visited the county’s elementary schools this year to encourage younger students to think about taking agriculture courses.

“Without us going to the schools, letting them know that the FFA is there, they’re never going to know, and nobody will take interest in it,” Johnson said. “I don’t really see a way that they can build up numbers if we’re not there to help.”

Another WHS student, Tara Fickling, was unable to attend the meeting because she’s working at the Olympic Horse Park in Atlanta for two weeks so her mother, Camelia Fickling spoke on her behalf.

“A lot of you talk about farm values and agricultural backgrounds that you have,” she said. “A lot of our children and students do not have the richness of that background, and yet they are turning to agriculture.

“When you’re in agricultural courses you learn life skills. Everybody needs that. These teenagers learn public speaking skills. They learn to work with government agencies. They learn to serve their community through FFA and through the agricultural program.

“They’re involved in land management, which is increasingly important to our county and our area.”

The school board’s chairman, Andy Reese, offered the meeting’s final comments on the decision.

“We’re struggling with it also. We operate through rules and regulations, and we get our money on the basis of the number of students that we serve in a particular area,” he said.

“If we don’t have that number, then we have to appropriate money from another source in order to cover that program. You will note that several programs are not at Watauga High School now that were there previously simply because of numbers.

“It’s not something we like to do. Sometimes it’s something we are compelled to do because of the rules and regulations. I can assure you that we will continue to look at this program. If there’s any way that we can do anything about it, we certainly will.”