High school Ag program faces challenges

The Healdsburg FFA Ag Boosters came up big for the Healdsburg
High School Ag Program last week, donating more than $12,000 to pay
for a freshman agriculture class that otherwise would not have been
taught.
Prior to the donation the ag program faced a 40 percent
reduction in classes from last year—three classes this year
compared to five classes last—in what district leaders say is a
consequence of declining enrollment and less student interest.
Declining enrollment or not, agriculture teacher Becky Deniz said
it’s important to offer as many ag classes as possible so students
can schedule the one-a-year-class necessary to qualify for the
Future Farmers of America program—and so they may show at the
Future Farmers Country Fair in May.
“Kids have to take an ag class in order to be involved with the
FFA program,” she said. “In order to show at FFA, you need to be
involved in ag education. By offering so few sections, kids just
can’t fit an ag class into their schedule.”
Deniz’s ag department consists of four courses, including Earth
Science, Ag Biology, Animal Science and Economics/Civics. Last year
her Ag Biology class attracted an unusually high amount of interest
and the district doubled the sections from one class to two,
increasing Deniz’s class load from four classes to five.
The increase in student interest—growth that occurred despite
declining enrollment at the high school, which has decreased by
nearly 25 percent in the past four years—was short lived. Last
spring the district learned that only 11 students had signed up for
Earth Science—a class typically taken by freshmen ag students
instead of integrated physical science. The district decided to
cancel the class, but reinstated it last week after the Ag Boosters
came forward with the donation.
Ag Boosters president John Azevedo said that numerous community
members responded to a letter printed in the Healdsburg Tribune
earlier this month speaking out against the reduction of ag classes
by donating money. He doesn’t expect the donation to impact his
organization’s normal programs or scholarships. “We’re pretty
fortunate that there’s so much support in the community for the ag
program,” he said.
Student signups for Ag Biology also dropped, leading the
district to cut one of the two sections offered last year. High
school vice-principal Kestrel Davis said Tuesday that historically
the school has only offered one section of the class, but will
offer additional sections if enough students sign up for the
class.
Deniz said last week that she understood “it’s all about
numbers” but would prefer if the district attempted to fill the ag
classes with students who had signed up for similar science classes
without the agriculture emphasis. “I want the classes treated like
any other science class on campus,” she said. “I’m following the
same curriculum, using the same text book. These are college prep
classes, but it still feels like they’re being treated as
electives.”
Deniz plans on upping her efforts to promote her ag classes next
year at Healdsburg Junior High School, but years of declining
enrollment has led to fewer and fewer students to recruit—this
year’s freshman class numbers only 189.
District and high school leaders say they will continue to
support Deniz and the program through times of declining enrollment
and shrinking budgets.
“We are behind the ag program 100 percent here and we want to
see it thrive well into the future,” said Jeff Harding,
superintendent of the Healdsburg Unified School District. “With
budget reductions we have to be more diligent about maintaining
full enrollment in our classes.”
High School principal Chris Vanden Huevel said it was
“imperative that the high school have a strong ag program” and
lauded the ag boosters for their support. “They rallied in a tough
economic time to help us fund another section,” he said. “It’s a
great story of the community once again supporting our
schools.”
Davis stressed that the ag program isn’t the only department
with teachers with fewer classes to teach this year. She said two
other teachers—one Spanish and the other English—only have two
sections to teach this year instead of the five they taught last
year. A physical education teacher and a math teacher are also down
a class and commute to the junior high to pick up an additional
section.
“This isn’t just an ag phenomenon,” she said. “This is a tough
time for teachers. It’s always unfortunate when we have to reduce a
teaching assignment on a faculty member.”