 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Students rally around fading agriculture
By BARBARA BEHRENDT © St. Petersburg Times, published May 10, 2001 INVERNESS -- Just a short distance from the busy corner where hospital and school traffic buzzes by, a cow pasture sits as a bucolic reminder of an era rapidly disappearing in fast-growing Citrus County. Now the pasture adjacent to Citrus High School is about to be lost as part of a school expansion plan. Still, the county's agricultural roots are deep, as the School Board learned this week. A number of students addressed the board Tuesday evening and said they do not want to see Inverness Middle School drop its agriculture course. Such a move would spell doom for the middle school's popular Future Farmers of America Club. Member of the Inverness Middle and Citrus High FFA chapters pleaded with School Board members to keep the program, which has long been a part of the vocational exploration wheel of elective courses at Inverness Middle. Student Brian Smith argued that the FFA has taught him respect and helped him better interact with adults and other students. Smith told the board that the forestry career he is pursuing would have never been an option if it hadn't been for FFA. "The FFA is very crucial to my career . . . to my future in agriculture," said student Arien Thomas. "My whole life has been brought up in ag." Cynthia Blanton asked how many people in the audience had been FFA members. Many people -- not just those who came to speak about the issue -- stood up. "I've been here for many, many years," said Nancy Rooks, who had been a member of FFA and had attended agriculture classes when she was in school. "This program is so important for young students who may not have a goal in life academically." Inverness Middle principal Cindy Staten said Wednesday she has requested an additional teacher so the school could provide a dropout prevention class. Inverness is the only middle school in the county without one, she said. If that extra teaching position isn't approved, she will have to cut agriculture. "Agriculture is the least requested class of the electives," Staten said. More popular are business education, technical education and aeroscience. After hearing from the students, board members questioned whether canceling agriculture was the best option. Board member Carol Snyder noted that, in a way, agriculture was a dropout prevention program for some students. That remark elicited loud applause. Board Chairwoman Patience Nave agreed. She said the FFA and 4-H clubs build character. "I think it would be false economy to allow this vehicle to be removed," she said. Superintendent David Hickey said it should be a school-based decision. Tight budgets force schools to set priorities. "There are some hard decisions we have to make here in Citrus County," he said. As for the cow pasture, the board on Tuesday viewed a schematic plan for the Citrus High expansion. After discussing various options with school officials and the school's advisory/enhancement council, architects have proposed building the new cafeteria where the baseball field sits, and moving the baseball field to the cow pasture, now used by the school's agriculture program. "The cows will have to be displaced," architect Craig Salley said. Citrus principal Gary Foltz didn't know what the changes would mean for his agriculture program. He did say that he would hate for students to miss an experience working with the cows because it is an important part of the program. Foltz also noted that, if the agriculture program is canceled at Inverness Middle, he suspects the program at Citrus High eventually will suffer, as well. The board's consensus was to move forward with the site plan. The construction project is estimated to cost just less than $4-million.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
Citrus Times |
