Greenland High School hopes to add a vocational agriculture program to its curriculum next year.
The School Board approved Thursday an application to go to the Arkansas Department of Career Education asking permission to implement the program. Greenland is the only district in Washington County without a vocational agriculture program in its high school.
Three career focuses will be offered, if approved. They are animal science, horticulture and agri-mechanics, according to the application.
Superintendent Charles Cudney said some 73 percent of 222 students in grades eight through 12 indicated they would be interested in agricultural classes. Additionally, a community survey indicated support for the program and several businesses wrote letters of support.
At A Glance
Advisory Team
The advisory group which assisted developing an application for a vocational agricultural program at Greenland High School included Mayor Bill Groom; Darrell Froud, a local farmer; Mike Fanning, a former School Board member, and his son, McKenzie; School Board member James Miller; and Rick Boone, as well as Superintendent Charles Cudney, high school principal Hope Dorman, and Rick Gales, the district’s director of federal programs.
Source: Staff report.
The recent retirement of another vocational teacher who taught industrial arts opened a space in the curriculum, Cudney said. The industrial arts program ended with that retirement.
A building across from the Dee Lee Gymnasium will be adapted for the agricultural program.
One teacher would be hired for the program, Cudney said.
The cost of all equipment recommended by the state to start a program is estimated at $188,000 but Cudney said a more realistic figure is closer to $100,000. Most of that could be covered by grants.
The application approved Thursday now goes to the Career and Technical Education Division of the Career Education Department. A spokesman in the office for regional director Marian Fletcher said the application is due Oct. 1. Fletcher will review the application and do a site visit before a decision is made, the spokesman said.
Cudney said the application has been in the works for about a year with the assistance of a residents advisory group.
Darrell Froud, a 1983 graduate of Greenland High School, said an agricultural program provides opportunities for students who may be college bound but also for students who aren’t, by teaching skills for the workplace and for life.
“A high percentage of students will never go to college,” Froud said. “What do we do to develop those life skills they need?” Froud has a bachelor’s degree in animal science from the University of Arkansas and is an operations manager in the Mexican Original division of Tyson Foods. He also owns a ranch in Greenland.
Just as athletics keep some students interested in school, Froud said the agricultural program offers the same for other students by keeping them in school.