Blair Oaks High School will have an agricultural education program in the coming school year in place of an industrial arts program. The Blair Oaks R-2 Board of Education voted unanimously to approve the program at its regular meeting Tuesday night.
High School Principal Gary Verslues said the transition is happening now. Over the next 30 days, Verslues said there will be a lot of discussion with students about what they want that program to look like.
He showed the board members a sample list of opportunities for courses, including subjects about how to work on and with farm equipment, the business aspects of agriculture, biotechnology and various plant and animal crop-related classes.
He also said there will eventually be an advisory committee to evaluate the needs of the local community and employers and what they can get out of a local agricultural education program; that feedback will also help determine course offerings.
Blair Oaks students have been going to Nichols Career Center in Jefferson City for eight years to take advantage of some agricultural class opportunities there, but with the retirement of Blair Oaks' industrial arts teacher, Verslues said "the opportunity now presents itself to have our own program."
He said the Nichols opportunities were great, but with their own in-house program, they will be able to reach a lot more students.
In the first year of the program, if there isn't enough interest for particular courses but some students could benefit from particular course opportunities at Nichols, then they may still go there.
"Ideally, we want to keep our kids since we have our own program now, but to be fair to the kids, there might be a little bit of a transition to be sure they get the coursework they need," he said of conversations he's had with Nichols Director Sharon Longan.
More students in general are expected to be coming to the Blair Oaks High School in the near future, too.
"We won't see it as much this year, but for 2018-19, we have a group of about 94 graduating and about 120 coming in. So we won't see a big jump next year in high school enrollment, but the year after, we could reach an all-time high water mark of about 450 (students)," Verslues said.
High school girls may have the opportunity to play golf at Blair Oaks, too.
Director of Activities Corey Felton said there's more information that needs to be gathered about further interest and availability of golf courses in the fall, but it looks right now like there might be eight or nine girls interested in a golf program for the coming school year.
"I won't be here at that time, but I think it's a great idea that we've talked about before - a great opportunity for those girls to get a chance to excel in something that may win them some money in college, too. If we could get it done, I think it's a great idea," board member Timothy Van Ronzelen said. Van Ronzelen's term on the board is up in April.