CLEARFIELD – The Clearfield Area School District Board of Directors was confronted Monday night about the status of the eliminated agriculture education position at the high school.
The board cut the teaching position and six others in June. Despite debate, they later advised the position wouldn’t be reinstated for the start of school. In August, board President Dave Glass said it’d be explored again at the end of the first semester.
William Ogden, who serves on the agriculture department’s advisory committee, pushed for the reinstatement of the position. He said class sizes have become too large under the direction of one teacher.
As a result, he said there are currently more students than work stations, which creates safety issues. He said every student who is in the classroom is at risk to potential hazards.
Ogden described the classrooms as being “overloaded” and “overcrowded” and believes it’s having a negative impact on the instructional process. He said a second teacher would provide support to both the students and teacher, Lori Clayton.
He posed that it came down to a “matter of funding” and directed the board’s attention to the budget. He said there was money budgeted for a full-time superintendent for the entire year, which hasn’t been the case and won’t be again until January. He also said that Lynn Hummel had left his position as an assistant principal at the high school.
“Maybe, you could find funding there,” Ogden said. He asked the board not to make the agriculture teaching position, which went unfilled and became eliminated, precedence for the future.
Interim Superintendent Dr. J. Thomas Frantz said the board wouldn’t have any recommendation until December. At that time, Ogden said, “You have a safety issue, today.” . . . “How many of you all here have witnessed the overcrowding?”
Glass said the board placed the agriculture position on the backburner to handle other issues “with a far greater” influence on student safety. He said the board agreed to revisit the issue before the second semester and would do so.
Frantz then asked Kevin Wallace, high school principal, to prepare a recommendation to present to the school board at its next regular meeting in December.