Agriculture education returns to Mt. Pleasant

MT. PLEASANT - Agricultural education is back in Mt. Pleasant for the first time in 30 years. Students from the recently reinstated agriculture class and FFA program at the Mt. Pleasant Community School District high school, lead by agriculture teacher Matthew Jones, presented at the Dec. 9 school board meeting.

The group of teenagers gave an overview on what they have learned so far in the first semester since Jones was hired to spearhead the program, highlighting activities such as in-class labs as well as opportunities to compete in agricultural conferences, partake in livestock judging and their experience attending the most recent FFA National Convention in October.

During their trip to the national convention, which spanned five days in total, the students took part in various activities in Indianapolis, Indiana, including touring factories and farms and attending a career expo.

Will Francy, a senior at the high school, said being part of FFA has helped him develop various 'life skills,” including growing as a leader, becoming a better communicator and being able to network with other FFA peers.

Junior Mitchell Moothart also explained that taking part in the program has shown him the many facets of the ag industry.

'The classes let us know that FFA is not just for farming kids. It's more also for people interested in agriculture and that there are a lot of jobs in agriculture that isn't farming. It takes a lot of people to run the business structure,” Moothart said.

Following the presentation from the students, board member Chuck Andrew asked Jones whether there were any things the instructor wanted or needed to continue to grow the program. The ag teacher noted that because the class is often doing labs, the absence of certain facilities in his classroom, such as a sink, may be a limitation as the class and program in the future, but was doing well otherwise and was thankful for the support of both the community and the school board.

Speaking on how agriculture education enhances the experience of students, Jones said, 'Ag ed offers a lot of opportunities and experiences that only ag education can give them. As well as just having a place that they can apply all of the knowledge they gain through all their other classes, it kind of puts those into perspective.”

'We had a lesson where we touched on biology, chemistry and economics, all in one lesson. It's just a place where they can apply where they learn everywhere else,” Jones added.

At the meeting, the board also discussed legislative priorities as the next state legislative session begins in January 2020.

The board's policy committee proposed four areas the district should focus on, which included further investment in mental health systems and treatment services in schools, state funding for special education reflecting the cost of programming and health care provided to students, programs for teacher leadership and development and encouraging the legislature to set supplemental state aid for schools. The committee pulled from a list of legislative resolutions suggested by the Iowa Association of School Boards (IASB). The association determined four focus areas as well, which included the mental health and supplemental state aid resolutions as well as a resolution that supports continued funding for preschool age students in districts and a school funding policy with a formula that aims to address inequities among school districts and take into consideration factors including differences in demographics such as socio-economic status and enrollment numbers.

In addition to the legislative priorities, the board also approved a first reading of policy 708.12, which would update the board's policy to match that of the state's requirement that any newly purchased school buses must have passenger restraints.