WAUPUN — A group of local business leaders, parents, students, and alumni addressed the Waupun School Board Monday evening regarding the retirement of two teachers who run the Future Farmers of America program in Waupun.
The residents who spoke gave their concerns about how this might impact the Waupun FFA in the near future, and to emphasize the importance of the FFA program to Waupun students and area farmers.
The public presentation portion of the School Board meetings provide 3 minutes per person to address the Board regarding any issue. According to the meeting agenda, there were 21 people who signed up to address the Board.
Most of the locals who addressed the board were present or former members of the FFA. This included parents, students, alumni, current officers, and local farmers and veterinarians who were involved in the program. Of the comments presented, most expressed concern about the future of the FFA.
There are many organizations—both school programs and outside programs—that are suffering from a lack of consistent membership and volunteers. Recently, the Waupun Truck-n-Show Committee announced they would be retiring the show due to a lack of new volunteers that would take up the mantle. This trend has created concern that if too many leaders retire, it may result in the dissolution of organizations like the Truck-n-Show.
Overall, those who spoke at the meeting emphasized the importance of the Ag program to local farmers and to Waupun students. This included pleas to “carry on the tradition” of the Future Farmers of America in Waupun, and the value of farming education for the experiences it gives students.
Theresa Stowell pointed out that one teacher is “not enough” to run the agriculture program.
Notably, Tom Ballweg, who runs Ballweg Implement in Waupun, also spoke at the meeting.
Members of the Board have expressed support for the Agriculture Department and FFA program, but were unavailable for comment.
Updated 6:33PM, 2/28/2024:
District Administrator Steven Hill sent out a press release regarding the matter Wednesday morning, giving the following statement to WPN in an email.
“I believe the concern stems from the retirement of two phenomenal and passionate staff members who have led a successful FFA program and offered terrific learning opportunities,” Dr. Hill said. “The community may not be aware that the district has historically had a 1.0 full-time equivalent Ag Teacher and a 0.5 FTE Ag teacher and was fortunate to have other staff members with ag licensure who could instruct classes based on student demand for coursework. We are seeing an increase in student requests for our Tech Ed, Business Ed, and Science-related programs. We will continue to provide the same Ag opportunities historically offered to meet our students’ course requests. Our FFA program has also historically had three paid advisors, and we intend to continue supporting this phenomenal program at the same level.”
The full press release can be found here: https://waupunpioneer.com/2024/02/28/press-release-waupun-area-school-district-responds-to-concerns-over-ffa-program/
