Derry Area adds instructor for agriculture, horticulture

Derry Area School District will be expanding its agriculture and horticulture program starting in the 2015-16 school year.

School directors voted Thursday to add a second instructor to the department.

The move to add an agriculture/horticulture teacher enables Derry to become one of only a few districts in the state offering the Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education, or CASE program, according to agriculture/ horticulture instructor and FFA adviser Roy Campbell.

It's very significant for the school going forward, Campbell said. We're excited about all the new possibilities it's going to bring to the program. I believe it's going to bring a new level to the ag curriculum that's going to be based around STEM education, science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It's taking agriculture, which is really a science-based field, and using that as the basis of what the curriculum will be.

The additional instructor will enable extension of the program to the middle school, with an eighth-grade program and middle-school FFA, Campbell said.

We do have our tuition students who come in from other districts, so this may also be of interest to some students from other districts, Campbell said. This year I currently have seven students who give up their home school to come here (for the agriculture/horticulture program), so this may expand that also because we're offering more.

The school board approved a revised calendar for the remainder of the 2014-15 school year, which would move the last day of instruction to June 5 and reduce the district's spring break by two days to make up for snow days, including Thursday's cancellation.

School directors approved contracts for three capital projects, awarding the contract for resurfacing of the gymnasium floor to S&S Flooring for $35,400 and replacement of middle/high school pool lockers to Three Rivers Wholesale for $17,129.80. The middle/high school driveway paving project was divided into four areas for bidding purposes. Contracts for the project totaled $152,958 with a $13,050 contract to Murin and Murin, a $120,400 contract with Tresco Paving and two contracts totaling $16,928 with K. Dolan Construction for paving work and a contract of $2,580 with JR Paving for line painting.

The board unanimously rejected a motion to approve Olds Engineering Consultants, Inc. as project engineer for HVAC renovations at Eastern Westmoreland Career and Technology Center at a fee not to exceed 5.5 percent of the project cost.

Greg Reinbold is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-459-6100, ext. 2913 or greinbold@tribweb.com.

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Derry Area adds instructor for agriculture, horticulture