Milton Area School District merged its Agriculture Program with Warrior Run’s beginning this year.
Conversations of shutting down Milton’s Agricultural CTE program began last winter, but this idea wasn’t officially decided until May, according to Milton High School Principal Mr. Michael Bergey. The new Health Careers CTE program has taken the agriculture program’s place.
Milton’s agriculture program was shut down because of a low number of students, according to Mr. Bergey.
“It was not a high priority occupation,” said Mr. Bergey. On the other hand, a health careers program was, he said. The previous agriculture teacher, Ms. Hannah Davis, has moved on to another school in Southern Pennsylvania as an agriculture teacher, he added.
Milton students who are interested in the agriculture field now go to Warrior Run, where up to five positions are available for Milton students.
“I wanted an opportunity for our kids,” Mr. Bergey said. Two of the Milton students drive, while the other three are provided free transportation by Milton. Students who are in such programs usually pay some sort of tuition to the school they are going to, but because of Milton and Warrior Run’s close relationship, students do not have to pay, according to Mr. Bergey.
No area schools are combining programs the way Milton and Warrior Run are doing with their agriculture CTE program, said Mr. Bergey.
Milton students can join a Warrior Run Program for free and vice versa. “It’s kind of like a trade off,” Mr. Bergey added.
Despite Milton not being able to continue its agriculture program, the partnership with Warrior Run will allow up to five students per year to go to their school for the agriculture CTE program, said Mr. Andrew Rantz, Director of Secondary Education.
“Despite Milton SD not having the ability to continue with our own agriculture program, this partnership will allow up to five students per year to take advantage of the incredible opportunity Warrior Run provides in terms of Agriculture,” said Mr. Rantz.
In addition, up to five Warrior Run students can take advantage of any of Milton’s existing CTE programs per year,” Mr. Rantz added. Currently no Warrior Run students attend any of Milton’s CTE programs.
Even though the merger has been successful, there have been a fair share of obstacles, scheduling being the main one, Mr. Bergey said. Many of the agriculture students have had to manipulate their schedules more than they thought they would, he added.
The process of this merger was mainly communicating with Warrior Run and getting everyone situated in their schedules, Mr. Bergey added.
According to Mr. Rantz, the most difficult part was coming up with an agreement that both districts were comfortable adopting. Another problem was setting up transportation for the students who needed it. After communicating with Warrior Run, a legal document was signed as an agreement by both schools, he said.
According to Mr. Bergey, this process has been challenging, but it will be a great opportunity for interested students.
“I don’t want to see that opportunity go away for kids that are passionate about getting into the agriculture field,” added Mr. Bergey.
