Sacramento high school students petition to save agricultural program
SACRAMENTO — The only agricultural program in the Sacramento City Unified School District is being cut at the end of the school year. Teachers, students and parents are coming together to try to save it.
Luther Burbank High School's Urban Agriculture Academy is a three-year, extensive program that sets students up to step into the world of ag after high school.
It's being cut due to what the principal says are low enrollment numbers.
"A lot of my fellow students didn't know they wanted to pursue agriculture until taking the class, and future students won't have that opportunity if there's no academy," said Ari Gatica, a student in the program.
Todd McPherson, the lead teacher of the program, said there isn't anything else like this within Sacramento City Unified.
"So for that pathway to not exist in the Farm-to-Fork Capital, we've got to have something like this," McPherson said. "It should be invested in more and not nickel and dimed and then completely cut."
Principal Jim Peterson said the academy program will be converted into a single class as an elective.
"I don't argue any of the benefits of this. I recognize the benefits of it," Peterson said. "All I'm saying is that we cannot put kids against their will in a three-year pathway. What we can do is sign students up for an elective and that will lead to greater numbers."
The current enrollment at the academy is roughly 58% and is made up of 94 students, but the school said it's about the majority of students' wants and that there just isn't enough interest to keep the academy alive.
"I start to explain the three-year model and I'll have students say, 'Well, I'd like to take it as a class. I don't want to take it for all three years," Peterson said.
McPherson said that without the resources allocated for the program, he's worried the garden will cease to exist because it can't be properly cared for through an elective class.
"If there's not a program like this that exists and takes curiosity and interest and cultivates it, these students are left out," he said. "There has to be a bridge."
Students are petitioning and plan to attend the next school board meeting to try to save the academy.
"This is a big staple of our school," Gatica said. "We are named after someone who is heavily involved in agriculture, so it doesn't make sense to not have an agricultural program on campus."
