CRESSONA - The Blue Mountain school board voted to eliminate the Agricultural Science Technology Engineering Mathematics program Thursday at its monthly school board meeting. Board President Mary Jo Moss said "there is no funding" currently from the state to support the program.
The program is part of the 4-H curriculum in the elementary grades in the district. There was talk about introducing it into other grades in the district beyond the elementary level previously.
"There won't be any further development of it," Moss said.
District officials removed agricultural education from the district in 1999 due to diminished interest.
Superintendent Robert Urzillo said declining membership in the AG-STEM Committee was another reason for the removal of agricultural education. No more than 5 people were on the committee that at one time numbered 75 people.
"We, as a group, decided to dissolve the AG-STEM program," Moss said, who had been a member of the AG-STEM Committee formed in 2010. That decision was made last month, she said.
Urzillo said the agricultural education did help students. Teachers can still teach it, district officials said. "I think it made great steps at the elementary level ... The motivation was great, and I think it was noble idea," Urzillo said.
Introducing the program into the high school could pose financial challenges and space issues and they would need teachers who could teach it. "It would be very difficult to move that far ahead," he said, adding interest in the curriculum would be hard to measure.
Ray Gaston, chairman of the committee, did not return a call for comment Thursday.
After the meeting, she said no formal vote was taken. Moss and Urzillo are on the committee.
In other news, the district will enter into the Lancaster Lebanon Public School Employees' Health Care Cooperative starting Jan. 1. Michelle Diekow, business administrator, was appointed as the district representative to the cooperative.
Due to this shift, the board voted to terminate the third-party agreement with The Reschini Group effective Dec. 31. Moss voted against the termination with the Reschini group and voted "no" for entering into the Lebanon-Lancaster health agreement.
In personnel matters, the board accepted the resignation of Daniel Fridirici, supervisor of technology, effective Nov. 27.
Fridirici obtained other employment, board secretary Cheryl Lagola said, adding he had been in that position for nine years.
David Hartranft resigned from his position as assistant boys junior high basketball coach. No reason was given for his resignation.
Nicholas Adams was chosen to fill the position vacated by Hartranft. His stipend is $2,416.
Urzillo also thanked outgoing board members Mary Jo Moss, Gerald Ravitz and Paula Nye for their service to the board.
School board member John Granito was absent.