Illinois High School Keeping Ag Ed Alive Online

Pinckneyville High School students belong to FFA and study agriculture although their district hasn’t employed a full-time agriculture teacher for three years. The self-motivated students study ag online supported by school administrators and faculty, parents and community volunteers.

“It’s filled a huge hole,” Principal Dustin Foutch said about All Ag Online, an accredited, online agricultural education program. “Our board’s No. 1 goal is to bring back a full-time ag teacher. This (online program) is a stop gap.”

Illinois school districts face a shortage of high school ag teachers. This year, 14 of 21 Illinois college graduates in ag teacher education entered classrooms. Statewide, 83 jobs were available.     

Montana-based online ag educator Leroy Nelson obtained Illinois certification to teach agriculture here, and the Pinckneyville School District met Illinois requirements for its students to join FFA, Foutch said.

Currently, Illinois middle school and high school students may pay for online credit courses through Illinois Virtual High School; however, agriculture classes are not offered.

In Perry County, Rhonda Shubert, a Pinckneyville District parent and University of Illinois Extension 4-H and youth program coordinator, explained the district explored every possible option to provide ag classes, including working with a neighboring district and the local community college. After none proved feasible, an existing online ag class program surfaced as an option, Shubert added.

As many as 18 students have enrolled in the online classes that now includes freshmen and sophomores as well as juniors who are entering their third school year of online ag. “For us to fill a need, this was really the only way to do it,” Foutch said.

Shubert’s junior son, Blaine, takes online ag classes. She said the program’s success hinges on the students’ self-motivation and hard work along with support from many adults in the school and community. At Pinckneyville, the online ag students use computers in the back of an industrial arts classroom while another class occurs, she said.    

With school and community support, the students have applied their knowledge in the school’s existing greenhouse and expanded their work to a community garden. They also rely on several adults for other support. Shubert noted a special education teacher volunteered to serve as the FFA adviser; the industrial arts teacher offered his classroom computers; and a new band director, an FFA alum, has offered to help.    

“It’s a whole team,” Shubert said. “That’s the problem. Without a full-time teacher, the number of people to make this work and the communication needed” are extensive.

Although Shubert is thankful the district is giving her son and other students the opportunity to study agriculture, “this not a permanent fix for not having an ag program,” she said. “These kids have been cheated. This is not the same as a full-time ag teacher. This is a Band-Aid to stop the bleeding … The most important part -- this keeps the kids interested in ag while (the district is) in a transitional period.”