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JERSEY SHORE -- Students in the Jersey Shore Area School District will not be offered the chance to study ancient medieval history next year, as the board voted down offering the course in the 2024-25 high school course catalog.
They did agree that students would be able to choose a course on strength and conditioning and lifelong fitness, one on introduction to computer systems and networking and one on environmental science. But out of the eight courses they voted on, those three were the only ones they could all get behind.
Voting in favor of allowing students to study ancient medieval history were Jessie Edwards and Mary Thomas. Those opposed were: Michael Allen, Harry Brungard, Kayla Calhoon, Timothy McDonnell, Cheri Peters, Bill Pfirman and Michelle Stemler.
For the course entitled AP Seminar, "no" votes were cast by McDonnell, Peters, Pfirman and Stemler; for High School Nutrition and Keyboarding II, Brungard was the lone "no" vote; and for Diversified Occupations, Allen voted "no."
The vote on three courses -- Introduction to Health & Medical Assisting, CTE Health & Medical Assisting and CTE Health & Medical Assisting 2 -- was tabled so that a presentation could be made at the next regular board meeting. Action on the 2024-25 high school course catalog was also tabled.
Prior to the business portion of the meeting, the board heard from two people advocating for the district to offer that curriculum, citing a shortage of workers in the health care professions.
Samantha Knepp, a senior at Jersey Shore, told the board that she is also taking courses at Keystone Central as part of their health occupations program after the board previously voted down offering the curriculum at Jersey Shore.
"I missed out on a lot of things because I chose to pursue this program," Knepp said.
"I'm not able to take many electives. I've had to take online courses to complete graduation requirements since I lose an hour every day traveling. I didn't go to lunch period this semester and last year's second semester at either school. I miss out on events and time with friends in pursuit of this chance," she said.
She shared that she has obtained a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) license and has been accepted into the patient care technician program at Central Mountain.
"I will leave high school with the opportunity to join the workforce immediately or advance my knowledge at the collegiate level while working in the healthcare field," she said.
Citing the need for qualified and trained health care professionals, Knepp said, "There exists an opportunity for the Jersey Shore School District to meet those needs by implementing a health occupations CTE program...I urge the board to make this decision based on the need for this program."
The board also heard from Heidi Frank, the director of nursing at Lock Haven Rehabilitation's Senior Living.
"(I) just want to address the humongous need that we have for entry level positions for health care providers, whether it be care technicians or CNAs," Frank said.
"There is not a healthcare facility within Lycoming County-Clinton County that does not need entry level position staff members. I've found that the students that we've accepted from other schools that do have health occupation classes are leaps and bounds ahead of the folks who just come in to us off the street with no experience," Frank said.
"I think that it would be a huge benefit for your school district to consider something like that," she added.
The health careers courses will be discussed at the next meeting at 7 p.m. on Feb. 26 at the District Administration Building, 175 A&P Drive.