The Board just confirmed that our auto and culinary programs are staying right here at Southern High. I am incredibly relieved that our schedules will remain intact instead of losing hours to that commute. Thank you for pushing back against this plan alongside me.
April 24, 2022
Final supporters
As of 3/8/2022 Garrett County Board of Education (GCBOE) has made a decision to move Southern's Auto Mechanic and Culinary programs from the high school to a "more central location" for both Northern and Southern. In August of 2021 Northern sadly lost it's Auto Mechanics teacher and they have been unable to replace him. The GCBOE solution to this problem is to move the program to a facility in Accident, MD. The problem with this is the location, for northern students it would be a 5 minute ride/ drive. For southern students though it would be 45 minutes ride/ drive causing a complete change to those students schedule that are taking these courses. Southern High students will only be able to take 3 courses each semester due to the travel time. This is not a central location, this is a northern location, and we the students of Southern High ask you to please help us persuade the Board to change its decision and to come up with a new way to make it fair for both Northern and Southern students. I am unable to speak for Northern students and I'm sorry that the board has not been fair to you, by not giving you a Culinary program and not replacing your auto mechanic teacher. I hope the board will be able to come up with a better solution to this problem the for both of us.
Updates
Reached 1,000 supporters
March 16, 2022
March 16, 2022
Seeing this grow makes me feel like our community truly understands that losing these programs means losing our future. My own experience in these classrooms shaped who I am and I refuse to let the board just sweep that away from the next group of students.
March 15, 2022
Seeing one hundred people recognize how unfair this travel time is to our students at Southern is incredibly validating. I am starting to feel hopeful that the board will finally listen to us and find a balanced solution for both schools.
Reached 100 supporters
March 14, 2022
227 Comments
As a former student and to be honest didn’t have no interest in the class I see how big it is to the kids in the community most of them work in garages or farms after highschool they need this opportunity
Hire some teachers for Northern students. This is ridiculous. I'm sure hiring a teacher would be much cheaper than hauling students this far. How long are the classes. If an hour class on road 45 minutes leaves 15 minutes for the student to be in class. What a waste.
As a mother that has a daughter that is a student at southern and her career path is food's. I am very unhappy about this. Not fair to the students or parents. That is to far for us to travel in the unsafe winter months.
I see many reasons this is totally unacceptable, however one very realistic reason is that with the price of gasoline, this is going to put a real hardship on students. 5 minutes from Northern but 45 from Southern. How can that even be a consideration?
As an alumna of SHS, I look back fondly on having the trade programs integrated into our school - it was a good experience all around, and I'd be sad to see that experience removed in such an unfair and inequitable way.
Our country needs this
they'd need to bring back in schools again
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The Board just confirmed that our auto and culinary programs are staying right here at Southern High. I am incredibly relieved that our schedules will remain intact instead of losing hours to that commute. Thank you for pushing back against this plan alongside me.
April 24, 2022
Final supporters
As of 3/8/2022 Garrett County Board of Education (GCBOE) has made a decision to move Southern's Auto Mechanic and Culinary programs from the high school to a "more central location" for both Northern and Southern. In August of 2021 Northern sadly lost it's Auto Mechanics teacher and they have been unable to replace him. The GCBOE solution to this problem is to move the program to a facility in Accident, MD. The problem with this is the location, for northern students it would be a 5 minute ride/ drive. For southern students though it would be 45 minutes ride/ drive causing a complete change to those students schedule that are taking these courses. Southern High students will only be able to take 3 courses each semester due to the travel time. This is not a central location, this is a northern location, and we the students of Southern High ask you to please help us persuade the Board to change its decision and to come up with a new way to make it fair for both Northern and Southern students. I am unable to speak for Northern students and I'm sorry that the board has not been fair to you, by not giving you a Culinary program and not replacing your auto mechanic teacher. I hope the board will be able to come up with a better solution to this problem the for both of us.
Updates
Reached 1,000 supporters
March 16, 2022
March 16, 2022
Seeing this grow makes me feel like our community truly understands that losing these programs means losing our future. My own experience in these classrooms shaped who I am and I refuse to let the board just sweep that away from the next group of students.
March 15, 2022
Seeing one hundred people recognize how unfair this travel time is to our students at Southern is incredibly validating. I am starting to feel hopeful that the board will finally listen to us and find a balanced solution for both schools.
Reached 100 supporters
March 14, 2022
227 Comments
Why not have the teacher travel between the two schools, instead of busing entire groups of students? Half the day at each school's auto mechanics class could be dedicated to reading and video instruction, with a "fill-in" teacher, and the other half "hands-on" with the auto mechanics instructor.
As a former student and to be honest didn’t have no interest in the class I see how big it is to the kids in the community most of them work in garages or farms after highschool they need this opportunity
Hire some teachers for Northern students. This is ridiculous. I'm sure hiring a teacher would be much cheaper than hauling students this far. How long are the classes. If an hour class on road 45 minutes leaves 15 minutes for the student to be in class. What a waste.
As a mother that has a daughter that is a student at southern and her career path is food's. I am very unhappy about this. Not fair to the students or parents. That is to far for us to travel in the unsafe winter months.
I see many reasons this is totally unacceptable, however one very realistic reason is that with the price of gasoline, this is going to put a real hardship on students. 5 minutes from Northern but 45 from Southern. How can that even be a consideration?
As an alumna of SHS, I look back fondly on having the trade programs integrated into our school - it was a good experience all around, and I'd be sad to see that experience removed in such an unfair and inequitable way.
Our country needs this
they'd need to bring back in schools again
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Why not have the teacher travel between the two schools, instead of busing entire groups of students? Half the day at each school's auto mechanics class could be dedicated to reading and video instruction, with a "fill-in" teacher, and the other half "hands-on" with the auto mechanics instructor.