Brighton High School agriculture teacher, Dallas Dooley, stands in front of banner that explains what the $5,000 grant she was awarded will be used for.
In the United States, less than 2% of the population works directly in farming and ranching. This creates an effect where many of us may not see how connected agriculture is to our daily lives.
Dallas Dooley, the agriculture teacher at Brighton High School is working to change that by growing students’ interest in agriculture through the only active Future Farmers of America (FFA) program in 27J Schools.
In the last year alone, Dooley doubled the number of students she serves through the program to 250 students this school year. That growth puts Dooley in a tough spot; the state recommends 1 agriculture teacher for every 80 students.
“There’s just not enough of me to go around. It’s disheartening to have to tell students they have to wait,” said Dooley.
Like every teacher in 27J Schools, Dooley is impacted daily by the district’s chronically underfunded school system. 27J is third from last (176 out of 178) in all of Colorado when it comes to funding per student. Voters have not passed a mill levy override in over two decades. A mill levy override pays for things like robust programming, competitive teacher salaries, and–most relevant to Dooley’s work–more teachers for STEM/Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses like agriculture.
If you divide 250 students by the recommended 80, Dallas is doing the job of three people. Unfortunately, a lot of STEM/CTE teachers in the district face this problem. At Brighton High, all of the STEM/CTE programs only have one teacher, with the exception of one program that has two teachers.
This understaffing is unsustainable and it isn’t just teachers in Dallas’ position feeling the impact. Students are too.
“The plant and animal pathways in the agricultural program are four-year pathways, but I am only able to teach two of these courses at a time,” says Dooley. “There’s just not enough of me to go around. It’s disheartening to have to tell students they have to wait.”
Because of this, Dooley sees a high rate of turnover in the agriculture program in students’ junior and senior years. It isn’t because they’re no longer interested in the program; it’s because the advanced course offerings they are looking for just aren’t there. Half of the 250 students Dooley currently teaches are freshmen. Many of them will be forced out of the agriculture pathway because of limited courses. Additional staff would mean more classes to meet the needs of students currently on waitlists for the program.
“People don’t realize that a lot of students don’t go further than a 30-50 mile radius from their hometowns after graduating,” says Dooley. “We want to make sure we are training these students properly to go back into the community and fill essential jobs, like agriculture. Our CTE courses embody this training.”
Grants: When it doesn’t rain, you water
Since the budget for STEM/CTE programs is insufficient to meet student’s needs, Dallas started writing grants last year to make up for some of it. Last year, she received over $10,000 in grants, which allowed her to get floral coolers for flowers and other materials to start up a floriculture club.
Over fifty students participated in the club. The students partnered with the Sunshine club at Brighton High to offer floral arrangements to teachers for bereavement, retirement, and pick-me-ups. They also offered corsages for students who couldn’t afford these for homecoming and prom.
Besides these free arrangements, students also made, marketed, and sold arrangements each month and for special occasions like Veteran’s Day and Valentine’s Day in the community.
Although the grant last year helped, it wasn’t enough to cover this year’s costs to continue the work from last year. Dooley applied for more grants this year and was awarded a $5,000 grant from FFA. Brighton High’s FFA chapter was only one of three chapters in the state to receive this grant.
This grant will pay for raised garden beds, soil, bulbs and seeds, and the basic equipment needed to continue monthly floral arrangements. Dooley’s goal this year is to grow cut flowers from these garden beds to use in the arrangements, so students truly get to experience the process from start to finish of making and selling their own arrangements.
Although Dallas has received multiple grants to help with her work, she still spends the majority of her free time looking on places like Facebook Marketplace for decor and materials students can use.
Students’ careers take root
Dooley’s students have big aspirations, such as being equine vets, starting their own businesses, or simply learning more about where their food comes from.
“Even if I didn’t have the funding from grants or the school, I would make sure to still make this opportunity possible for my students,” said Dooley.
“Last year, I helped a student apply for a Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) grant, which she received. This student now owns her own collar business.”
Career and Technical Education courses are designed to connect students to high-demand industries and jumpstart their paths into careers in those fields. When students are unable to access these courses, because underfunding limits their availability, it sets back their progress towards good-paying jobs after high school.
“If we were charging STEM/CTE students the actual cost of what it takes to run a program like the ones we offer, we would be charging over $200 per class, which is inequitable,” said Dooley.
“This leaves teachers to supplement these needed funds with grants and spending an excessive amount of time in the community trying to find how to make ends meet and how to bridge gaps so student opportunities are not reduced. We simply need more staff.”
Besides helping students with their needs and questions outside of class hours, Dallas is actively involved with the Adams County Farm Bureau, substitutes for other teachers on a regular basis, provides other teachers with emotional support needs, and is constantly traveling and picking up materials for her students.
Dallas Dooley is a strong advocate for her students and works daily to help them reach their goals and become educated in such an important industry in society: agriculture.
Ms. Dooley’s work is exemplary of how a teacher’s work goes beyond the classroom–teachers are the trusted source for support and information that impacts our schools, neighborhood and society. Teachers are advocates.
