Published: April 06, 2008 09:29 pm      

Hunting courses coming to curriculum

PRINCETON — Hunting classes are coming to West Virginia’s schools, but area students will have to wait until next semester if they want to sign up.

On April 1 Gov. Joe Manchin signed Senate Bill 9, a piece of legislation creating an elective hunter safety orientation program for public schools. This class may be offered to students in the 6th through 12th grades over a two-week period during the school year as part of physical education classes or as part of the general curriculum. Each principal must approve the 10-hour course before it is offered.

Area students who want the course will have to wait until next semester to sign up. The legislation was passed late in the school year, so superintendents and principals will have to decide exactly how to implement it. For instance, regulations banning any weapons from school property must be taken into account.

Local administrators will likely look to the past when deciding the form of their county’s hunting classes. The bill stipulates that the classes will be conducted by an instructor certified by the state Division of Natural Resources or who has other training necessary to conduct the program as determined by the state board.

This is how it was done years ago, said Peggy Freeman, assistant superintendent for secondary education at McDowell County Schools.

“In the past, DNR officers conducted the classes and provided the curriculum,” Freeman said. Classroom teachers stayed during presentations to assist the officers.

Less than two months of school are left, so the hunting classes won’t be available until next year, Freeman said.

“Actually, we haven’t had a principals meeting to discuss it, but I’m confident it will be offered in some form or another,” Freeman said.

One student at Bluefield High School was enthusiastic about seeing hunting classes.

“I think it’s really good,” said Samantha Fowler, a writer for The Beaver Voice. She’s also a hunter.

Hunting is a long standing tradition in West Virginia, so helping young people participate in it is important, Fowler said. Besides providing recreation, the practice helps keep populations of deer and other wildlife in check.

Longtime hunters could remember when they took hunting classes during their high school days, and they were happy to see the opportunity again.

“I’m all for it,” said R.E. Haynes, Jr., a senior deputy with the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department. “As a matter of fact I took one of my sons through the class a couple of years ago. It’s done by the DNR.”

Haynes recalled how gun safety was demonstrated through diagrams, and how students were taught to properly “break down” or care for firearms safely. Students had the opportunity to practice marksmanship with BB guns.

Like McDowell County, school administrators in Mercer County have not had an opportunity to talk about the hunting classes, said Assistant Superintendent Don White.

White said when he was a principal at Princeton Senior High School, the DNR conducted a hunting class was offered after school hours.

“We will be discussing it with our principals during our next administrators meeting April 9,” White said. “We’ll be getting some input from that.”