Catfish head upstream to senior high school
BUTLER TWP — Science teachers spent Friday morning rolling a large tank used to raise catfish from one school to another.
The fishery program at Butler Intermediate High School is shifting at least some of its operations to the Butler Senior High School.
Dave Andrews, the teacher who brought Pennsylvania's “Trout in the Classroom” program to the school district about a decade ago, is switching to a districtwide role as an instructional coach.
Without a classroom of his own, Andrews is passing the fishy torch to a team of senior high teachers.
“It was a hard decision,” Andrews said. “I'm sure I'll be bugging these guys a lot.”
On Friday, Andrews' colleagues were eager to hear his advice.
Andrews walked biology teacher Ben Klugh and environmental science teacher Mike Doran through setting up a tank that will house about 200 1- or 2-inch channel catfish in just a couple months.
In another setup, students will raise rainbow trout from eggs. The new home for the fish is the STEAM classroom, a room shared by teachers for art, engineering and other projects.
Last school year, the fishery program spread to Butler Middle School. This latest change marks its first move to the senior high.
Plans to continue raising fish in the intermediate are up in the air, but the teachers involved said they are seeking a way to keep the program going there as well.
Aside from Klugh and Doran, chemistry teacher Jared Vance, chemistry teacher Anna Kasicky, special-education teacher James Miles, and AP biology teacher Christine McGarrah are planning on involving their classes in the fishery program.
Klugh said he thinks the older students in their various specialty science classes will be able to engage with the program in deeper and wider ways.
“It's tough to get students to buy into some of the stuff we're doing,” Klugh said. “This is a way to get them really engaged in something real-world. I think our test scores will go up just from better engaging them.”
Butler fish are growing steadily more common in area bodies of water. This year's trout will stock Thorn Creek, as in years past. Catfish will be stocked in Glade Run Lake.
When the cats are put in the water, Andrews clips an unnecessary wing off for easy identification. He recently heard from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission that the department no longer will need to stock catfish in the lake, as their studies show Butler school fish are fulfilling the lake's need.
“Our fish are growing faster, and they're catching more of them,” Andrews said. “I mean, we're having fish hit 10 inches in a year.”
Andrews' new position will have him working with teachers and students throughout the Butler Area School District's various schools to help teachers better engage with their classes. He has been teaching for 21 years.
Doran and Klugh have taken a class in Harrisburg to learn the ins and outs of the Trout in the Classroom program.
Aside from another batch of fish, the school district is in talks to host a filming of “Fishing University,” a long-running outdoors show, later this year.
