Pester served as an assistant to FFA advisor Jeff Schellpeper two years ago. Last year, the assistant position was not continued due to budget cuts for the 2007/2008 school year.

Schellpeper was at Monday's meeting to voice his case on why FFA needed an assistant.

"Other organizations have assistants. I don't have any," he said. "I have just as many members and activities."

"We have a very active FFA chapter," he said. "To do it, I need some help."

Board member Mark Christensen said given the cost and the number of students in FFA, he did not see a problem in hiring an assistant for this year.

According to Schellpeper, there are 43 FFA members in the junior/senior high, with 32 of those being high school students.

According to school policy, the board will consider hiring an assistant if there are at least 20 students in an activity.

"Initially, I had told him that we probably were not looking at adding any additional staff at this time," Superintendent Paul Hull said to the board.

However, Hull said he and Schellpeper had additional conversations about the possible assistant position and safety concerns.

"When you have activities with a lot of students, it's hard for one person and maybe the bus driver to watch over," Hull said.

While the assistant helps provide an extra set of eyes, Schellpeper added that the assistant also helps students prepare for activities and at events.

Hull said he, along with the high school principal and activity sponsors, would annually examine which groups need assistants and how many.