Havelock may allow chickens at school

It may just turn out that the chicken comes before the egg — at least at Havelock High School.

Havelock commissioners agreed to hold a hearing on Sept. 26 on a request to allow chickens at the high school for educational purposes.

City rules now prohibit barnyard animals within city limits.

“It’s very important for students to have real live specimens to work with in the classroom,” Kayla Harris, Havelock’s new agriculture education teacher, told commissioners Monday night. “We live in a world now where a lot of things are virtual, but in career and technical education, especially agriculture education, it’s important for those students to understand the life cycles of a chicken, or the life cycles of a cow — how they reproduce and how they produce more products for us to consume and to use on a daily basis.

“Our goal is to get our students ready for careers in agriculture and any other industry that they can enter. More and more jobs related to poultry production are coming to North Carolina.”

Harris pointed to the Sanderson Farms poultry production facility in Kinston.

“They are looking for skilled students to come and work in their companies, and I feel it’s our responsibility in Craven County and at Havelock High School to have our students ready to take over those careers,” she said. “There’s a huge opportunity for them to make great money, wonderful benefits and retirement packages.”

Harris proposed that the school be allowed to have 20 chickens, all hens and no roosters. Havelock Principal Jeff Murphy told commissioners that the school had a horticultural compound that would be modified to house the birds.

“We’re going to have it in an orderly fashion at the high school. We’re going to house it in the right way. We’re going to build the right structure so that it’s the right way for chickens,” Murphy said. “We’re going to do it on a trial basis also. We’re going to see how it benefits students. And we’re going to make sure that it works with our educational environment, and if it doesn’t, then we’ll do away with it. If it does, then we’ll keep doing it. Whatever the laws are, we’re going to stick to that as close as possible.”

Commissioner Danny Walsh pointed out that the board had previously turned down a request from resident Janet Hatfield to keep three chickens in a backyard coop.

Havelock Mayor Jimmy Sanders suggested an exception be made for schools and that the birds not be allowed within 400 feet of a residence.

Sanders said the high school is isolated and well away from homes, and Commissioner Will Lewis pointed out the differences between the two requests.

“Two main reasons why we said no to chickens in the city of Havelock was proximity and property values,” he said. “Those were our major sticking points. It seems like both of those can be dealt with in this situation.”

Though there was no vote taken, it appeared that there was a 3-2 split on the board in favor of allowing the chickens at the school.