Phoenix-Talent School District supports direction of program under FFA advisor as some parents, students cite concerns

The end of the recent school year for some Phoenix High School FFA members came with a not-so-fond farewell to what some students and parents claim is a poorly managed and languishing district agricultural sciences program.

An untold number of students are reportedly leaving the program — and, in some cases, the district — over concerns with Phoenix-Talent School District Ag and FFA advisor Melissa Madsen.

Parents and students cite issues ranging from poor communication and negative interactions with students to subpar conditions for livestock housed at the school district barn on Colver Road.

District officials back Madsen’s performance and tout her success with the program since she took over during the 2022-23 school year.

With parents and district officials not seeing eye to eye on whether the program is experiencing difficulties, Sonya Warren, the mother of a former FFA student, recently took to social media, posting videos airing her concerns, and sent letters to state and national FFA officials.

Warren — whose 16-year-old son Braedan Eddy will be a junior next year and plans to move to another school district — was hired as a district FFA support specialist last year but said she was fired after criticizing Madsen.

Issues come to a head

Warren said issues came to a head in March after seeing videos of Madsen yelling at students, which she provided to the Rogue Valley Times, and discovering that a pair of baby goats donated to the program were underweight. Warren said the goats were fed cow’s milk purchased from a grocery store instead of formula.

Contacted by the Times, Madsen disputed Warren’s concerns and said misunderstanding and confusion were at the root of issues raised in recent months. Madsen disputed Warren’s cow’s milk claims and said cow’s milk is an acceptable substitute for baby goats.

Other issues for Warren include animals living in dirty, unsafe conditions at the district barn and that students were allegedly told to lie during an FFA plant sale, claiming they grew plants that Madsen purchased from Home Depot.

During an instance in which the district barn was without running water, Warren said another adult witnessed Madsen yelling at her son for contacting a former program employee for advice.

“I had left and was at Family Dollar buying water for the animals that are literally having a heat stroke, and she started yelling at Braedan,” Warren said.

Warren and other parents interviewed by the Times said Madsen failed to provide adequate guidance to students raising turkeys and took students to show birds that were disqualified for having a condition known as “angelwing,” which would have been evident when the birds were young.

Madsen said angelwing is a common issue with turkeys and students make their own decisions when purchasing animals to raise for show.

Erica Mehan, whose daughter Keala Mehan is leaving the program, said Madsen “set kids up for failure.”

Mehan voiced a number of concerns including that Madsen purchased sawdust from a local mill, instead of shavings for animal enclosures, which created unhealthy dust for students and animals to breathe; that students were told to claim they grew store-bought plants; and that Madsen delivered lambs to The Expo in Central Point on a hot day and refused to return animals to the barn when advised to do so.

“She was told by a lamb superintendent that she could not leave lambs on the trailer until vet check — that it was too hot and it would be better to take the animals home — so she drove around the corner and parked so it would look like she left,” Erica Mehan said.

Contacted by the Times, an FFA official confirmed the spring show incident but declined to be named.

“I had to leave work and put my daughter’s lamb in the back of my (Toyota) 4-runner, as a makeshift stall with the A/C running — for two hours — until vet check,” Erica Mehan said.

“She still kept one lamb in the enclosed trailer, disregarding what she had been told about the heat. My daughter’s lamb was sweating when I picked her up.”

Keala Mehan added, “If your lamb is overheated, it will have a fever and it won’t pass vet check, and then you won’t be allowed to show or sell your lamb that you invested all this time into.”

The younger Mehan said she and several friends were leaving the program due to “lack of respect towards students and the amount of danger she put our animals in.”

In addition to her own lamb having its skin torn on jagged chicken wire at the district barn, Keala Mehan said a pig had to be euthanized after breaking its leg and that a lamb “was crippled because it injured its hoof.”

Another FFA parent, Amanda Humphrey, in a message to the Times, said she voiced concerns to district officials about poor communication, animal safety being jeopardized and Madsen’s “serious lack of knowledge about the animals she was supposed to be advising the kids on.”

Humphrey said Madsen damaged the chapter’s reputation and community relationships and “failed to properly prepare the kids” for raising and showing animals. Humphrey said the district, when presented with a range of issues, “didn’t take anything seriously or bring any meaningful action.”

Angel Starrett, whose 16-year-old daughter is leaving the program, said the school year was marked by “poorly noticed events, excuses when things weren’t properly planned and lack of follow through.”

Starrett said Madsen told students she had supplies for turkeys that she couldn’t produce after turkeys had been purchased. 

“We had zero experience with FFA or raising animals, and we had no support or communication from the person who was supposed to be providing the guidance,” Starrett said.

Regarding the plant sale, Starrett claimed Madsen “encouraged these children to lie to the public. And when I told the school district what had happened, I basically got an email saying, ‘We’ll look into it.’ And then Madsen told my daughter she wouldn’t be giving her credit for showing up to the sale.”

Starrett voiced frustration with lack of concern by district officials noting, “I could see if just one parent or student were complaining, then it would be like, ‘OK, it’s just one crazy mom,’ but it’s multiple families and the district still thinks we’re all just making it up,” she said.

“There’s just no accountability.”

Madsen says ‘I have every intention of staying’

In a phone interview with the Times, Madsen said most of the program’s growing pains stem from a transition from a multiple-teacher program to a one-teacher program, a shift that had resulted in reliance on parent volunteers, she said, not always certain how best to help.

“We’ve tried to address every concern, but it went from having a conversation with me as an ag teacher to jumping over my head, and going to the principal and superintendent. For me, since they went that route, that’s where I have to leave it,” Madsen said.

“I have every intention of staying and building this program as a one-teacher program, but nobody understands what that’s going to have to look like. … I know we’ll get where we need to go, but it’s going to take some time.”

Madsen acknowledged purchasing plants at Home Depot for the plant sale after a regular supplier couldn’t fulfill an order. The school purchases starts, she noted, due to the plant sale not aligning with a long enough growing season to start with seeds.

Confirming that three of four turkeys were disqualified during a recent fair, Madsen said she suggests potential suppliers for program animals but that students and families are ultimately tasked with selecting their own animals to raise.

“Every journey a student takes here is an adventure and investment in themselves and, while we always want them to be successful, sometimes that is not the lesson life grants us,” Madsen said.

“As an advisor, I do my best to give students resources of all types, help them practice for shows, make them aware of clinics, help them make sure vet care and feed rations are correct and cheer them on through their showing season. … My job is also to teach them how to be good sportsmen, follow the rules and be gracious both in winning and in defeat.” 

Madsen challenged claims that lambs were in distress during the spring fair. However, a regional FFA official, who declined to be named, validated claims that lambs arrived too early.

Superintendent Barry says district looked at ‘whole picture’

Phoenix-Talent Superintendent Brent Barry said in a written statement that district officials reviewed parent concerns and stood by Madsen. Barry said the district is “dedicated to providing a rich and full learning experience for students in our ag science program that lives up to the Oregon FFA’s commitment.”

“We take every concern brought to our attention seriously, including those recently expressed. To get the full picture, we met with numerous people associated with the PHS ag program,” the statement read.

“The goal of the review process was to ensure that all concerns were addressed in a fair and appropriate manner. Now having completed that review, we are happy with the progress the ag program has made under Melissa Madsen’s leadership and support her vision for the program.”

Madsen said issues with a small number of parents snowballed into a bigger situation.

“I really tried to mediate and keep the focus on the kids. …The only bummer part is it has taken our program progress and slowed it down a lot,” she said.

“Those kids are going to end up missing out on some stuff because of actions that have happened. … My hope is that it’s all just growing pains and in the end we’ll be better for it.”

Warren voiced frustration that serious concerns were raised but “ignored by the district.”

“There have been so many issues, it’s hard to keep track of them all, but the district just doesn’t care,” Warren said.

“I felt like I needed to speak up about what I saw going on. … and their solution was to fire the whistleblower.”

Reach reporter Buffy Pollock at 458-488-2029 or buffy.pollock@rv-times.com. Follow her on Twitter @orwritergal.