Dear Members of the Board Of Education,

From students, parents, community members, and alumni who believe that keeping the Project Lead The Way program at Indian Valley High School is imperative for the education of current and future students.  These students and community members believe that this program should be kept to continue to support our student’s education.  We have a large number of students enrolled who plan on entering an engineering or computer science pathway because of experience in these courses. Our school's PLTW program begins in elementary STEAM courses, continues in middle school robotics, and it gives students in high school the opportunity to explore engineering and computer science pathways without needing to go to Buckeye Career Center or Kent State Tuscarawas. In fact, throughout the past two years, there has been an increase in student involvement of approximately 15 students per year and another 14 projected for the 2026-2027 school year. The PLTW program gives the students in the class the ability to network at showcases and competitions; this helps our students connect to people of similar interest and talk to companies which can expand their opportunities for future careers. There is currently a bill being voted on in the State House that would require high school students to enroll in a computer science class within their high school career. This bill is called Ohio House Bill 594, this bill's goal is “to require school districts to offer, and students to complete, at least one high school computer science course” (BillTrack50). This means that regardless of cutting the PLTW program, our school could possibly be required to reintroduce at least a computer science course by July 1, 2029. Currently there is a three year 100% covered scholarship for both the engineering and computer science programs through the PLTW program (PLTW Grants). If there are budget concerns regarding the PLTW programs at our schools, then our school should be seeking other forms of funding to cover this program rather than cutting it completely. There are many businesses that offer grants to schools that work alongside the  PLTW program so that our community and others can continue to have students go into STEM pathways across the nation; for example five of these major businesses include: Intel, Lockheed Martin, AWS, Autodesk, Toyota and 61 others (PLTW Partners | Building Strong STEM Education Partnerships).  From the understanding of the student body, there has been an increase in enrollment into the PLTW programs within our schools, especially compared to the enrollment rate of the graduating class of 2026 in the same programs. Currently, there are 35 total students enrolled in PLTW classes and 14 members of the robotics club. In the upcoming year, 20 students of the incoming freshmen class are or have shown interest in taking a PLTW course. Please join us in protecting the district goals promised by the Board of Education “INNOVATION - INTEGRITY - RELATIONSHIPS - TEAMWORK - TRADITION”.