The John Muir PTC

PTC  Meeting Minutes

March 8, 2011

Six lovely ladies in attendance.

Suggestion to make the April PTC Meeting in the evening to coincide with a movie night for the kids on campus.

Northwest Nature Shop offers a fundraising evening where JMS can get a percentage of their profits on a given day. Aura is confirming the date for this, but has had verbal confirmation that it will probably be in May. Yogurt Hut also does an event like this, Aura will check into this a inquire if it would be a Wednesday when Duane is already leading the music group there.

Courtyard Days coming up: April 8,  K-4 graders, April 21, 5-8 graders. Lots of parents needed.  Major courtyard clean up.  Parents please bring in 6 packs of annuals and perennials.  Pond, Pavers, Cob oven, Wall all need attention.  Please see Pat, Tim, Maribeth for specific projects. Throughout the month of April is get the courtyard up to par time! You can also pitch in when you can, by weeding, mulching, etc. There are a lot of great tiles in storage that could still be used in courtyard for mosaic project—Anyone interested?

Financial Report: Lauren. We currently have $9,554 in the account.

We passed a motion to fund Joyce’s position (Art Focus and Outdoor Coordinator) and Sue’s position (drumming) for the rest of this year.  This will cost the PTC just more than $1000 in additional funds. Afro Cuban drumming is very important; it uses both hands, brings kids together, attracts kids who aren’t usually interested in music.

Ashland Schools Foundation-April 7^th is our date to participate in the phone call event.  It would be wonderful for everyone to work together to benefit our whole school district.  Please sign up for the night!  Or choose another night that is better for you. There is wine, dinner served, etc. it can be a really fun night if we all sit together.

John Muir Birthday Bash April 22 FUNDRAISER

An additional 2000 tickets were printed today (bringing our total of printed tickets to 5000).  Tables are going well—remember to emphasize that we are a public school and that the money goes to the arts and outdoor education. Fundraising meeting on Mon. March 6^th-formed an outline of what the evening will look like.  There are lots of fun ideas.  Ticket sales are going well; let’s keep the push going over the next couple weeks!

Reflections on how much we love Lithia Park.

Aura donated lots of cute material for Pat’s class to make napkins add to the JMS general supplies.  Sewing machines welcomed.  Let Pat know if you’re available to help with this project.

Next PTC Meeting April 12^th @  6:30 p.m.  at the school. Bring the kids for a movie and popcorn. If you have a suggestion for what movie you’d like to see played, email Tracy at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

May 5-6th - Next garden work party days

JMS Garden Project update: Recent essay sent to Whole Foods requesting grant money.

April 25, 2011

The John Muir School (JMS) is a K-8 public magnet school established in 2006. Our student population of 110 enjoys a curriculum interwoven with arts, music and the great outdoors. The school uses an on-campus garden, local parks and partially developed wilderness areas extensively to teach students about seeds, plants, nutrition, science, math and land stewardship. Four primary teachers combine inside and outside experiential learning in a variety of settings. Teachers are responsible for all subject areas, and class sizes range from 24 to 28 students. The school is heavily supported by parent volunteers. We currently fund raise for almost all of our art, music and basic outdoor programs. We hire one part-time person to support the organizational and logistical needs of these programs. She does not, however, have time to coordinate the garden effort.

A few dedicated parents like myself took on the garden project in 2007. Progress over the first years was slow, but in 2010 we received a grant from the City of Ashland to erect a deer fence and install an irrigation system. After that we really gained steam. We set out to make the garden sustainable and have accomplished that goal by involving the entire school community in two basic steps.

First, we elicited the support of the school maintenance grounds department. They are now our primary supplier for mulch and compostable materials like grass, sawdust and leaves. With the addition of coffee grounds from local coffee shops and manure from local horse ranches, we created a compost pile managed by the students. Our first student-created compost batch is just about ready. Weed suppression between rows and in undeveloped areas is also better managed.

Second, we petitioned the new food service director at the school district to include us in a program where food from the school garden goes directly to the school cafeteria salad bar. We are, I am happy to write, part of a pilot project that is slowly gaining ground. We had fresh vegetables like bok choy, broccoli and onions in the salad bar in the Fall of 2010. Signs announcing the addition of school garden produce were posted when a crop was brought in. This has been a point of pride for the students and parents. Making good nutritional choices is a main focus for 2011-2012 throughout our school district.

Recognizing the success of our efforts, our two upper grade teachers (5-8^th) incorporated the JMS garden into the planned outdoor curriculum. Working in cooperation with the Rogue Valley Farm to School (RVF2S) organization, students received instruction at both our garden location and a local organic farm at least monthly. As a result, the 5-8^th graders mapped the JMS garden, performed soil testing, help create beds (43 beds, 3 ft widex20 feet long), completed a planting/succession plan and started planting raspberries, strawberries and sugar peas in March of this year. Colorful garden stakes creatively painted by the students adorn the garden beds and promote ownership.

Though not a scheduled part of the curriculum, our K-4^th graders also enjoyed visits to the garden for planting, weeding and harvesting throughout the year. We were able to promote the garden learning cycle by baking goodies in the school’s cob oven with ingredients freshly harvested by students from the garden. One plan is to create a 10 ft. x 10 ft. “pizza patch” like the one described in the book Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots.

Future goals include creating a student-run produce stand, increasing focus time on nutritional choices through experiences in the garden, regularly having students take crops to the cafeteria, setting up an elective gardening course, and teaching the pantry arts of dehydration, canning and freezing using the school cafeteria facility. Community outreach for food/crop donations is also part of our larger plan.

Our immediate needs are for a dedicated, paid (at least minimally) garden coordinator and only slightly less so a multipurpose lathe house. We are looking at a basic design structure that would serve to protect the students from the elements, double as a place to plant and tend seedlings, as well as serve as a transplanting station. Additionally, the lathe house would serve as a produce processing station for foods going to the cafeteria and student-run produce stand.

Our pilot project for nutrition this year involved dehydrating kale with a natural “nacho” flavor to see if the students liked it and selling JMS garden blackberry jam at our annual fundraiser. Both projects were very successful and can easily be expanded to include full student involvement.

What would it mean to our garden to have funding from you? A LOT! As you can tell, we are at a critical time in our program development. Involving the school and farm communities, expanding our commitment to the school cafeteria and becoming a planned part of the teaching curriculum means we have a huge increase in our management time needs. To be successful, we must have someone to oversee the garden operation.

Up to now, ALL the funding we have received has been for materials. We believe we cannot grow or even maintain a program of this size with just materials funding. We need a dedicated garden manager to ensure a sustainable, quality program and avoid burnout of our few main, dedicated volunteers.

As I write this, I am amazed at the progress two short years have brought. I encourage you to call or email me if you have ANY questions about our garden project.

Looking forward to your support!

Patti Ruiz

541 482-2826    This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it