JEFFERSON — The long-awaited new Jefferson High School greenhouse is now complete, save some landscaping, furnishing and equipment, and backers have raised $130,000 for the project.
Thanks to outstanding community support for the project and the generosity of the contractors who worked on it, the Jefferson High School Agriculture Advisory Committee will not have to borrow $50,000 as planned to complete the $127,000 facility, but will be able to pay for it through existing funds and donations.
Backers still are accepting donations, however, for the furnishings and equipment for the greenhouse and toward the maintenance of the facility in the future.
Work began on the project in the first week of school and wrapped up, except for landscaping and final details, at the close of last month.
The new greenhouse is a joint venture, with a majority of the funding coming from donations and the rest from the School District of Jefferson.
The district’s board of education approved the $127,000 greenhouse project earlier this year. At that time, the school board set aside $50,000 in district funds toward the project and another $50,000 to be loaned to the Agriculture Advisory Committee. That loan will not be necessary, however, said advisory panel representative Dale Gaugert.
This project started with the need for a new greenhouse, Gaugert said. The school’s existing greenhouse was much smaller and very outdated and its infrastructure had reached the end of its useful life.
A new greenhouse was included in the first proposed Jefferson High School redesign, but that referendum failed, and the later referendum that did pass did not include a new greenhouse.
The need remained, however.
So in the last year or so, the Jefferson High School Agriculture Advisory Committee formed to address program needs, top among them a new greenhouse.
The group included a wide representation from the schools and community, with local farmers and businesspeople, school administrators, graduates of the Jefferson High School agriculture program, parents and other interested community members.
Former Superintendent Mike Swartz and his wife Sandy, former head of the district’s character education program, took an active role in assisting the committee, and although the Swartzes since have retired, they have continued their support from the sidelines.
Mark Rollefson, new Jefferson High School principal, also has been involved with the later part of the process.
The ag committee approached the school board last spring with a proposal to do the major fundraising for the new greenhouse if the school district agreed to take on the project.
The school board agreed that the district would invest $50,000 in the structure and to lend the ag panel another $50,000 to be paid back within three years. As it turns out, community support has been so strong the loan was not needed.
An Edgerton company constructed the prefabricated greenhouse itself, and Gaugert said he “negotiated pretty hard” with that company to discount the original asking price by $5,000 to keep the facility within the budget the ag committee felt it could handle.
Then Gaugert personally approached the local contractors to ask if they would donate or discount their services to help get the project done.
“They were very generous,” Gaugert said.
Gallitz Grading did the primary site work, dug the hole for the new greenhouse and brought in the big excavating machinery.
Dodge Concrete supplied materials, while Koenig Concrete did finish work.
Luedtke Plumbing, Current Electric, Jefferson Glass and mason Merlin Lange also contributed their services, all of these businesses donating their work to at least to some degree.
Ground Affects Landscaping is the last contractor at work on the project, as they could only begin when the others finished.
“That’s over $26,000 of in-kind contributions,” Gaugert said.
Meanwhile, community backers raised $55,650 toward the project, Gaugert said, including a large donation of $15,000 from the Jefferson FFA Alumni.
“We got $5,000 from a couple different people, actually several farmers contributed $1,000,” Gaugert said, recalling sitting around the table with a farm family, talking with them for an hour or so and walking away with a check for $4,000.
Gaugert said that these contributions put the project in very good stead, although the group still is raising money for equipment and furnishings inside the greenhouse.
“And if we get more than we need for the greenhouse, we’ll set that aside for maintenance costs going along with the new greenhouse,” Gaugert said.
A community dedication and open house reception for the new greenhouse is slated to take place during National FFA Week in February. More details on the timing will be released later.
Gaugert, a 1958 graduate of Jefferson High School, said that he got involved in the project as a longtime employee and a recent retiree from the John Deere Corp.
“There was no general contractor. Everybody was calling me to set things up — but we got through it,” Gaugert said. “I had the designs, and all of the contractors met up front at the Wayside Inn so they were all on the same page.”
Gaugert called the greenhouse project a tremendous example of the community banding together for everyone’s benefit.
Already, the partnership has created connections across the local area. For example, Gaugert said, the project has put new agriculture instructor Sarah Whitley in contact with folks from the local agribusiness community and has spurred ideas for potential uses for the greenhouse, which benefit the whole community.
Gaugert said he also has been in touch with the agriculture instructor with the Waunakee schools, which recently built a new greenhouse. This teacher was able to provide good ideas about how to approach the project — and also some ideas of what not to do.
“This is a big project,” Gaugert said of the greenhouse endeavor. “We as a school district and as a community are investing a lot of money in the new greenhouse, and we want to see the facility utilized year-round, not just one season of the year.”
“This is just a fantastic opportunity for students and for me as a teacher,” said Whitley, the new agriculture teacher. “A greenhouse is the best way to teach several agriculture classes in a hands-on way.”
The new greenhouse is significantly larger than the old one (30-by-60 feet versus 10-by-24) and much more flexible in terms of student needs.
It is heated with gas, with cooling during the summer done through vents and exhaust fans.
Lavern Georgson, who served as agriculture instructor at Jefferson High School for many years, retiring last June, said that the old greenhouse was small and outdated and had outlived its life expectancy.
It could no longer maintain the proper temperature for plant growth, he said. Its mechanicals were outdated and could not be serviced, and its ventilation was inadequate. It had no headhouse and inadequate supply storage, he said, and its glass was in bad condition and inefficient, leading to higher energy costs.
The project has been on the docket for years, Georgson said.
He noted that the larger greenhouse will give students a work area, storage for potting materials and soils, a much greater growing area and a greatly improved facility.
The storage area, taking up 8 feet at the back of the greenhouse, would include cabinets and benches.
Space was at a premium in the existing greenhouse, with only 12 students able to work in there at a time. Georgson said plants constantly had to be moved in and out of the greenhouse and lab.
The new greenhouse is expected to be used by numerous classes, both in and outside of the agriculture department, the instructors said, including around 35 students in the Ag Survey class, 20 students in the Greenhouse class, 20 students in the Landscaping class, 15 students in the Plant/Soil/Water class, 22 in the Conservation and Wildlife class; five students involved in the agribusiness youth apprenticeship Plant/Horticulture program; 23 students from the Dairy Science class during the crop unit; 20 students from the Large Animal Science class during its crop unit; and four independent study students pursuing hydroponics and aquaculture.
“Across the curriculum, there are so many applications for this facility,” Georgson said. The new greenhouse will provide a unique opportunity for the high school agriculture department to partner with the rest of the high school, the other schools in the district and the community as a whole.
Already, plans are in the works for the facility to be used in cooperation with the West Elementary School After-School Club’s “We Grow” community garden project, assisted by the Jefferson County Master Gardeners. In the future, planners are looking at ways to involve students and classes districtwide.
The greenhouse eventually might be used to provide herbs and fresh produce for the school nutrition/school lunch program.
It is expected to house plants during the Future Business Leaders of America and the FFA/agriculture department’s spring plant sale and to serve as a resource for the high school’s science department in conjunction with current core standards.
Fundraising coordinators still are accepting donations toward the furnishing of the greenhouse and its future maintenance.
People may donate outright by writing a check, giving cash or placing the donation on a major credit card or by pledging donations to be made payable for the next two years.
A “Tree of Life” with leaves signifying levels of giving is planned to go on permanent display as a lifelong way of honoring contributors to the project. This tree will be on view in the high school commons area.
Another way to support the project is through purchasing a brick. These will be used to pave a path around the greenhouse called “The Pathway to Agriculture,” Initially, only 150 bricks are slated to be sold, costing $100 each. Each brick will be engraved with the family name of a donor or inscribed in honor of a student or in memory of a lost family member.
Checks should be written to the Jefferson Community Foundation, with gifts and pledge cards to be mailed to the Jefferson Veterinary Clinic: re: Greenhouse Project, 959 W. Racine St., Jefferson WI 53549.
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