Supt. Bryan Pruitt announced at Monday evening’s Eureka Springs School Board meeting that the district had been awarded a grant for $109,650 to build a greenhouse. “It will be state-of-the-art,” he said.
Pruitt said the Horticulture and Plant Science grant came from the Arkansas Department of Career Education. The district will pay for the pad and utilities, and the grant will pay for everything else. He said the project could begin anytime, but first he and Facilities Director Mike Dwyer will visit the recently-installed greenhouses in the Clinton and Greenland school districts to gather ideas.
Pruitt said he has researched options for which products to invest in, but there are more to explore. At some point, the district will put the project up for bids, and the bid will include constructing the facility.
Pruitt commented, “I would love to have it ready by September,” adding that the district could hire a teacher and implement a horticulture curriculum in which students could propagate and sell plants. Students from the STEM and Leadership programs could also take on projects in the greenhouse.
In other business, the board approved increasing the hourly pay for food service and custodial substitutes to $10 per hour.
Next meeting will be Tuesday, March 14, at 5:30.