The Oak Grove Upper Elementary School barn used in the school’s AgArt program could be going away after the Lamar County School District Board of Trustees decided to accept bids on its sale at Tuesday night’s meeting.
The Eagle Horse Barn, which was built in October 2016, was purchased for $6,970 in September 2016 with $5,000 from a Plum Creek grant. Superintendent Tess Smith said the garden at the school will get a canopy and walkway from the barn’s sale.
OGUE AgArt teacher Heather Giger, who started the curriculum, has transferred to Longleaf Elementary School. In the past two years, she has been named Mississippi Farm Bureau Teacher of the Year, Mississippi Association of Conservation Districts’ Teacher of the Year and received the Mississippi Alliance for Arts Education Thad Cochran Distinguished Agriculture & Art Educator.
Two years ago, Giger said she hoped the barn would become more utilized when some improvements are made.
“We have had goats here,” she said. “We are going to have visiting animals here. Other classes come in and do things in the garden, even without me. It’s integrated throughout the subject areas.”
The school received a $96,980 grant from the Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation for the 2017-18 school year. The funds helped the school to expand its “Fit to Be a Warrior” program with activities like a rope course, a rock wall and teacher fitness facility along with anticipated renovations to the greenhouse and barn-classroom.
Blue Cross & Blue Shield Health and Fitness Coordinator Eugenia King said the grant is the first of its kind to an elementary school in Mississippi.
