Oakland High School Greenhouse Helps Special Ed Grow

By Jacob Liddell

            MURFREESBORO, Tenn.-- Oakland High School built a 30 foot by 84 foot greenhouse in 2009 for its Cognitive Development Classroom to provide a positive workplace for handicapped students to learn, use real skills, and show their presence on campus.

            “It started as a need to have a vehicle to be able to generate a variety of extremely simple jobs and extremely complex jobs for the handicapped students so there could be an involvement in the whole spectrum of the disability population,” Special Education teacher Tim Coffey said. “We had the need to integrate our students with the Regular-Ed students, and the greenhouse fit that bill.”

            The Special-Ed students do whatever they can based on their skill levels. Higher functioning students can do things that require judgment like watering, planting or handling the plants. Lower functioning students can help as well with supervision. Everyone has something that they can do. Students can go with teachers individually, in groups, or even in the classroom thanks to the greenhouse being so close by.

            Plants raised in the greenhouse are sold to the community nearly every day, supporting the continual growth of the greenhouse and ensuring the students can continue learning and working in the greenhouse for years to come. Plants are sold at Oakland High School in the fall and spring.

“It’s fun.” one student said. “Sometimes I work by myself, but I can work with the others.”

The class sells everything from produce plants and flowers to shrubberies and ferns. Nearly everything grown is sold during the school year, and planting is done throughout the school year. Students plant the crops in a mixture of gardening soil and manure for both their greenhouse and hanging gardens situated just outside the classroom.

            “It’s been a great awareness of their capabilities of what they can do,” Special Education Teacher Paul Alumbaugh said. “I think its something that’s given an awakening to the student body because a lot of them didn’t realize the landscaping that was done was done by special education.”

            The students involved in the greenhouse enjoy the rich and fulfilling work, and parents are proud of the work their children have done. The fruits and vegetables grown make for delicious food, and the class has already enjoyed homemade food from their homegrown plants.

            Oakland High School is at 2225 Patriot Drive in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Student-grown plants are sold on-campus during school hours by appointment with Tim Coffey. Visit http://www.ohs.rcschools.net for more information.