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Kay Horn led the pledge to the flag and Rev. Phil Pratt returned thanks for the meal prepared by Robin Burkett and staff.
Ilene Howard and Joan Ewing reported on District 3 & 4 Fall Workshop held at Galveston, Indiana. They passed around a sheet with committee requests for the coming year needing to be filled by the State for the year beginning in June 2011. The meetings are all held on the same day and so several could go together. Let Jeri Good or Ilene know if you are interested.
Ilene also told us that if we had a colleague who was nearing retirement we could sign them up for $5.00 as an Associate member. There is strength in numbers. She encouraged us to become involved and take part at the state level as well as our local level.
Joan Ewing told of Nancy Tolson, our state president and Andy Thomas the CEO who lobbied the legislature very hard for the COLA that everyone should have received the first of September. The IRTA lobbied very hard for this COLA and it was our money that we received. The state still owes the Teacher's Retirement Fund $11,000,000.
Dorothy Richter has agreed to do the Partners in Education again this coming year. Our retired teachers will read to the Caston second graders of Deb Baker's classroom. The reading time is 2:30-3:00 during the first Monday of the month.
Jeri Good reported on opening day activities at the county schools and thanked those who attended: Jane Horvath, Kay Horn, Ilene Howard, and Jeri Good.
President Good also had cards for the members to sign. One to Joanne Bendall for the honor award she was receiving for her 50 plus years in Home and Consumer Economics in Indianapolis. Get well cards were also sent around for Lynette Brugh and Max Hungerford.
Kay Horn gave the treasurer's report. There is $568.53 in the treasury and $76 of that goes to the IRTA Foundation for scholarships to be awarded in the spring.
In the absence of Barb Berdine, Mrs. Horn read the secretary's report for the June meeting. She later asked the group about donating $45 to the Literacy Coalition in lieu of a team of spellers. Gordon Bohs mentioned that the programs already had us down as donating the fee. The motion carried.
Katie McCarter gave her volunteer report. She asked if anyone knew how much each volunteer hour was worth. Joan Ewing knew the answer was $20.85 and she was awarded a T-shirt with the volunteer logo on it. Other pins or shirts were given to those volunteers who didn't receive them at the June meeting.
President Good then introduced Stan and Judy Musgrave of the Countryside Orchard.
Stan was a teacher for 43 years. He said you have to be born into the orchard business. When he lived in town he had ten fruit trees and a garden. During his last years of teaching he had a student whose parents had an orchard and he kept telling Mr. Musgrave he ought to buy the orchard. Stan checked it out and thought the land wasn't suitable. It was a flat prairie five miles passed the by-pass. He talked to his wife and to his son and decided he couldn't afford it. However, one month after he looked at it, they moved to it.
The first year they had a partial crop. He retired in the spring after they moved in. The apples looked good, then there was a hail storm, Their first year's experience wasn't good. The second year there was an early spring and then a freeze. Many states were wiped out that year. They thought God was trying to tell them something. Then the following year they had a good crop and this year the apples are producing more.
Judy, Stan's wife helps with the work. They pick, wash, bag, and then sell. Their daughter Shelly Abbott and her husband Rick help a lot.
Their orchard is six and one half acres. The trees are four to seven years old and they've been there five years. There are 270 trees. There are 29-30 varieties of apples and they have probably sold 500 plus bushels of apples this year. They sell at the two Farmer's Markets in Rochester, Culver has two markets and on Friday nights they go to Zionsville to sell their produce. The apples ripen in early July and continue until late October.
They also have a large vegetable garden and use no pesticides on the veggies. They still use some on the apples but by monitoring the weather can limit the chemicals they use. There is a fungus that gets on the apples and usually the washing will take care of that. They clean the orchard floor in the fall of poison ivy and spray to decompose the leaves and dropped apples and treat with minerals in liquid form around each tree. This makes better foliage and a better quality apple when the waste breaks down.
Voles are the biggest pests. They will eat the roots in the winter and if they eat the bark that tends to kill the trees. Before the first green in the spring appears they spray the trees for a fungus. During the growing season they will thin the trees to help produce bigger apples. In July is when they start the picking. Honey bees are beneficial to the trees. Jim Streater brings his hives out and then takes them back after the pollination has taken place.
The Musgraves brought apples to share with the teachers and handed a list of the apples that are grown in their orchard and a business card for each one in attendance.
The next guest was Mike Clair who is head of the Alternative to Suspension or Expulsion School. Students in Mr. Clair's class have a place to go if they don't fit in the normal classroom. They have very strict procedures to follow. There is an orientation period where the parents and the students hear the same information about the do's and don'ts and so there are no surprises. Parents sign their students in and they sign them out. Mr. Clair says that he works with the students if there is a problem and Mrs. Vance at the high school is also in close contact with the students.
The students attend class from 8:00-11:00 and there is a session from 12:00-3:00. Fifteen students is a big class size and they have had as many as 18 students. Mr. Clair said he thinks the kids like the strict structure and his "No" means no. The students are polite. They apologize with no laughing and class is conducted according to Clair's philosophy. He follows up on his former students when they return to the high school or middle school. He also visits them if they are in jail and keeps current with their class work. Since the program has been going on there have been a total of 15 graduates.
Mr. Clair's assistant is Trinity Lease and helpers include Andi Miller and Ashley Zent.
Mr. Clair shared several stories about his experiences with students in the ASE school and answered questions after his talk.
President Good reminded all of the IRTA Birthday Celebration on October 6, 2010 in Indianapolis and urged them to sign up to go. She thanked everyone for coming to the meeting. Kay Horn had a closing thought to share and the meeting was adjourned. The next meeting will be next March or April, 2011. |
