PARIS- On a sunny day in the early fall, Paris High School students were hard at work under the direction of the school’s Agri faculty and long-time teacher and school board member, June Gilbreath.
The project, to install both large rock and river rock in the shrubbery bed on the frontage of the Paris High School main building, was performed last week by FFA students. Last week’s work was another phase of the on-going project that has included both new shrubbery and landscaping rock.
RNN spoke with school board member June Gilbreath who taught 34 years in the Paris schools and 12 additional years in school districts in Memphis, Tennessee, and in the state of Mississippi before her move to Paris. Gilbreath retired from the Paris schools in 2019 and was elected to the school board in 2021. Ms. Gilbreath is a Hendrix College graduate and taught science all of her career.
Gilbreath’s interest and devotion to the school led her to approach the school administration about doing this project. In our interview with her, Ms. Gilbreath commented, “We started this project last spring putting the plants in. The landscaping is very important to me because it is the first impression that people have of our schools. And so, we started this project with the FFA classes. Mr. and Mrs. Gray (Jessica and Gary), our Agri teachers, brought their students out and they planted all of the plants last spring. I tried to put in what I call “old timey” Arkansas plants that can stand the heat and don’t require a lot of maintenance. Our maintenance director, Richard Zimmer, didn’t need any more maintenance to take care of. In fact, Mr. Zimmer helped with the planting last spring, as well. The plants, called abelia, are small now, but they will grow to five or six feet tall, and five to six feet wide. It will take a little bit of time for them to grow.”
The new plants survived the harsh summer months of July and August, thanks to the constant care and watering by Mr. Zimmer and the maintenance department.
So, moving into last week’s second phase of the project, Mr. and Mrs. Gray again brought their FFA students back to continue the work. Gilbreath continued to say, “We had big rocks that were laid down in the landscaping, and river rock that was laid due to having gullies in the bed that were creating drainage problems. Mr. Gray, using a tractor, put the large rocks into place in the shrub bed, and the students worked on the gullies with the river rock. This should complete the landscaping and the plants will just need time to grow.”
The project was made possible by a combined effort of school and community. Ms. Gilbreath elaborated, “One of the things I liked about this project is that it was a school and community project. Rainbow Stone was kind enough to help us design the project. Paula Forbis of Rainbow Stone was a big help. Jim Canada from the City of Paris helped us as well. And big kudos for the Paris HS FFA for their work to help make the project possible.” Rainbow Stone is owned by Paris alumni Cory Hamiliton and his sister, Paula Forbis.
Plants for the project were provided by P & E Nursery of Paris. Linda Mitchell of P & E Nursery discounted the plants for the district. The Paris community did a very good job of partnering with the district to make the project possible.
The project was the idea of board member Gilbreath last school year. “Landscaping is always top notch to me. So, I bugged Mr. Loyd (Mr. Jim Loyd, superintendent of the Paris school district) to seek approval for the project.”
Paris HS FFA students, Paris HS Agri teacher Gary Gray, Paris maintenance director, Richard Zimmer, and school board member June Gilbreath all worked together on a recent campus project at Paris high school (RNN Photos / Jim Best).
The cost and delivery of the materials for the project was discounted for the school district. Rainbow Stone discounted the cost of the materials and delivered the materials to the district at no charge.
The landscaping project is now completed and will move into a critical phase of maintenance to ensure its survival during its upcoming first winter. Once the new shrubs survive the winter, they should be in good shape for the long term.
Ms. Gilbreath does not have another project on her radar at this time. She just wants to make sure the new plants survive the upcoming winter months. “They had a rough summer to get through last summer, and Mr. Zimmer did a great job watering and taking care of them. If we get through the winter, they will take off next spring and they should be maintenance free.”
