Volunteer group spruces up Libertyville school grounds

LIBERTYVILLE ? When Libertyville Elementary School students returned for the new school year last week, they stepped into a revitalized yard and gardens.

Libertyville principal Kelly Schloss told school board members earlier this month that community residents, parents, teachers and students had logged more than 150 hours during July to spiff up the school grounds.

A majority of the work was done July 31 when more than 25 people weeded gardens, moved plants, cleaned fence lines, painted, mulched, trimmed hedges and moved dirt, said Schloss.

?It was a big effort,? she told the school board.

It was Schloss?s husband Ben who initiated the school grounds project.

?He said, ?Come here. Look at this,?? said Schloss, and the plan was under way.

Schloss said her husband divided the grounds into 11 areas and listed work that needed done in each one. Areas and work were divided into high and low priority needs. For example, Area 3, the fence lines on the south side of the school, was listed as a high-priority area, with work including pulling vegetation ? except the honeysuckle ? trimming the honeysuckle, weeding and mulching the beds along the fence lines and cutting and applying stump killer to rouge trees.

For the complete article and photo, see the Friday, Aug. 27, 2010, printed edition of The Fairfield Ledger.