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Ridgeview teacher to carry ‘Blue School’ water project

By Joshua Torres For Clay Today
Posted 10/17/18

ORANGE PARK – When the new school year finally starts to kick off, most teachers are focusing their time on preparing their plans for the year and getting ready for the new batch of …

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Ridgeview teacher to carry ‘Blue School’ water project


Posted

ORANGE PARK – When the new school year finally starts to kick off, most teachers are focusing their time on preparing their plans for the year and getting ready for the new batch of students.

Donna Foley, an environmental science teach for Ridgeview High, received an email that she gets every year for a grant from the St. Johns River Water Management District called the Blue School Grants program. She had never applied for it, but this year she decided to go for it because she had an idea she wanted to carry out this year with her students.

“I looked at it and thought ‘Huh I want to do this,’” Foley said.

She worked on the application and was able to submit it the day before the deadline.

Foley’s efforts payed off her idea was selected as one of 14 schools in Florida that were awarded grants this. The St. Johns River Management District set aside $20,000 this year for the program, which is in its third year. Each school can be awarded up to $2,000 each.

“The district is committed to educating the next generation and their families about the value of water,” said Ann Shortelle, executive director of the SJRWMD. “Our staff has done this for many years through in-school and online programs. I’m thrilled we are working even more closely with our community schools on water resource outreach.”

School projects are selected by a committee of four district employees who review all the applications and select the winners based on three criteria: completeness, impact to students and community and goals of the proposed project in relation to water resources education.

Foley said she plans to use some of the money to get a hands-on model from the company Enviroscape called an Ecological Restoration Model that will teach her students about lowering the impact of pollution.

The project will take place over the course of six days and will be a series of experiments students will do as they rotate through the stations. The students will work in groups as they move through all the stations.

They will perform qualitative water tests to see what leaves the least amount of pollutants in the water. Students will also perform quantitative analysis to check for biodiversity of macroinvertebrates, Foley said, that when there is more diversity, the water is in a better state.

Foley also said that some of the other stations students will utilize involve web classes to explore websites that will provide them with articles on water pollution and ways to help lessen their impact on water.

Foley hopes that this will teach students what they can do to lessen their impact on the Earth as well as teach them new critical thinking skills.

“This exemplifies what Clay County wants to see students do,” said Foley.

All projects for the schools must be completed by the end of the school year and teachers are required to submit a final report with documentation being by May 18, 2019.