First Stop: Principal’s office.

From there, your principal may point you to district or state authorities for permission to raise chickens or start a garden at your school.

NOTE:
Before speaking with your principal, prepare by creating some kind of impact report. This formal or informal report can include data from your community, studies on the impact of raising chickens or having a garden in schools, and/or similar programs in your area. We can help connect you with similar projects!

1. Develop goals of the committee.

2. Share expectations of committee members.

• How often will you meet?
• What are they expected to contribute (planning, implementing, maintenance of coop and garden, fundraising, etc.)?

3. Designate Committee Roles

• Elect a Chairman (or co-chairs)
  • • Consider a Chicken Chair and a Garden Chair, or co-chairs for each.
    • This person’s biggest responsibility is to delegate tasks and inspire others to get involved to ensure long term success of the program.
• Establish responsibilities for committee members. These could include:
  • • Meeting monthly Coops & Gardens Reporting Requirements.
    • Managing Social Media pages for your program.
    • Leading fundraising initiatives.
    • Involving parents and community members (or community partners, like a food bank).
    • Leading/planning outreach events.
    • Ordering supplies for the coop and garden.
    • Finding lesson plans and curriculum to incorporate into your program.
    • Treasurer (in charge of finances—remember, Cihckens.org requires two people to have financial responsibility/access).
    • Secretary (record meeting minutes and establish contact with others).

4. Establish a labor plan.

• When will responsibilities be carried out? Most of these can be during classes and involving students.
• Create a chicken care schedule.
  • • Coop cleaning
    • Egg collection
    • Letting hens out and locking up in the morning and evening.
• Garden maintenance schedule.
  • • Bed prep
    • Planting
    • Harvesting
    • Weeding
• Selling (if you plan on selling produce)
• Weekend and break management.
  • • Set up a rotating schedule for breaks and weekends! This is a great time to involve students and parents for extra help.

• Advertise using posters, newsletters, social media, word of mouth.

2. If you have specific people you would like to see on the committee, invite them personally!

3. Consider the types of people you would want on your committee:

• Teachers
• School Staff (especially maintenance and food service)
• Students
• Involved Parents
• Community Volunteers
• Local businesses (feed stores, grocery stores, garden supply shops, and any others)
• Anyone else who shows interest and is motivated to help!

1. This will look different for every school. Are you growing food to introduce Ag science? Feed families? Teach responsibility?

2. Goals are a an excelent topic of initial brainstorm meetings.

• What are the community and school needs?
• What are the school’s goals?
• Are there site-specific projects?
• How can we integrate community needs and our school’s goals into our Coops & Gardens Program?
• How can we integrate chicken raising and gardening into our existing school curriculum?

You may use our online video trainings, or design your own! Suggested topics include:

1. How to handle/raise chickens.
2. Beginner’s guide to gardening.
3. Involving students in your Coops & Gardens Program.
4. Integrating your Coops & Gardens Program into existing curriculum
   • A great option is using our lesson plans or lesson plans from our partners.
   • Bring the class outside, or bring the chickens/garden into the classroom every once in a while.
   • Have reading time or study hall time outside in the chicken area!
   • Use a chicken in a science class!
   • Create a cooking class using fresh produce from the school garden!