The goats ate my homework!

WHS tries innovative program

By Bronwyn Wilson
Senior Staff Writer

Why didn’t you hand in your homework? Did your dog bury it? Did an extra-terrestrial whisk it away in a UFO? Did your mom accidentally take it to work and toss it in the office paper shredder?

When school starts, teachers might hear some off-the-wall excuses. Still, the excuse “the goats ate my homework” may not seem as farfetched as the others.

Beginning this school year, Woodinville High School (WHS), students will greet two goats when they return to school.

The animals have been on campus since midsummer, chewing away on blackberry bushes every day. If allowed, they would also slurp up less nutritious fare, like a tasty stamped letter, an M&M candy wrapper, or an English Comp. essay.

But a 15-foot cable keeps them tethered to a confined wooded area. By now, you might be wondering -what? What goats? Well, here’s the short answer: Ringo and Georgette.

The two Nubian goats currently enjoy gainful employment at WHS. Although they don’t actually collect a paycheck, they’re compensated with an all-you-can-eat blackberry buffet.

Ringo and Georgette (who was George before udders were sighted) have the distinct pleasure and duty to chomp on juicy blackberries throughout their entire shift.

“They were a little slow at first,” recalls Principal Vicki Puckett, thinking back to the first few days after Ringo and Georgette’s arrival.

She jokingly remembers noticing the new hires slacking off a little and calling out to them in her firm I-mean-business-tone, “Get to work!”

Not wanting to fail their job performance review as well as having a strong desire to impress Puckett, the goats shaped up right away.

In three weeks, Ringo and Georgette managed to chew, swallow and tramp on 220 square feet of blackberry bushes. They won’t be completed with their job until they have chewed down the entire 2-acre parcel.

“They have a ways to go,” Puckett says, adding, “They’re already getting fat.”

What prompted the idea of goats on campus? Puckett explains that the City of Woodinville had purchased the animals at an auction after receiving a King County Solid Waste-Recycling grant.

“We have had problems with some students in unsafe and inappropriate behavior in a wooded area between the portables and main building,” Puckett says. “We were able to get the goats as a loan to chew down the problematic area.”

She went on to say that other methods had been researched prior to trying the goats as a solution.

“We planted sticker bushes, broke up trails, even let blackberries grow over trails,” she says. “We looked into fencing it off, but the cost was too high. Also, we couldn’t mow it due to environmental concerns.”

Principal Puckett decided to give the goat method a chance. She asked one of her students, Bobby Phillips, if he would care for Ringo and Georgette in the evenings.

Phillips was happy to serve as the goat’s caretaker. He lives on a small farm and has cared for goats the majority of his life.

“We have a stall in the barn designated just for Ringo and Georgette,” says Phillips. “In the evening, I’ll give them a little hay and grain to give them the nutrition they need. Then I’ll put them away for the night. In the morning, I’ll take them to the school at 7 or 8 a.m. From that time until evening, they’re eating blackberries. They’ll also eat the leaves and trample the stalks down.”

Phillips checks on Ringo and Georgette several times throughout the day and will continue to do so when school starts. In addition, he enjoys the goats’ friendly nature. “We think they were raised with lots of love since they were babies. They take to people real fast and the teachers just love them,” he says, adding, “One of the teachers was visiting with the goats while he had his mail in his hand and Georgette began eating the mail.” Phillips says the goats will chew on old cans, shoes and any other discarded items that entices them. They’ll even eat the school’s landscaped plants if allowed. After Georgette began stripping the school of it’s perennials and shrubs, their cable was shortened. Phillips quips, “Now students can’t use the excuse, ‘the goats ate my homework.’”

Many WHS students were introduced to the goats during summer school. “Some of the students didn’t know what to think at first,” says Phillips. “But now they seem to like the idea.” Signs will be posted on campus asking students to respect the goats and not feed them.

Does the City feel satisfied with Georgette’s and Ringo’s progress? Mick Monken, director of Public Works, responds: “The progress is slower than I expected, but the two goats are providing reasonable results. I believe the problem is, in part, due to the hot weather and people feeding them.”

The goats’ assignment at the high school will most likely last another month. After that, the City will reassign them to another location. “The likelihood (of their next assignment) is with storm ponds throughout the City,” Monken says. “We had tried the goats in storm collection ponds prior to giving them to the school but we were short on time for monitoring. We asked the school to perform the monitoring program and provide the City with a report. This is hoped to give data to show whether this is an effective program.”

So far, Puckett has been pleased with the innovative goat program. “For us at Woodinville High School, safety is a priority. If we have to resort to thinking outside the box-that’s what we’ll do.”