If Eric Burns wasn't on his hands and knees carefully raking the long-rooted weeds from a rose bed in Memorial Park, he knows exactly where he would be.

"Paintballing," the 19-year-old quipped as he enjoyed his mid-morning break.

Burns is one of seven students taking part in a joint project between Rapid City Area Schools and the Rapid City Parks Division.

The five boys and two girls, who all qualify for special education services, will work from 8 a.m. to noon weekdays over seven weeks, weeding the prize-winning rose beds at Memorial, Haley and Wilson parks as well as a cemetery and the main garden of the parks division.

They also will rake the sand volleyball courts first thing each morning at Founders Park before tackling chores in the rose beds and picking up trash in the flower beds.

Margaret Settle, 20, found similarities between the park and her family's gardens - both were big and demanded a lot of attention.

"It's pretty big at home, but we have wild deer that eat the grass and flowers and stuff," she said. "One deer thinks our house is a day care. She keeps bringing her baby to our yard."

Settle had not had to gather much in the way of trash, but she was tackling a layer of weeds working its way toward the roses' stems. "Today we're picking weeds in a three-hour program in the park," she said.

Michael Slaback and Lisa Crawford of the school district pick up members of the rose crew at about 7 a.m. and have them at the parks office for the 8 a.m. daily meeting for assignments. They keep track of the crew's hours for accounting, help with the weeding chores, make sure the group's safe and keep the students on task.

"Before I started doing this, I don't even think I knew there were roses out in these parks," Crawford said.

Slaback, who also coaches Knowledge Bowl contestants, said the students were exceptionally dedicated to their chores as well as nice to be around.

"This is a good group-they're good kids," he said. "When we get done, there won't be any weeds left. We stand for perfection."

Slaback and Crawford said they thought the program has been in existence for 10 or 12 years. Slaback has worked as a job coach for six years and Crawford has been coaching the kids for eight years.

The program provides the teenagers with a paycheck, but it offers other perks, too.

Slaback said the students gain work experience, get to be outdoors and find out how to work with peers and colleagues. They also are responsible for being prompt, having a tidy appearance and having a good attitude with a willingness to work.

"They will have a little better idea of what work they may want to do after finishing school," he said.

Both he and Crawford said they were proud of the fact that they have never had to ask anyone to leave the project.

"They have a perfect work record in that no one has ever been fired," Slaback said.

Burns recently graduated from Rapid City Stevens High School and has ambitions of continuing his education at National American University. This was a good job to get during the summer, he said. Burns doesn't mind gathering up the trash strewn about the flower beds, but "weeding is the worst."

His paycheck is regularly deposited into his bank account. Burns has a goal of buying a riding lawnmower for his lawn care business.

"I've earned as much as $40, but it depends on the size of your yard," he said.

So far, Burns likes what he's been doing for the project.

"It's been pretty good," Burns said.

Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com.