Comments on: Behind White House Garden Triumph, School Gardens Desperate for Help

By: Sid Raisch

Sid Raisch — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 08:04:41 +0000

It is painful to hear the pain in this article. I am one of Roberta Paolo’s board members for Granny’s Garden School. Know that it is possible to have the permission of the school administration, the support of parents, the involvement of teachers, and the excitement of the kids. The Schoolyard Nature Network provides a way to learn why-to and how-to get a school garden project on solid and sustainable footing in your community.

By: Roberta Paolo

Roberta Paolo — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 00:49:14 +0000

As someone who founded a school garden program that serves more than 1,500 students each week and has done it full time since 2002, I agree with you 100% It is a full time job. The answer is not a state or national program. Every school has a different set of resources and challenges. Organizing efforts need to be kept local and in relatively small pods. As a result of all of the organizations that have come to us for guidence on how to start a program, Granny’s Garden School is launching the Schoolyard Nature Network to in Ohio.

By: kacie

kacie — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:08:09 +0000

Thanks for sharing your experience, Sarah. I wholeheartedly agree with Lola’s comments above. There’s a lot of interest and enthusiasm surrounding gardening and healthy eating right now, but we need to make the most out of this potentially small window of opportunity to translate this all into tangible support. Sarah is right on to call for more staffing in this area. I work at the Washington Youth Garden and receive phone calls and emails practically weekly from teachers asking us for support. We work in Ward 5 schools, teaching in six classes for two months, and starting a school garden at each one of those schools. I’d love to be teaching in every school in the District, but unfortunately have not figured out how to clone myself yet. If DCPS and the City Council want to support school gardens and nutrition education, then they need to fund a person (s) to implement these programs.

By: espringf

espringf — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:43:41 +0000

If schools can hire football coaches, can’t they hire garden coaches?

By: Lola

Lola — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:46:26 +0000

Great article Sarah! The fantastic news is that there are SO many great people with resources to teach gardening already in the city. We’ve got the curricula, the experience, and the creativity flowing from organizations such as Washington Youth Garden, Gilda Allen from DDOE, Common Good City Farm, UDC’s Sandy Farber, City Blossoms (gotta plug ourselves ), and more. All of these resources can help to build a standards-based gardening/eco-literacy curriculum – many of them already have! When I look back to all of the people who inspired my own path into gardening education – Judy Tiger, Grace Manubay, Katie Rewhaldt, Barbara Percival, Jerry Smith, Iris Rothman and many more – I am filled with excitement as I know that D.C. is rich with the know-how and passion needed to make a city-wide schoolyard garden effort successful. Schools do need full time employees to help harness this wealth of resources and make it available to the teachers in a way that helps them achieve their own goals with their students. It may take awhile for DC higher-ups to make school gardens a priority, but in the meantime I know we (and all the friends I mentioned above) will keep planting, keep watering, and keep providing DC kids with fantastic opportunities to learn about their environment and themselves.

By: EACummings

EACummings — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:10:05 +0000

Sarah, I can’t tell you how much I admire your perseverance. BRAVO. As a former high-school English teacher, I fully agree with–and fathom–the challenges you outline, though I can understand if people not familiar with the inner-workings of a school would not.

With this year’s reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, many citizens and groups are pushing for more plant-based foods to be provided to school children. A particular campaign, Healthy School Lunches, is advocating for non-dairy vegetarian meals to be provided as options on a daily basis. While change is slow, perhaps if this sort of option becomes readily available to schoolchildren, school systems and the government will finally recognize the resource that school gardens are.

By: Aerangis

Aerangis — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:22:06 +0000

I believe that our k-8, Park Hill School, in Denver has a cooperative agreement with one of the Universities that pulls in Master’s degree students to assist with their garden. I imagine that there is an abundance of talented aspiring educators who would be interested in taking on a project like this here in DC. Let me know if you want information regarding their program. Tyler Elementary just started its “Outdoor Classroom” which does not have a garden. I think that it would great if we could incorporate it into the model. It seems obvious that the learning model includes physical activity and many opportunities to add meaningful teaching.

By: Aerangis

Aerangis — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:15:56 +0000

It seems to me that a structured/standardized curriculum needs to be outlined that incorporates math, science, reading, etc., into the gardening experience. This could be adopted/ developed by the Department of Education and FLOTUS. And the project needs to be supported by school districts, administration, and parents.

By: Dr Susan Rubin

Dr Susan Rubin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:13:36 +0000

We need gardens like this in EVERY school across the country. Thanks to the hard work of teachers who understand the value of gardens and also many local volunteers, these gardens get going.

Local, state and federal funding should be appropriated for these projects, they are a solid investment in our children’s Food IQ.

Nutrition education as it stands with calorie counting and dogmatic food pyramid messaging is ineffective and uninspiring. We’re never going to be able to convince kids from an intellectual standpoint to eat more fruits and vegetables. By growing food, a more lasting and meaningful relationship with real food is nourished.

By: Daphne

Daphne — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:27:49 +0000

I’ve been struggling to get a garden started at my kids’ school, but faced with insanely deep budget cuts it’s nearly impossible to get anyone to think outside of test scores. What can we do?