THE GAZETTE
Wednesday, July 31, 2013 g
Page A-7
Montgomery nurtures school gardens About one-sixth of system’s schools have students working the soil n
BY
PEGGY MCEWAN STAFF WRITER
Fresh food and sound science are on the menu for a growing number of Montgomery County Public Schools. Thirty-five county schools have gardens, according to a survey released Thursday by Montgomery Victory Gardens, a local food education and advocacy project. “There are just so many reasons for kids of all ages to get involved in gardening,” said Elizabeth Levien, who teaches honors chemistry and horticulture at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring. “Really little kids can work on observation. Older ones can learn to ask questions. ... Gardening is a way to take control of their health. They learn where their food comes from.” Levien — who with Chris Brown, horticulture and Advanced Placement environmental science teacher, supervises the greenhouse and the outside garden at Blair — said the educational opportunities are endless. “Montgomery County requires students to take three sciences to graduate and horticulture is historically easy to pass, so a lot of the [less serious] students sign up,” she said. “It’s so exciting seeing kids [who are] turned off by science get excited about it.” Gordon Clark, project director of Montgomery Victory Gardens, said the school
PHOTOS BY BILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE
Herbs grow in the garden at Flower Hill Elementary School.
system officially has allowed school gardens for about two years. Schools spokesman Dana Tofig confirmed in an email that there was a policy change within the last two years. He noted that there is now a section about school gardens on the school system’s website. Clark said one reason for publishing the survey is to encourage more schools to begin gardens and to let them know of resources to help them get started. “We wanted to see what [schools] were doing and to make sure they know that gardens are allowed,” he said. Karla Kratovil, PTA vice president and main generator of the garden at Flower Hill Elementary School in Gaithersburg, said she was at a Montgomery
County Council of PTAs meeting about two years ago where it was announced that gardens are allowed. The 35 schools with gardens, out of 202 in the school system, include elementary, middle and high schools from across the county: Silver Spring to Damascus, Poolesville to Burtonsville. Some gardens are just a few raised beds on school grounds. Others fill courtyards or begin in greenhouses before moving outside. The gardens at Sherwood High School in Sandy Spring are part of a science curriculum that horticulture teacher Jill Couts is developing with teachers from Clarksburg, Damascus and Springbrook high schools. The 2013-14 school year will be the program’s second year. “This is a three-year program of study leading to becoming a certified professional horticulturist,” Couts said. “I have a 300-square-foot greenhouse, so we do a lot of edible plant production. The kids love
to grow plants and they love to grow plants they can eat.” The growing interest is not just for students planning on a career in horticulture, she said. About 30 students who are not in the certification program come to the greenhouse to work each week, she said. She sees working with plants as a stress reducer for students and a place where they can learn a life skill. “Even though they probably will not go into horticulture or landscaping, it is something they will do for the rest of their lives,” she said. Even though a minority of schools have gardens now, Clark is excited by the survey results and would like to work with PTA committees to create a garden support network. “This is the best way to teach environmental stewardship,” Clark said. The survey is available by emailing info@montgomeryvictorygardens.org. pmcewan@gazette.net
Evelyn Kratovil, 8, and her brother Cole, 5, of Gaithersburg check the carrots in the vegetable garden at Flower Hill Elementary School on Monday.
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was called away at lunchtime. In the morning, Streetscape Partners argued that the center at the southwest corner of I-270 and Clarksburg Road (Md. 121) would create stores and restaurants for retail-starved Clarksburg by the end of 2015. Streetscape says it could move ahead sooner than The Peterson Cos. — which has a competing outlet plan — because property owner Adventist HealthCare, which originally planned to build a hospital, has already won environmental approvals and permission to extend water and sewer lines. “It’s ‘shovel ready,’ and it’s a major step to make Clarksburg [complete],” said real estate agent Ibi Sofillas, whose children go to Clarksburg schools. Sofillas was joined by Barry Fantle and Kathie Hulley, who spoke as Clarksburg residents in favor of the project, along with former County Councilman Michael Knapp and Marilyn Balcombe, president and CEO of the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce. “These services currently don’t exist in Montgomery County,” Balcombe said about fashion outlet stores. “People have to drive to Hagerstown ... and this would be a catalyst for other restaurants and stores” to serve upcounty residents, she said. But lawyers for Peterson — which wants to build a mixeduse center with Tanger fashion outlet stores closer to the Clarksburg Town Center on the northeast corner of I-270 and
Clarksburg Road — challenged the increase in allowed retail space. They argued that it violates the limit of 120,000 square feet set in the 1994 Clarksburg Master Plan, despite a rezoning of the site in 2003 to mixed use. In addition, Peterson attorney Jody Klein said that approving an outlet center on the west side of I-270 would draw away customers and undermine the intent of the Clarksburg Master Plan, which is to cluster services in the Clarksburg Town Center area east of I-270. “It detracts from the way the plan was supposed to work,” Klein said. Bette Buffington, who coowns the new Bennigan’s restaurant in Clarksburg’s historic district, agreed. “It would draw away from the [town] center and segregate shopping,” she said.
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