Garden School Foundation

Background

Who: The Garden School Foundation is a coalition of citizens, businesses, and community organizations. Our founding members include chef Nancy Silverton, teacher Linda Slater, principal Grace Yoon, designer Karen Haas, United Neighborhood Council representative Marva Maxey, and La Brea Bakery.

What: A community partnership with Los Angeles Unified School District dedicated to bringing verdant traffic buffers, sports facilities, native gardens, science gardens, kitchen gardens, and teaching kitchens to public schools.

Where: Our prototype is 24th Street Elementary School in central Los Angeles.

Why: Because schools should be like parks not prisons; the best way to learn about good food is to grow it; and children have to know nature to love it.

When: Negotiations with the district began in September 2003, a partnership was struck in 2004, and a temporary courtyard teaching garden was dug by Garden School Foundation volunteers, teachers, and students in May 2005. Construction on the main yard, with LAUSD following a prototype plan developed by Nancy Goslee Power & Associates, began in January 2006. The 3/4-acre area now contains a fully-operational kitchen garden and orchard. Students are planting, harvesting, and cooking vegetables. The garden includes an outdoor teaching area, shade structures, shed, council circles, and straw paths throughout the space. A kitchen classroom will be created during the 2009-2010 school year.