Press Release: Groups Call for End to MCPS School Vegetable Garden Ban

For Immediate Release September 23, 2010
Contact: Gordon Clark, 301-801-3406
gordon@montgomeryvictorygardens.org

List of Montgomery County Groups Calling For End to School Vegetable Garden Ban Grows
Elections, USDA Grants Highlight Importance of Issue


As the school year begins, an increasing number of community organizations are calling for an end to the Montgomery County Public School's ban on school vegetable gardens. More than 30 groups have joined the effort to overturn the ban and bring vegetable gardens to their county's public schools.


"Now that people have returned from the summer, we are seeing renewed interest in this issue," said Gordon Clark, Project Director of Montgomery Victory Gardens. "We predict this community pressure will only build until someone in the county government or the school system agrees to change this detrimental policy. Montgomery County Public Schools should not be allowed to lag behind the rest of the nation in this way."


The de facto ban first came to light at a briefing of the Montgomery County Council last December, and was put in writing by Superintendent Jerry D. Weast on February 26 of this year. The Montgomery County Master Gardeners Association and Montgomery Victory Gardens sent a public letter to Superintendent Weast on June 3 asking that the ban be lifted, a letter which has since been signed by over 30 county organizations and associations, including the Montgomery County Commission on Health. While MCPS officials have since begun discussions on possible community gardens, the ban remains in effect and schools that have actually requested gardens are not being considered as sites for them.


The issue has garnered considerable media attention, and has also entered the election year debate, as the League of Women Voters have made nutrition and school gardens one of the six questions they asked Board of Education candidates, with the answers reprinted in their widely read 2010 Voters' Guide.


Additionally, the US Department of Agriculture, through their People's Garden Program, is offering $1 million in grant money to build community gardens at low-income public schools.


"It's ridiculous that our low-income schools cannot access government funding because the very activity the federal government is trying to promote - food gardening - is banned by our school system," said Sheryl Freishtat, President of the Montgomery County Master Gardeners Association. "Whether your concern is children's nutrition, environmental education, or social and community development, school vegetable gardens are an inspired teaching tool, and there is no reason that Montgomery County Public Schools should continue to ban them."

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To read the original open letter to Superintendent Weast, click here.