Point Reyes Light - July 26, 2001
Valley pupils to learn farming
By Simone Garrigues and Marian Schinske
Trustees of Lagunitas School District on Tuesday unanimously approved a wide-ranging program aimed at boosting students’ nutrition and appreciation for locally grown produce.
Dubbed the "Food Systems Project," the program will teach students to grow and harvest their own produce in a working school garden, and will then integrate aspects of the work into their classes in math, science, social studies, and language-arts. The program will also establish relationships and trade with some West Marin family farms.
Trustees said that the program will be integrated at all grade levels, and noted they hope the work will benefit kids in the school cafeteria as well as in the classroom.
"Food is the basis of eveything... It’s so encompassing of so many issues," said Dave Cort, coordinator for San Geronimo Valley Healthy Community Collaborative.
According to the food-project proposal, the primary goals include promoting health, building friendships, and becoming more aware of the harmful chemicals that are either added or sprayed on food.
No additives, please!
The policy notes that school officials want to ensure that students are served organic food "to the maximum extent possible" and to eliminate genetically-modified or irradiated foods, foods that contain additives, and products that contain bovine growth hormones.
Cort said the the programs will have to be carefully worked into the school district’s cafeteria budget. "We want to do all these things, but our cafeteria budget needs to be balanced," he said.
In keeping with the district’s long-held dedication to keeping students well nourished, the policy furthermore states that it will ensure that no student goes hungry.
Currently, the district offers all eligible, low-income families the option to sign up for free or reduced-price meals, Cort said. However, he added that not all eligible families take advantage of the school’s meal program, sometimes because they prefer alternatives to what is offered.
Free meals
"We’re hoping that this new exciting program will encourage all the eligible kids and their families to sign up for it [the school’s reduced-price meal program]. If kids are connected with their food by growing it, they’re going to want to eat it even more," Cort said.
Eventually, the school district hopes to offer food for free to every student who cannot afford it, he noted.
Modeled after a similar program in the Berkeley Unified School District, the new "Food Systems Project" is believed to be only the second of its kind in the country, Cort said.
"We’re at the forefront of something that’s incredibly exciting, locally, in the county, and nationally," he said.
Cort explained that the San Geronimo Valley community played an essential role in developing the project. During the past year, school district students, parents, administrative staff, teachers, and health-care practitioners have cooperated with the county’s Health and Human Services department to get the final proposal brouight before district trustees.