First lady says schools should plant gardens to teach children about good nutrition and combat childhood obesity. Unfortunately, this is likely to produce grievances from custodians and groundskeepers about children doing “union work” that unionists wouldn’t do even if they were paid to do it.
But there are other reasons Mrs. Obama’s suggestion is likely to die on the vine.
Montgomery County Schools Superintendent Jerry Weast believes they are a magnet for pests.
In a Feb. 26 memo, Weast all but banned schools from planting fruits and vegetables: “Because vegetable gardens are a food source for pests, create liabilities for children with food allergies and have other associated concerns, the Department of Facilities Management staff has not approved gardens designed to produce food,” he wrote.
Oh, yeah, and …
Vegetable gardens are extremely labor-intensive and require extensive watering and weeding. That the prime harvest takes place in the summer when students and teachers are on vacation was also a concern.
Oh, yeah, and …
Last October, Donna Marchick, a program administrator at the Department of Facilities Management, informed teachers at Maryvale Elementary School that food was not permitted to be grown on school grounds. “As you know,” she wrote, “food-bearing plants attract pests. Maryland law restricts the use of pesticides on school grounds. Therefore, planting of food bearing plants is prohibited by MCPS.”
Leave to a liberal Democrat not to think things through.