In an accompanying post about the impact of DISD’s budget problems on J.L. Long Middle School, a reader mentioned the Stonewall Jackson Elementary student garden and the problems it’s facing as a result of the cuts. It just so happened that last night, a couple of Advocate readers sent an email detailing their pain at what is happening with Stonewall’s garden. I thought you might be interested in reading the thoughts of Rachel Buxkamper and Brett Munro …
Here’s what they had to say: "I wanted to share the current turmoil my school is in as an effect of the DISD budget shortfall. Have you ever driven down Mockingbird Lane, heading East past Greenville Avenue toward Abrams Road? Ever noticed the cool old school with the amazing garden next to it and thought, wow, how cool that this public school has a working garden!
"Well, I did, for years before I had children, and this is now our school for our second-grader. That garden is a great sense of pride for us, the students, the teachers — and it is an incredible science laboratory that our children get to experience weekly as they have science lessons in the garden with our beloved science teacher and garden keeper extraordinaire — Mr. Painter. Our garden is about to wither away though.
"Even though I attended the DISD board meeting last Wednesday, and I was there to hear the trustees decide that they had too many questions to vote for the reductions put forth — here we are, with our garden/science teacher on the RIF list and therefore our entire garden program at risk too. We are not a title I school – we are only one of three DISD elementary schools who do not qualify for Title I — so without Mr. Painter there is no funding for this.
"This garden took years to build into what it is. It is at the core of what has made our school a shining star in the DISD and the state of Texas too.
"I hope that you will write about our garden. I hope that our trustees and the administration on Ross Avenue will pay heed to the hundreds of letters we plan to deliver to them at the board meeting this Thursday. I hope we can keep our kids in public school. Hope is all we’ve got this year.
Thanks for the ear."
— Rachel Buxkamper and Brett Munro
