Lynn school board in balancing act with garden vote

LYNN – Ingalls Elementary School Principal Kim Powers calls the community garden in back of her school “inherently wonderful,” adding it not only offers students a unique opportunity to learn science, it also provides plenty of fresh produce to the community.But schoolyard neighbor Marguerite Puleo says the Ingalls garden has brought rats, vandals and gangs to the neighborhood and she has collected 78 names on a petition that asks the School Committee to shut it down.The committee is scheduled to decide on Wednesday whether or not to renew the lease for the garden, which is operated by The Food Project, a Lincoln-based organization committed to community gardening and growing local produce, especially to help feed people in need. The Building and Grounds Subcommittee, which meets at 6:15 p.m. at the Tiger’s Den in the school department’s administrative office at 90 Commercial St., will vote to bring the issue up before the full School Committee, which will make the final decision.”There’s been a battle over the garden almost since it started six years ago,” said John Ford, who heads up the Building and Grounds Subcommittee that includes Donna Coppola and Maria Carrasco. “Until the rat issue came up, there was never much support for closing it.”Ford said the School Committee has received 220 emails from residents about the garden. Members have also sought out the opinions of police and Health Department Director Mary Anne O’Connor. Much of the feedback has been in favor of keeping the garden, with several city officials suggesting the rats and crime problems raised by opponents cannot be attributed to the vegetable plants and flowers.Still Ford and other members of the committee are also concerned about the neighbors.”My job is to give the kids at Ingalls the best opportunities possible, but we also need to be good neighbors,” said Coppola.She suggested the solution might be to relocate the garden to another site.An online poll conducted on the Item’s Web site, itemlive.com, that asked whether the garden’s lease should be renewed drew 160 responses, with 79 people voting yes and 46 saying no. Another 31 people who responded said the garden would be welcomed if security was beefed up with with a fence, surveillance cameras, lights and rat traps.Ford said those extra security measures were offered years ago, but at the time they were rejected by neighbors who felt the only solution was to shut the garden down.In addition to making a decision on the garden, the School Committee will also hear a presentation from Lori Berry of Lynn Community Health Center on the organization’s in-school clinics and the “On-Sight” Pediatric Mobile Eye Clinic.They will also take a look at the issue of dress codes, school uniforms and school merchandising and licensing. Dennis Thompson will present a Bullying Intervention Plan and Superintendent Catherine Latham will present her usual report on the school district.