ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we present perspectives and insights from three practitioners—a teacher, a principal, and a superintendent—who have intimate knowledge of and experience with gardens at their schools and/or districts. Our rationale for selecting educators at three “levels” of the school system is to show that at each level of the organization, there are educators who have a depth of understanding and knowledge of learning gardens as educational tools. Whether it is the classroom, the school, or the district, these individuals represent the voices of educators across the country where school gardens are designed, developed, and integrated with the curriculum. We have picked two school districts: Portland Public Schools with which author Williams has a 20-year history and where both authors have started and/or supported learning gardens in schools; and San Francisco Unified School District, which has a large percentage of schools with robust school gardens that have served as research sites for Williams since 2005. Both school districts are similar in size and have a large number of schools with learning gardens. They are both considered Title 1 school districts with over 40% of students on free and reduced school lunch and of non-white status.
