THEVOICE |

2

Farm initiative
goes beyond
classrooms
with practical
approach

= By AMIR KHAN

Delta school program

teaching children how

to grow their own food

hopes a recent boost
from city council will help expand
its reach to the entire province.

During the city council’s Jan. 10
meeting, Mike Schneider, a Delta
resident who consults on urban
agriculture issues presented Project
Pickle, which stressed the impor-
tance of teaching children practical
skills in food growing as a method to
foster meaningful learning.

The presentation comes at a time
when rising food prices and supply
chain shortages continue to threaten
food security across the Lower
Mainland and elsewhere.

“Td like to see [the children] come
inspired,” Schneider said.“The most,
sort of, immediately gratifying aspect
is a realization that if they plant their
food, there’s a 99.9 per cent chance
they’re going to eat it.”

Project Pickle began in June 2012
when students from Pebble Hill
Traditional Elementary in Tsaw-
wassen, B.C., planted 200 pickling
cucumbers in raised garden beds
provided by the Delta school district.
The project, which works with K-12
students aims at attracting youth to
potential future careers in the food

THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2022 |

EDITOR CLAIRE WILSON

supply chain by teaching them how
to plant, grow and harvest food.

“It is one of the positives of
COVID, that I think people are
doing more hobby gardens and their
kids are getting involved,” said Coun.
Alicia Guichon, chair of Delta's agri-
cultural advisory committee.

“We're seeing that just even in
our industry, that people are eating
out less and they’re maybe growing
more at home and just learning and
getting their kids involved.”

The project has since seen 74
classes sign up across eight schools,

ey oS

Brooke Elementary School in North Delta is one of eight schools involved in farming project. Aivia KHAN PHOTO

numbering approximately 1,800
students. According to Schneider,
he expects to work with 37 classes
per week with more expected to join
the project during the spring season.

“I wish there were more of me or
more people like me that we could
cover all the schools,” Schneider said.

“The Delta council is interested in
helping me get there through discus-
sions with the Ministry of Agricul-
ture and the Ministry of Education.”

Schneider hopes to place the Delta
school district at the centre of a pilot
project involving neighbouring cities

and their respective school districts,
with Project Pickle.

Coun. Bruce McDonald, an
agri-business advocate dedicated
to ensure that agriculture remains
as a major contributor to Delta’s
economy, pointed out the simi-
larities between Project Pickle and
the rain gardens that have already
been successfully established within
Delta schools.

“(North Delta schools] all have
rain gardens and schools and the
kids take incredible ownership of
them, they tend them, they work

with them,” McDonald said. “Grow-
ing things is something that I think
we all can relate to.”

Due to COVID-19, Schneider
has been unable to deliver lessons
in classrooms. However, teachers
at participating schools have opted
to adopt a place-based learning
approach, allowing students to learn
outdoors and get their hands dirty,
weather permitting.

“| Teachers] want to bring the kids
down to the small school farm and
spend a decent amount of time out
there, so that’s good,” Schneider said.

Surrey school c

Jordan Tinney
looks back ona
career in B.C.'S
largest district

= By LESIA POGORELO

ven during the worst
E pandemic in decades, former

Surrey school superintendent
Jordan Tinney focused on health.

That included the health of the
working environment, said Surrey
district principal Daniel To, a
colleague of Tinney for his entire
tenure with Surrey.

“That was one of Jordan's sort of
passions to make sure that the health
and wellness was seen as an impor-
tant issue,” To said.

He developed ideas to support
students and their families while also
trying to the find best ways in work-
ing with parents.

Tinney joined the Surrey school
district in 2012 as deputy superin-
tendent, and in two years became
superintendent. He had come from
the Vancouver district, where he
worked before, to Surrey, which has

the highest enrolment of any school
district in B.C. with 73,000 students.

A school superintendent has many
tasks, such as overseeing district
budgets, approving programs and
supervising schools. In interviews
with the Voice, Tinney’s colleagues
noted his attentiveness to employees,
students and their parents.

Tinney said he had to stay on
budget, hire staff in difficult times
throughout the pandemic and
manage dynamics between the
different types of directions given
from the Ministry of Education and
the Surrey school board.

“That was one of
Jordan’s sort of
passions to make sure
that the health and
wellness was seen as

an important issue.”
— DANIEL TO, SURREY DISTRICT PRINCIPAL

He said the district went through
a major revision of its goals after the
2016-2017 year. Then the COVID-
19 pandemic happened.

“None of us expected the

ief retires after 1

pandemic,” Tinney said. “But
through the pandemic people look
to Surrey as a leader in terms of how
are we going to make sense of all of
this and how are we going to move
forward and make it work.”

One of the many problems at the
time of the pandemic is that students
had to study at home, many of them
having to navigate issues with slow
internet. Surrey school district has
made sure that every student receives
knowledge regardless of social and
material well-being.

For students and some parents,
Tinney was more than just a super-
intendent, he represented a mentor
for them.

Rina Diaz, Surrey district parent
advisory council president, worked
with Tinney since 2014.

“His advice has ... provided a lot
of guidance, the work that I do as a
parent advocate,” Diaz said.

Diaz said Tinney could have
placed more responsibility on the
elected school trustees. It fell on him
to answer questions from parents
when they were seeking more infor-
mation from the trustees.

“I’ve heard of so many parents
sending emails to the trustees and
never hearing anything back from
them,” Diaz said.“So, what was the

point of the trustees? Right, I feel
that he needed to give them more to
do instead of it all himself.”

Diaz hopes the new superinten-
dent will change the way the school
district holds itself accountable.

Diaz said because Surrey is the
biggest school district in the prov-
ince, it faces ongoing struggles
with the regular use of portables,
not enough spaces for students and
preschools that are over capacity.

“That’s probably going to be his

challenge as well as it was for Jordan

0 years

Tinney,” Diaz said.

Tinney’s last working day for the
district was March 11. He says he
will miss working with students,
which he said gave him the most
pleasure.

“What can you say when you get

.. a class with kindergarten kids,
how can that not be the best thing
in the world,” said Tinney.

“On the other hand, when you
watch students who are graduat-
ing from Grade 12, ... you see how
talented they are.”

Jordan Tinney says working alongside students is one of the highlights of
being a superintendent. sugmi77ED PHOTO

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lished by Langara of the staff and
College's journalism independent of the
department. Editorial © administration.

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