West Virginia Teachers Won Their Strike. Now, They're Rebuilding the Local Economy.
How the American Federation of Teachers has taken the lead in reinvigorating the poorest county in the state
by Kalena Thomhave
May 7, 2018
his article appears in the Spring 2018 issue of The American Prospect magazine. Subscribe here.
It’s early January, but the high tunnel at Mount View High School in McDowell County, West Virginia, is sweltering. High tunnels are inexpensive greenhouses, unheated but covered in plastic, that make it easier for farmers to extend the growing season for their fruits and vegetables. In this case, it’s strawberries: About 300 strawberry plants, donated by a McDowell farmer, are growing in raised beds.
The students at Mount View chose to plant the strawberries, says Jenny Totten, who works with the high school students as the McDowell County Community Development Coordinator at the West Virginia Community Development Hub. The students don’t get to make a lot of their own decisions, she says. So she lets them choose what they want to do, whether it’s the work that they’ll do in the high tunnel or what they’ll make with the harvested plants. The kids don’t just learn gardening and cultivating, but also how to make their own products from the crop, and how to sell them.
Because it’s winter, the strawberry plants haven’t borne fruit yet. When they do, the students intend to make—and sell—strawberry jam. With other fruits and vegetables that they’ll grow, the students have chosen to make and sell smoothies, jams and jellies, and ready-to-sell vegetable boxes. To make even more growing space, Totten has plans for the land surrounding the high tunnel: spread out some mulch and plant more raised beds, to protect the produce from harsh chemicals that could exist beneath the surface, because the high tunnel is built on reclaimed coal mine land. The whole school is.
http://prospect.org/article/west-virginia-teachers-won-their-strike-now-they%E2%80%99re-rebuilding-local-economy-0
i ALWAYS LOVED MY TEACHERS ..........................THEY WERE THE BEST..........THEY CARED
= new reply since forum marked as read
who is a teacher here in KY (and whom I'm very proud of for their walk-out).
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