Palatine school chief’s creativity could grow on you

So what do you do if you’re a school district in 2011, and the economy is giving you lemons?

In the case of Palatine Township Elementary District 15 Superintendent Scott Thompson, you make, well, more lemons.

Or pumpkins. Or corn on the cob. Or tomatoes. Or whatever other fruits or vegetables you might be interested in trying to grow.

As Daily Herald staff writer Kimberly Pohl explained this week, District 15 bought a 40-acre parcel in 1999 based on enrollment forecasts suggesting it would need a new junior high school building soon. But an anticipated enrollment surge never occurred and, with a sluggish economy and depressed housing market, doesn’t appear likely to anytime soon, leaving the district with a $3.2 million plot of land sitting fallow.

So, Thompson has come up with an intriguing idea — to be paid for by sponsorships and not taxpayers — to use the land as an educational farm. He sees it as a chance to show kids that food doesn’t just magically appear on the grocery store shelves. And, he said, it can get them interested in some healthier eating habits.

“We need to get kids aware of what is important for them to sustain a healthy life,” the superintendent told Pohl. “(We can) eventually teach them to eat nutritionally and to understand they can really make some good food out of things that are grown locally,”

Now, creating an educational farm on existing property is hardly comparable to finding a clever way to reduce class sizes in hard times or stave off a budget disaster. And, for that matter, it’s still a ways off. Thompson must return to his school board with a more developed proposal, and right now he is thinking only of starting small, with each student managing just one small plant.

But the farm is an innovative notion that can, in a very practical way, both enrich the worldview of District 15’s students and give them a more accurate picture of how the food they eat is produced and reaches their table.

Moreover, as often happens with creative ideas, it also could lead to other innovations. Thompson suggests, for instance, partnering with Harper College to produce goods for the college’s culinary education program, or, having the children set up food stands that will not only teach them a little about money management and how business works, but also help pay for the program itself.

In difficult times, schools and governments always deserve applause for developing new programs that can serve educational goals without requiring new expenses. For that matter, Thompson’s idea would be an excellent example of efficiency in advancing educational objectives in almost any economy.

We can’t wait until the children of District 15 get their first taste, literally, of this practical new program.