DeWitt growers, environmentalist fi ght to save garden
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, AUG.BTR 27-SEPT. 2, 2021 15
BY ROBBIE SEQUEIRA
Since opening to the public
in 2016, Meg’s Garden
— named after late community
activist Megan Charlop
— which adorns the West
Mosholu Parkway South and
Goulden Avenue side of the
DeWitt Clinton High School
campus has served a variety
of purposes.
In addition to being an acre
of growth for diverse fruit
trees and a teaching tool on
sustainability for students,
DeWitt Clinton sustainability
coordinator, Raymond Pulinas
said it has also been a
place to provide the Mosholu
community with fresh fruits
and attracted a popular farmer’s
market in the area last
summer.
But Pulinas and other environmentalists
and students
are now fi ghting to protect
their garden after administrators
of the four schools
that form the Clinton Campus
Council served them an eviction
notice in April and have
started deconstructing the
garden this past summer.
“We were on good terms
with all the offi cials on the
school and they wanted to
know our plans and programs
for the garden just before
COVID hit,” Pulinas told
the Bronx Times. “After COVID,
we felt like we were on
our own, so as a community
we started the market and
started growing … and then
April we get an eviction letter
totally out of the blue.”
In the Clinton Campus
Council’s notice of eviction to
the James Baldwin Outdoor
Learning Center — the community
group that has overseen
the garden pro-bono
since 2016 — administrators
stipulate that organizers remove
all JBOLC equipment
from the DeWitt Clinton Campus
including Meg’s Garden.
Of the Clinton Campus
Council’s decision to evict the
group from the school garden,
Pultinas said it happened once
the school returned to in-class
learning in April 2021.
Clinton Campus Committee
is a leadership body that
includes the four principals
of the four schools split inside
the DeWitt Clinton School
campus, including PS X721
Stephen McSweeney, Bronx
Collaborative High School
and World View High School.
“There was a tacit agreement
that our plans were approved
and encouraged since
we were led to believe that
an agreement would soon be
in place,” he said. “They condoned
the project for many
years, so it was a shock when
they came back from the COVID
break, basically back to
in-person instruction in the
school.”
Additionally, Clinton Campus
administrators called for
the removal of all mentions
or associations with the De-
Witt Clinton campus from the
JBOLC website and all published
material, and the removal
of the campus address
from the JBOLC website as
the “location” of the JBOLC
Farmer’s Market by May 12.
An email notice read, “We
are informing you that at no
point can you, or any member
of the JBOLC enter onto or invite
anyone onto the grounds
of DeWitt Clinton Campus.”
The May 12 deadline was
extended to June 4.
Calls to protect the garden
and preserve the JBOLC’s
space on campus increased as
Democrat City Councilman
Eric Dinowitz, of the Bronx’s
11th District, called on the
city Department of Education
(DOE) and Schools Chancellor
Miesha Porter to intervene
and stop Clinton administrators
from moving forward
with its plans to remove the
garden.
The DOE, however, alleges
that JBOLC failed to maintain
the garden, ignored directives
to cease operations, referred
to the school’s property as a
“community garden,” and
changed the landscaping of
the campus grounds without
approval.
The garden is on property
owned by the Department of
Education, and DOE offi cials
said that the group was no longer
“fi t” to partner with the
school in sole oversight of the
garden.
Paulinus said that the overgrowth
of certain weeds and
plants in the garden was due
to the fact that members of the
JBLOC were barred entry into
the garden by school administrators
until a few weeks ago.
“We want to utilize this formerly
Lenape land to feed people
and nourish a community
that we literally see gather
each and every Saturday at
the market to exchange and
share fresh food, smiles, and
sustainability practices,” said
Paulinas. “But we seem to be
learning that sustainability
projects are not sustainable
within the DOE.”
However, offi cials from
the Department of Education
told the Bronx Times on Friday
that the garden will remain
at the school, but under
a new leadership committee
composed of members of the
school community, a community
based organization to be
selected and announced at a
later date, and JBOLC.
“The garden will continue
to be a welcoming and collaborative
space for the school
community, and the leadership
committee will work to
determine next steps to restore
the space,” said Sarah
Casasnovas, deputy press
secretary for the Department
of Education. “The school is
selecting a trusted community
partner experienced in
horticultural administration
to oversee the garden, and
JBOLC will continue to be
able to use the space.”
DOE offi cials told The
Bronx Times also said that no
eviction or removal should be
taking place before all parties
have an offi cial meeting to discuss
the future of Meg’s Garden.
Dinowitz told the Times on
Wednesday that while he’s encouraged
by the DOE’s statement,
that they have “yet to
receive those assurances in
writing.”
Since April, roughly a fraction
of the garden space has
been already been cleared
away, and JBLOC members
said that trees have also been
cut down around the area. According
to offi cials at DeWitt
Clinton High School, certain
plots are “being restored to
their prior landscaping.”
“Our children are now being
deprived of this amazing
space, important internship
opportunities, and sustainability
learning opportunities
at Meg’s Garden,” said Dinowitz,
who is also a schoolteacher.
Dinowitz said his offi ce was
alerted of JBLOC’s impending
eviction by Clinton administrators
on April 25, and when
the councilman attempted a
follow-up with DeWitt Clinton
principal Pierre Orbe regarding
the matter, Orbe refused.
On May 27, Dinowitz met
with Deputy Chancellor Adrienne
Austin, members of the
JBLOC, and principals from
the four schools. He said that
there was an agreement between
all parties to have a conversation
outlining “clear expectations”
regarding Meg’s
Garden before any eviction or
removal of garden materials
took place.
“Those conversations have
never taken place,” said Dinowitz.
Attempts to reach the four
principals for the Clinton
Campus Committee including
Orbe, Sara Byas-Aracena,
Brian Schneider and Martin
Hernandez were unsuccessful
as of press time.
Pulinas told the Bronx
Times that with the blessing
of previous DeWitt Clinton
administrators, a fenced-off
section of the school’s campus
was granted as an informal
project with his students
in 2010.
A year later, he opened
the James Baldwin Outdoor
Learning Center (JBOLC),
a nonprofi t with an address
at 100 W. Mosholu Pkwy S,
Bronx, NY 10468, which is the
school’s campus address. The
center hires student interns
and, up until last month, had
been teaching them how to
grow fruits and vegetables at
Meg’s Garden.
The garden is named in
honor and memory of Megan
Charlop, a longtime Bronx
community activist and volunteer.
Charlop had been director
of the Division of Community
Health at Montefi ore’s
School of Health, where she
oversaw medical clinics at 16
Bronx schools.
She was tragically killed in
a bicycle accident on March 17,
2010 at the age of 57.
Some of the gardenspace in front of the DeWitt Clinton High School campus has been cleared out after an eviction
letter was sent out in April, despite city Department of Education offi cials stating no eviction should take
place until all parties meet. Photo Robbie Sequeira