BY ASHLEIGH GODFREY, YUCAIPA CALIMESA NEWS MIRROR REPORTER
The Yucaipa Calimesa Joint Unified School District (YCJUSD) approved the purchase of a total of seven Flex Farm hydroponic units during the school board meeting held on Feb. 11. The schools who will receive the units include Calimesa Elementary School, Chapman Heights Elementary School, Competitive Edge Charter Academy (CECA), Dunlap Elementary School, Ridgeview Elementary School, Valley Elementary School and Wildwood Elementary School.
The hydro units will be the same ones purchased last year for Competitive Edge Charter School, which will receive an additional one since it is TK8. One will be focused on the TK-fifth graders, and the second one will be focused on the sixth to eighth graders.
Each Flex Farm Hydroponic System is a mobile, sustainable indoor school garden that can grow 25 pounds of lettuce within each 30-day cycle.
Students will get to experience hands-on food education initiatives that will empower them with hydroponic gardening skills, nutrition knowledge and foster a deeper connection with the food they consume.
Lilyanna Montenegro, District Nutritionist, was excited that the department received a $200,000 grant that will pay for the units entirely.
“After seeing their (CECA’s) success, I had included the purchase of hydroponic garden systems for all seven of our elementary sites in a grant proposal in summer of 2024 that then led to YCJUSD Child Nutrition being selected as a second consecutive term grantee of the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Farm to School Incubator Grant,” said Montenegro.
Included with every unit will be a supply box which contains seeds, nutrients, a pH adjuster, a grow medium, a tool kit for maintenance, access to an online community resource library and a 30-day program guide.
The total amount for the units is $40,126. The units are expected to be delivered by the beginning of March and will take a few weeks to set up. Teachers will then begin the growing process with students at the beginning of April.