Volunteers Needed: Medlock Children's Garden

From Sharon...

As many of you know, the Children's Garden at Medlock School was threatened recently as the school district simplifies its maintenance program for their closed properties. We were granted permission to keep the garden and the plantings under the windows at the front of the building, as long as we maintained them and the district received no complaints about the condition of the grounds.

We need a team of volunteers who will take turns weedwhacking and mowing. This is not a long term commitment. Winter will come at some point and eventually we hope to be able to hand this off to a new tenant.

Please contact Sharon Johnson at sblott.johnson@gmail.com if you can help in any way.

Medlock Schools Children's Garden Saved from the Bulldozer

Sharon reports...

The DeKalb County School System grounds crew appeared at the school on Thursday. It looked like they were just trimming the crepe myrtles, although they were a bit extreme.

Friday they were back and when Kaye Smith drove by she noticed they were bulldozing trees. Trees that had been planted as memorials; trees that the Medlock kids had planted for the victims of the Oklahoma city bombings. She "engaged in conversation" with the crew then she started calling folks. She was able to get a supervisor to come down to the school and as more neighbors arrived, the supervisor called his boss and it was finally agreed that the Children's Garden would not be bulldozed.

The community will be allowed to maintain the children's garden as well as maintain the plantings along the front of the building.The school Board grounds crew will still mow and maintain the trees.

We will be setting up a group to maintain the gardens in association with the Medlock Park Community Garden. An initial meeting for planning will be announced soon.

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This is yet another reminder of why we must continue to contact the DCSS Board and let them know that

- Medlock Neighbors want to DISCUSS how the property is to be used and maintained (vs. react to the alarming appearance of bulldozers!)

- Medlock Neighbors do not want a cell tower in our midsts, as outlined in the online petition.

Contact your elected DCSS Board members as follows:


ramona_tyson@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us
thomas_bowen@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us
H_Paul_Womack@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us
sarah_copelin-wood@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us
jay_cunningham@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us
donna_edler@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us
nancy_jester@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us
don_mcchesney@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us
pam_speaks@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us
eugene_p_walker@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us