2009-11-10 00:15:03 -

Alice Waters, President of the Chez Panisse Foundation, and Brian C.

Johnson, Executive Director of the Larchmont Schools, announced the launch of the Edible Schoolyard in Los Angeles and West Hollywood today.

The Edible schoolyard in Los Angeles and West Hollywood is an affiliate of the original Edible schoolyard at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School, in Berkeley, California, where gardening and kitchen classes are an integral component of the community and the curriculum.

“The Larchmont Schools are incredibly honored to be an affiliate of the Edible Schoolyard,” Johnson shared. “We work to provide an exemplary public education to a racially, ethnically, and socio-economically diverse community of students. The Edible Schoolyard affiliation enhances our ability to ensure all our students are

learning at their fullest potential while understanding the power of healthy eating and being part of a diverse community.“ Johnson added, “Alice Waters represents the best of American culture. The Larchmont Schools deeply believe it is important to bring the best of our culture back into public education so that all children have an opportunity to be healthy and successful in the 21st century.”

“The Larchmont Schools commitment to diversity, community, and academic achievement makes them an ideal Edible Schoolyard affiliate,” Waters commented. “The Larchmont Schools are an ideal public school where children from all walks of life will come together to grow, cook and share healthy food enabling them to gain the knowledge and the values they need to help build a humane and sustainable future.”


Waters and Johnson made the announcement at a lunch on the Larchmont Charter School Hollygrove campus attended by students, parents, and community members. Hollygrove, an EMQ Families First Agency, provides innovative counseling and social services that help children in the greater Hollywood area recover from the effects of trauma, abuse and addiction. Since opening its campus to the community in 2006, Hollygrove leases classroom, garden, kitchen, and extensive outdoor space to Larchmont Charter School. The announcement today followed a tour of one of the Larchmont Charter –West Hollywood campuses and gardens located on the Rosewood Elementary School campus.



About the Larchmont Schools – The Larchmont Schools, consisting of Larchmont Charter School and Larchmont Charter West Hollywood, is an academically high performing public charter school network. The Larchmont Schools mission is to provide a racially, ethnically, and socio-economically diverse community of students with an exemplary public education through a constructivist curriculum and an emphasis on family engagement and social responsibility.


About the Chez Panisse Foundation – Founded in 1996 in celebration of the 25 th anniversary of Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse restaurant, the Chez Panisse Foundation is committed to transforming public education and supports projects that integrate gardening, cooking, and the sharing of a daily school lunch into the core academic curriculum. The Foundation envisions a public school curriculum that includes hands-on experiences in school kitchens, gardens, and lunchrooms, and that provides healthy, freshly prepared meals as part of each school day.


For Larchmont Charter SchoolBrian Johnson, 310-280-8139orFor
HollygroveSandy Smith, 310-560-8372