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Garfield Heights district says USDA subaward will fund new 'Garfield Groves' projects; contract to be considered next week
Summary
District staff told the board a $344,000 USDA farm-to-school award administered by the Trust for Public Land lists Garfield Heights City Schools as a subaward partner for the 'Garfield Groves' initiative; officials said a district subaward/contract on next week's agenda must be executed before funds can be drawn.
Garfield Heights City Schools staff told the board on June 8 that the district is a named subawardee on a USDA farm-to-school grant intended to support a local project called 'Garfield Groves.' The district said the Trust for Public Land (TPL) is the primary award recipient and the total award is $344,000, with partner allocations for implementation and sustainability.
The item was discussed during the work-session agenda review and staff emphasized that the district needs executed subaward agreements and the contract listed on the next regular meeting agenda to access federal disbursements and meet reporting deadlines. Christian Forte, the district's director of special education, apologized early in the meeting for earlier confusion about how recognition events were handled and was among the staff who described the grant's partner roles and reporting timeline.
Officials said the grant was awarded earlier than expected and that Garfield Heights will play a role in experiential learning, workforce development and the infrastructure buildout at Garfield High School. The district identified partner organizations in the award paperwork as TPL, Rudol Green Partnership and Ohio State University Extension; staff said additional local partners previously presented to schools as part of the project rollout.
District staff described the grant-term and contract-term alignment: the USDA award covers activity from May 1, 2026, through June 30, 2028, and the proposed district contract will run June 1, 2026, through June 30, 2028 to align program delivery and federal reporting. Staff said there is an initial semiannual federal report due Oct. 30 covering activity from May 1–Sept. 30, which creates urgency for executed agreements.
Staff explained that project management hours allocated to a consultant (described in the contract as 12.5 project hours for YDH consulting) will be paid through the grant disbursement process to the district rather than directly from the district's operating budget. Board members asked for clarity about who receives and disperses the funds; staff stated the USDA award is paid to the district as the subawardee and the district will reimburse contractual hours as specified in the subaward allocations.
The board did not take action at the June 8 work session; staff said the necessary contract and subaward paperwork appear on the agenda for the next meeting and must be executed to permit work to begin and to allow the district to receive reimbursements from the grant.
The district also confirmed that next Monday's special-education presentation will include counts of students served, lists of outside contracts and services, a description of team placement and MTSS processes, and academic-performance comparisons between special-education and non‑special‑education students over recent years.
What happens next: district staff said they will circulate the grant documents and the proposed contract to board members ahead of the next meeting and recommended approval of the subaward/contract to enable planned summer programming and federal reporting.
