The grass looks greener for the horticulture department after undergoing a change in departments this semester from Career Technical Education (CTE) to Life Sciences since facing challenges that impeded on the department’s learning experience to the students.
Along with this, the department is getting ready to implement their long awaited ADA garden and a new ‘healing’ garden where LBCC students can use the space to relax and even do yoga.
These two projects were originally announced during the Spring 2022 semester but were delayed because the horticulture department did not receive the supplies needed to get the projects going.
“Under the new dean we finally got the ADA beds to be able to instruct disabled students,” said full-time horticulture professor Jorge Ochoa.
Ochoa has seen the move as being a positive one for the department’s future, as well as the students in it. He hopes that the move will provide a better learning experience and add more resources to the department along with preventing scheduling issues which have been a problem in the past.
“Traditionally we’ve been a part of trades so now that we are a part of science there is going to be more support from science, but we still are going to be a career technical trade class,” said Ochoa.
“The previous dean was not supporting horticulture students,” he added.
The horticulture department was originally being overseen by Gene Carbonaro, a CTE dean who is in charge of providing instructional services and funds for the trade classes.
Ochoa says he feels that the department has been neglected in the past after having trouble with class scheduling and getting resources for horticulture such as a hands free hand washing sink for the department’s instructional garden and supplies for the students to use in class.
“If I can get tools and supplies to present the students with a good learning opportunity and environment of learning…then that’s a win-win for everybody,” said Ochoa.
Ochoa is hoping that under the lifescience department students will have access to supplies for the garden without having to spend so much money out of their pockets. As of now students in horticulture have to provide their own supplies to get through the curriculum.
When Carbonaro was asked about the absence of the hand washing sink, he said he had approved and tried to fulfill the request numerous times but couldn’t due to supply shortages.
“There is nothing more I can do, it’s a supply issue problem.” said Carbonaro, “He fell into something that everybody fell into. Wanting something that you couldn’t get due to the supply chain issues of COVID-19.”
According to Carbonaro, the instructional supplies Ochoa requested were not fulfilled because he says Ochoa requested them improperly. In order for programs to receive funding for supplies, faculty need to present quotes for items and vendors in order to be granted the proper amount of money based on the purchase needed.
“Sometimes you don’t get support because you don’t participate in the process,” said Carbonaro.
“All the problems professor Ochoa has is because he doesn’t want to participate in our process… I’ve helped hundreds of faculty members and have been known to help students. I am for any student program but he is very hard to work with,” said Carbonaro.
In response to Carbonaro’s comment, Ochoa said, “Yes I followed the protocol and I brought it up in a department meeting…at the end of the day it is the dean’s responsibility to ensure that the faculty have the materials to provide a good learning experience to the students.”