Charleen Badman Echo Canyon closure

Chef Charleen Badman said on May 22 that the closure of Echo Canyon School in Scottsdale is putting the Blue Watermelon Project’s original garden classroom at risk. KJZZ reported that Badman, a James Beard Award-winning chef and the owner of FnB in Scottsdale, started the program at Echo Canyon about a decade ago to address childhood hunger, poor diets and a lack of food education. The school’s shutdown means students are dispersing to other campuses, while the gardens and orchards built over years at Echo Canyon could be left behind. ### How did Echo Canyon become central to Charleen Badman’s school food work? Echo Canyon School was the first site for the Blue Watermelon Project, according to KJZZ’s May 22 report. Badman began by planting a garden and cooking with students there, and KJZZ said she remained the school’s “first chef in the garden” through the campus’s final week. (kjzz.org) Badman built the program around hands-on lessons with students growing produce and then cooking it. KJZZ described middle school students gathering around a table in the Echo Canyon courtyard in May to make Swiss chard pancakes from vegetables they had grown in the adjacent beds. ### What exactly is at risk when the school closes? (kjzz.org) Echo Canyon’s closure affects more than a building. KJZZ reported that the students are moving to new schools around the Valley and that the gardens and orchards cultivated by Badman, volunteers and students “could just dry up.” The Blue Watermelon Project said on its website that it works with students, parents, educators and community food advocates to help schools rethink their relationship with food. (kjzz.org) In the 2024-25 school year, the group said 2,386 students took part in “Chef in the Garden” lessons and volunteers contributed more than 2,600 hours. ### How big is the Blue Watermelon Project now? KJZZ reported this week that the Blue Watermelon Project has expanded to more than 50 schools across Arizona. (kjzz.org) That makes Echo Canyon both the starting point of the program and one site among a much larger statewide network. The organization’s own figures show it now operates beyond a single campus garden model. (bluewatermelonproject.org) Blue Watermelon said it also awarded $15,500 in scholarship funds through its “Feeding the Future” contest and served 2,738 students who tasted one of its cafeteria recipes during the 2024-25 school year. ### Why is Echo Canyon closing? Scottsdale Unified School District’s governing board voted 3-2 on Dec. 9, 2025, to close and repurpose Echo Canyon School and Pima Elementary School. (kjzz.org) ABC15 reported that district officials cited declining enrollment, with fewer than 300 students at each school, and a budget deficit estimated at roughly $7.9 million to $9 million. (bluewatermelonproject.org) Superintendent Scott A. Menzel said during that meeting that the district was dealing with “financial reality” that required difficult decisions, according to ABC15. The same report said some parents and at least one board member argued closures should have been a last resort. ### What happens next for the garden program? (abc15.com) May 22 was described by KJZZ as Badman’s last time cooking with students in the Echo Canyon garden. The immediate next step is student reassignment to other schools around the Valley, while the future of the Echo Canyon gardens and orchards remains unresolved in the reporting reviewed here. (abc15.com) Scottsdale Unified’s December vote set the campus on a repurposing path for the 2026-27 school year, ABC15 reported. Blue Watermelon’s broader school network remains in place, but KJZZ’s report made clear that the original Scottsdale site where the program began is the piece now in question. (abc15.com) (kjzz.org)