What started in October with one tray of basil at PS 349 in Jamaica, Queens, has grown into a hydroponics greenhouse, now ripe with fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, basil and parsley.

The turnaround at Long Island City HS was the result of a set of strategies that included smaller class sizes and more individualized attention. But collaboration — between administrators and staff and among the teachers themselves — was the linchpin.

It’s not every day that high school students get to decide how to spend $500,000. The students at Gotham Professional Arts Community Learning School and Acorn Community School have that opportunity thans to a pilot project in participatory budgeting funded by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.

Vital Brooklyn, a collaboration between the UFT, the state Department of Agriculture and Grow New York City, aims to promote healthy and affordable eating through fresh produce markets at schools in central Brooklyn that are in some of the state's most disadvantaged communities.

The PTA at PS 705 in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, gave the school’s teachers a remarkable gift: $750 each to use at their discretion during the school year.

The Huddle program at PS 107 in Brooklyn helps students in the departmentalized 5th grade share their feelings and problems, work on social skills and play games that foster skill-building and bonding.