Environmental Awareness Strategic Plan Minutes from January 27, 2010

Pleasanton Unified School District
Environmental Awareness Strategic Plan Minutes
January 27, 2010 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm
4665 Bernal Avenue, Kottinger Room

1. Welcome and Introductions: The following people were in attendance: Jake Berg (Lydiksen), Kim Lounsbury (Hearst), LeeAnn Pomplun (District Office), Erin Salcido (Alisal), Elicha Gastelumendi (Valley View), Melissa Ott (Amador), Jim Ott (Board Member), Nikki Montez (Hart), Mary Holmberg (Amador), Lori Bautista (Fairlands), Kirsten Dwyer (Valley View), Beth Louderback (Vintage Hills) Kat Peters (Walnut Grove), Bill Radulovich (At Large), Lydia Rice (Donlon), Lauren Caldwell (Hart), Jennifer Chen (Hart), Katharine Canning (Hart), and Tina Wise (Donlon).

2. Hart Student Presentation – Lauren Caldwell and Jennifer Chen, students at Hart Middle School, talked about the efforts the Hart Garden Club are making in recycling, and gardening. They have been working on the garden, using the composter, beginning a food scrap program, and providing environmental awareness. Students not part of the program have been asking questions which show the awareness is heightened. The students are pleased that they are the ones helping to educate other students. The leadership class does the classroom recycling.

3. eFair – Bill Radulovich stated that he and LeeAnn discussed the eFair earlier in the day and were bringing forward a proposal to postpone it this year. With all of the challenges parents and staff are facing, this is an activity that can be taken off of everyone’s plate. Bill is meeting with other stakeholders later this evening and will convey the decision. The decision was unanimous to postpone the eFair this year. Earth Week activities will still take place.

Bill also mentioned that the book Sustainable Communities by Woodrow Clark is now available and features Pleasanton. LeeAnn will see about ordering a copy that can be checked out through the Media Department.

4. Earth Week Ideas – As planning begins for Earth Week, the following ideas were discussed. Some have been implemented in past years.
- Book swap instead of a movie swap (Walnut Grove)
- Garden games (Walnut Grove)
- Scavanger hunt for recycled items (cardboard, recycle bins, etc.) (How many items can you find, how much weight can you find, how many buckets can you fill, etc.) (Walnut Grove)
- Litter free lunch, however, this is very hard (Walnut Grove and Vintage Hills) (look for participation rather than perfection)
- Make a scarecrow out of extra pots (recycle) (Hearst)
- Lights out for one hour (Hearst)
- Wear a green shirt (Hearst)
- Food drive instead of just doing this at a holiday (Donlon)
- CFL bulb exchange (Donlon)
- Creating recycled art (Donlon)
- Environmental maze (Fairlands) (Ask questions and provide two answers. The answer provides direction through the maze.) Lori will share information with other schools.
- Make liter soda bottles into art to hang in garden. (Fairlands)
- Combine Multicultural Festival with Earth Week (Valley View)
- Plant seeds
- Environmental crossword puzzle

5. Go Green Committee – The Go Green Committee has not met this year. The committee will meet on February 10, 2010 at 4:30 p.m. in the District Office, Conference Room 1. Kat Peters will facilitate the meeting. The meeting is open to everyone. It was agreed that the meeting structure shall be as follows:
- Best practices
- How other sites are handling issues (getting participation, food scraping, maintaining their garden, etc.)
- Training and sharing experiences (videotape as a possibility)

6. eCoach Update – The next meeting is scheduled for February 24, 2010. This subcommittee’s purpose is to reduce energy consumption and consists of staff.

7. City of Pleasanton Grant Update – LeeAnn provided an update on how the funding was used by each school site.

The Altamont Landfill grant is still open. You can contact Marsha Jones at Harvest Park Middle School.

8. Other Items:
* Vintage Hills PFC is conducting the following recycling events:
- Raise Your Hand: first week in February parents are asked to donate summer weight children’s clothes that will be sent to Haiti. The website is www.sironacaresblog.com
- Tri-Valley Humane Society: donation of towels, etc.
- Recycling shoes
* Lydiksen won a “Go Green” contest last fall that was cosponsored by KNBR and the University of Phoenix. A parent applied for the school and Lydiksen won $1,000.

9. Organizational Focus for the Coming Year
- This year, the Committee will meet as follows:
o March 24 – District Office – Bernal Room
o May 26 – District Office – Kottinger Room

- Topics
o March – eFair (event cancelled), Replacement topic – Sharing practices/Update
o May – Wrap Up
- Student Participation Discussion
o March – Amador

There being no other items, Kim Loundsbury moved to adjourn the meeting at 6:10 p.m.