Clean City Commission

May 12th, 2022 School Pride in Action Meeting Members Present Members present in person: April Receveur (HCCC), Tiara Kersey (Lindsay MS), Sally Lewis (Kecoughtan HS), Wendy Iles (HCCC), Michele Ferrel (Kilgore Gifted Center), Paula Lawson (Kilgore Gifted Center), Betsy McAllister (HCS) Members present virtually: Ashley Ault (Hampton HS), Pam Berry (Barron ES), Ryan Reynolds (Phoebus HS) ● Sally Lewis called the meeting to order at 4:22 and welcomed members. It was determined that a quorum was present. ● Minutes from the April 14 meeting were approved. Old Business ● Schools reported on progress since the last meeting. ○ Tiara Kersey (Lindsay): thanked everyone for their assistance getting the recycling program going again; said that more people in her school were on board since the blue classroom tubs came in; she told the custodian staff about the blue bins and urged them to leave them for her and the students to take care of; her students are excited about recycling; she is interested in creating a school garden and may work with the Gear Up Coordinator this summer; she asked for help with the garden and Wendy and Betsy volunteered assistance; she said she plans to claim Earth Week for Earth Day activities next year on her school calendar ○ Ashley Ault (Hampton High School): Garden week (week of June 6) and garden ground breaking on June 6th at 1:30 for the meditation garden (Betsy and Wendy will attend); the garden will be in a circular format in middle of courtyard; she is working on cleaning up and improving existing beds; is in need of native plants, pollinator plants, and herbs that can be connected to classes; she received 2 grants and may now have access to funds for use next year; as part of the IB Academy students get  community hours for assisting in the summer; The Hampton HS Key Club does paper recycling; plastic recycling is also being done *Wendy has soaker hoses she could donate *Wendy also volunteered to offer a late fall or winter seed sowing class ○ Michele Ferrel and Paula Larson (Kilgore Gifted Center): York County Composting Facility will deliver compost and mulch and have done this for Kilgore; Mercury Mulch gave them a contractor price and cut delivery cost in half for mulch; they created pollinator garden, added plants to their butterfly garden, and revitalized their rain garden; the environmental fair went well - 3 Tesla’s came and kids were able to sit inside the cars; KHS Governor’s STEM academy would like to come to the environmental fair in future years if it can be hosted in April ○ Sally Lewis (Kecoughtan HS): Debbie Wheeless runs the garden center that used to be Countryside Gardens; students enjoyed chalking the walk with the afterschool program at Y.H. Thomas during Earth Day week; they also got the Ask HRGreen grant and their secretary ordered the 44 classroom bins at a reduced price using the school’s Amazon corporate account; the bins came in last week; about 80% of classrooms are on board with the recycling program; the self-contained SPED class will continue to handle the recycling program; ecology club students will be in charge of an education campaign on recycling outside cafeteria to try to reduce contamination; ecology club students were at Y.H. Thomas on Earth Day; ecology club members assisted with rescuing pavers, stepping stones, etc. due to new science wing construction; they have plans to paint pavers and make a design with interlock pavers; the ecology club is hoping to go seining and use Aeropods on kites with Betsy; they also have plans to go on a Saturday field trip to the Virginia Aquarium ○ Pam Berry (Barron): students met the Public Works recycling bin delivery with pom poms; they had requested a few of the blue classroom bins and now everyone wants one; the classroom bins will be delivered to classrooms by the SCA; there are three recycling Thursdays left; they are having issues with people using totes for trash and hope that stickers on the totes that illustrate what can go in the tote will help; currently the only gray totes being used are the ones by cafeteria and these are dumped each night by the custodial staff; she has talked with administrative team about this; they used to have hot pink signs on totes prior to the pandemic  to try to deter inappropriate materials from getting into the totes; SCA is excited about recycling ○ April Receveur (HCCC): Earth Day event was very successful; she really appreciated the ecology club students from Kecoughtan who helped out with tours in bee costumes and the chalk the walk New Business ● Wendy Isles (HCCC): let her know if there is stuff we need from her before the end of the summer; that gives her a heads up and time to work on it; she will reach out to TFC recycling to find out what other materials they can offer ● Betsy (HCS): will look at recycling materials at HCCC and try to get stuff out to folks who are interested; Betsy will email April the schools that currently have gardens ● Carolyn Heaps-Pecarro, the City of Hampton’s Resiliency Officer, would like to come for a meeting. It was agreed that we would try for the June meeting. ● Next meeting: If enough committee members are available, we will plan to meet June 23rd at April Receveur’s house, with Carolyn Heaps-Pecarro as a guest (if she is available), with the possibility of walking over to Sly Clydes afterwards