HIDDEN VALLEY SCHOOL COUNCIL
Minutes of Regular Council Meeting
December 8, 2015
School Library

Present:	Council Members:				Administration:
		Wendy Reid:  A/Chair				Lynn Poile:  A/Principal
		Larry Gray
		Jerry Zahora:  Secretary Treasurer

Guests:	David Petkovich:  Awaiting appointment to council
		Lindsay Heynen:  Past Council Member
		Steve Fergusson:  French Teacher

1.	Call to Order:  Meeting was called to order at 6:05 PM.

2.	Adoption of Agenda:  Moved by Larry, second by Wendy, THAT the agenda be
	adopted.									
											CARRIED

3.	Adoption of Minutes:  Moved by Larry, second by Wendy, THAT the Minutes of
	Regular Meeting, September 1, 2015, 
			      October 13, 2015,			
			      November 10, 2015, be adopted.				CARRIED

4.	Committees:
	4.1	Transportation:  No report, no meeting held

5.	Administrator’s Report: 
	-	17 students travel to Vancouver, sponsored by Air North,
		Trip was a great success, students enjoyed
	-	FN Position:  Interview to be done prior to Xmas break
	-	Upcoming activities:
		Carol singing Dec 14 – 17
		Whole School skate – Dec 18
	-	Xmas break:  Dec 21 to Jan 3
	-	Bear Education:  discussion on having someone come to the school to
		speak with students regarding bear safety.

6.	Treasurer’s Report:
	Balance in account $5,537.42.  Contribution agreement paperwork signed
	To be forwarded to Dept. for processing

MOTION:	Moved by Wendy, second by Larry, THAT the HVS Council makes a motion 			to reimburse Lindsay Heynen in the amount of $333.81 re: purchase of goods 			for the Welcome back barbeque.					CARRIED

MOTION:	Moved by Larry, second by Wendy, THAT the HVS Council makes a motion
		to reimburse Wendy Reid in the amount of $183.10 for the purchase of
		supplies for the Sept. Barbeque.					CARRIED

7.	Old Business and Correspondence:

8.	New Business and Correspondence:
	8.1	Lindsay Heynen:  
		Lindsay provided a brief background.  Has served on school council in the past
		and provided members with info on the roles of school council.
		This includes:  
	-	Meeting with Ministers, MLA’s, department officials
	-	Responsibilities of School Council: 
		Representation at a variety of committees
	-	Support of Council:
		Welcome back BBQ
		Nutcracker (sponsor K class to Gr. 3)
		Destination Imagination
		End of School year trips – funded a trip to Equinox, Hot Springs, 
		Sub shine lunch – last day of school (suggested to increase amount of food
					Shelly does ordering from Subway)
	-	What council has accomplished in the last 3 years:
		Increase schools attendance (flyer campaign in the spring)
		Early Learning
		After school program – Huskies Fun Club
		Bus:  bus to bring students to HV
		Hot Lunch Program:  to be started again – once a month, volunteers are needed
		School Clothing:  Council purchased clothing last year for school
		including caps, t-shirts, hoodies, golf shirts
		There are a few items left over still for sale.
		Lindsay suggested these are a better sale in the spring, not in the fall
		Fundraising – community garage sales,
		Community Garage sale, held at school – tables rented at $20/table
		“Peel a deal”:  Lindsay to send info to Wendy (like a couple – sell for $10)
		this could be partnered with Subway; a percentage of sales to be given to the
		food bank
		Lindsay expressed an interest in rejoining school council 
		Council thanked Lindsay for attending

	A RESOLUTION was passed to recommend to the Minister of Education that
	LINDSAY HEYNEN be appointed by the Minister as a member of the Hidden Valley
	School Council.	Moved by Wendy, second by Larry.			CARRIED

Action:		Jerry to prepare paperwork to submit to the Department for processing.

	8.2	Steve Fergusson:  Re:  Northern Sustainable Living: 
		Steve introduced himself and gave a brief background.  He is the French
		Teacher at HV at the present time.  Lived in South Korea for a number of years
		and moved back to the North.
		Would like to create a Northern Living Centre on the Hidden Valley School 
		Campus.  This would provide students at HVES to learn about Northern 
		sustainable living through hands-on experiments and as well, community
		based learning projects.
	-	Objectives:
		Would provide opportunities for personal growth and development.  This
		would also help build self-esteem by learning skills which would help them to
		become more self-sufficient.  As well, would provide opportunities to teach
		subjects such as math and science in creative and engaging ways with hands-on
		student led projects.
	-	Awareness of one’s ability to make a difference in the world:
		Would create an awareness in the shared partnership in the stewardship of
		the planet
		Create meaningful learning opportunities to engage learners in activities which
		solve or help with world and local problems such as: climate change, healthy 
		eating, reducing water consumption, etc. 
	-	Community building:  
		Experts from the community would come to the school and provide learning of 
		the school out to the community.
		This would help increase the student population of HV by offering a unique 
		Curriculum to the school 
	-	Barriers and possible solutions:
		Costs:  idea is to start small with a core funding from the Dept. of Ed and then
		build on with community sponsors, national funding, to help with projects that
		address climate change,
		Creating Curriculum:  Steve attended an info session recently and discussed 
		this idea with staff from SFU.  This could also be included as part of his course
		work.  Steve’s broad focus would be on community-based learning
		Community Engagement:  This would need to be a long term project which
		would build slowly with minimal costs and increase as the community 
		engagement grows.  There would need to be a community steering committee
		started to get things started. A Board of Directors would be required after.	
	-	Dept. of Education approval:  The Dept. has requested proposals for ways to
		“actively engage learners in learning and support innovation and flexibility in 
		our schools”.  
	-	Summer growing season: Partnering with Yukon College Science Sumer Camps, 
		weekly visits to HV’s could be part of the summer camp programs. This would
		help with summer maintenance and harvesting of plants.
	-	Running the centre:  Would be run separately from the school, but located on 
		the property and would be available as a learning centre for students. A 
		centre director would be required.  This position should not be from the current
		staffing budget.
	-	Water:  Development of capturing and storing rain and snow melt water would
		be required
	-	Timelines:  
		2015 – begin growing plants indoors over the winter 
		then put into boxed growing beds around the school in the spring
		(approx. 16 boxed beds around the outside of the school)
		Prepare a water storage system for rainwater and snow melt
		If funding is secured for spring 2016, a greenhouse would be constructed to
		extend the growing season for some plants
		Fall harvest festival would be held with a feast prepared by students
		2016-17 – Experimental aquaculture centre could be built that would combine
		fish and plant growing in a green energy building (this includes solar panels,
		energy-efficient construction, wind energy)
		Portable classroom would be required to teach groups coming to the centre
		from other schools.  
		2017-18 – Eventually a livestock centre could be built for raising animals such as
		egg laying hens, and poultry for consumption.
		A large greenhouse and aquaculture centre to be built and the current buildings
		would be dismantled and sent to another Yukon School that wants to improve 
		this education model.
		2018-19 – This would become a model for other such centres in northern 
		communities. HV students would act as leaders in sharing their knowledge with 
		others who would like to begin this.
		Intention is also to integrate First Nations values and practices into this 
		curriculum as much as possible.  With planting, growing and harvesting plants
		(and animals) which are not indigenous to the Yukon, part of the program would 
		be the harvesting of local plants and (animals) while following traditional First 
		Nations practices. 
		There were roundtable discussion. 
		HV School Council supports proposal.  This could be provided as a Pilot Project. 			Requested that Steve provide costs for the next meeting.
		Council thanked Steve for his presentation.

9.	Adjournment:  Meeting adjourned at 7:40 PM
	Next regular meeting, January 12, 2016.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

___________________________				_____________________
Wendy Reid:							Jerry Zahora:
A/Chair							Secretary Treasurer