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proudly serving Brimbank and the North West
2 JULY, 2024
From garden to plate
St Albans Meadows Primary School year 6 students Tommy, Kevin and Mia cooking up a storm in the kitchen. (Damjan Janevski) 415752_01
Students of St Albans Meadows Primary School put their chef hats on last week and invited their parents to school for a home-made, home-grown lunch. Students of all year levels have been undergoing the kitchen garden program in which they grew fresh ingredients in the school’s vegetable garden, and last week put them all together to impress their parents. The program has been running for more than 10 years, and organiser Michael Harris said the initiative teaches students invaluable skills at an early age. “The Kitchen Garden Program involves all our students from grades prep to grade 6 multiple times throughout the year,” he said. “They are learning valuable life skills such as cooperating and teamwork, as well as practical skills such as cooking, gardening, and knowing what is going into your food. “This allow each student the opportunity to participate throughout different seasons of the year and maximises the learning potential for each student, as they are able to be taught the role that seasons play on planting and harvesting produce.” The school works with the Stephanie Alexander kitchen garden program, which hosts similar programs all across Australia. The values they hold most important are growing, harvesting, preparing, and sharing.
Comments spark apology Misconduct findings have been recorded against two Brimbank councillors. In two separate internal arbitration processes, which took place in April and May, councillors Maria Kerr and Virginia Tachos were found to have engaged in misconduct over disparaging comments made about their fellow councillors during council meetings and on social media. Cr Kerr was suspended from council from June 19 until July 10. She was also directed to make a number of apologies to her fellow councillors and the council chief executive during the next
council meeting and on social media, and attend training on council’s governance rules and appropriate use of social media. An apology was posted on her social media on June 18. Cr Tachos was directed to make a formal apology to council and attend training on the appropriate use of social media. Cr Tachos had been on leave from May 28 to June 30. Mayor Ranka Rasic and Crs Jae Paplia, Jasmine Nguyen, Sam David and Sarah Branton made an application for a finding of misconduct against Cr Kerr on December
20, 2023. An arbitration hearing was held on April 22, by arbiter Meredith Gibbs. The councillors, who were represented by Cr Rasic at the hearing, made allegations against Cr Kerr relating to her behaviour at council meetings on October 17 and November 17 last year, and comments made in various social media posts. Cr Kerr denied that her behaviour constituted misconduct. According to Dr Gibbs, Cr Rasic alleged Cr Kerr directed comments such as “scraping the bottom of the barrel”, “getting desperate”, “betrayal” and “desperate scumbag” towards
other councillors during the November meeting, which was the council’s mayoral election. It was also alleged that Crs Kerr and Tachos had a conversation about rapid antigen tests (RATs) and joked about “rats in the chamber”. Dr Gibbs, in her determination which was tabled during council’s June 18 meeting, found that Cr Kerr made the comments to at least one or more of her fellow councillors, and in doing so, had not shown them courtesy and respect. ■ Continued: Page 12.
ONE STOP SHOPPING CENTRE FOR THE ENTIRE FAMILY Our friendly centre has convenient parking and food for all tastes. A Bakery, Fresh Seafood, Butchery, a Continental deli and Indian Supermarket. Takeaway Fish and Chips, Pizza, Charcoal Chicken and Kebabs Cafe. Chemist and Medical centre and a large Woolworth Supermarket.
Cnr Taylor’s Road, Calder Park Drive, Taylor’s Hill 12652516-ET23-24