Early childhood matters. That fact is gaining recognition nationwide, especially after the $4.2 billion boost from the stimulus act.

We talked to Cornelia Grumman, director of the First Five Years Fund. A former reporter, she told us what to look for in good quality early childhood education. I thought parents could use this information too.

What you want to see:

Attentive, engaged staff:

• Teachers with four-year degrees and specific training in early childhood education.
• No more than 8 infants and toddlers and no more than 20 preschoolers in a classroom. Teacher to child ratio even lower: 1:3 for infants and 1:20 preschoolers.
• Teachers who crouch to eye-level to speak to children and who hold, cuddle, show affection and speak directly to infant and toddlers.
• Families and teachers exchanging information about the child’s progress.

A safe, healthy and child-friendly environment

• A room well-equipped with sufficient materials and toys.
• Classrooms in which materials and activities are placed at eye level for children.
• Materials and toys accessible to children in an orderly display.
• Centers that encourage safe, outdoor playtime.
• Frequent hand-washing by children and adults.
• Visitors welcome with appropriate parental consent.

Stimulating activities and appropriately structured routines

• Children who are engaged in their activities
• Children offered breakfast and lunch and a time to nap
• Children participating with teachers and each other in individual, small-group and large-groups activities.
• Children receiving a variety of stimuli in their daily routine using indoor and outdoor spaces (think age-appropriate science, math, art, music, movement, dramatic play, literacy).
• Preschoolers who are allowed to play independently.

What you don’t want to see:

Inattentive, overwhelmed or unengaged staff.

• Unengaged teachers sitting on the side of the classroom, not participating.
• Shouting, swearing, and other displays of hostile discipline.
• Infants and toddlers crying without being attended to.

An unsafe, unhealthy or un-stimulating environment.

• Small, cramped centers or homes without designated approporiate spaces for different ages.
• A center or home that smells of urine, has visible safety risks, or is unclean.
• Frequent use of television or video to occupy children.
• Children easily distracted or frightened by strangers.

Activities and routines that are too chaotic or inflexible.

• Children wandering aimlessly, left unsupervised or displaying unchecked aggression.
• Children restrained in car seats or high chairs at times other than a meal time
• Children spending a lot of time waiting around for turns.
• Children expected to sit at desks, perform highly structured tasks, or other forms of age-appropriate expectations.

Cornelia also talked about brain research, quality rating systems, Obama policy and new increased requirements on early childhood – including bachelor’s degrees for early childhood teachers. More on this later.

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Even the folks who’ve been in education a long time say they’ve never seen the Senate and House so tight-lipped about the budget. Mum’s been the word – until the Seattle Times published this juicy morsel this morning. It’s a sour little morsel, which we all expected.

From Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane:

Brown said the proposed two-year budget would eliminate pay increases for teachers and state workers, and would leave around $850 million in reserve in case the economy gets even worse. (we knew that)

The cuts would be felt by the general public, Brown said, noting that “people will definitely notice fewer (higher-education) slots, more intense competition to get into universities. I believe there will be, unfortunately, teacher layoffs.” (we knew that too)

The state would cut almost $500 million from Washington’s higher-education system. (That’s new)

Gregoire proposed $342 million cut to higher education, which would mean a 6 percent cut for WVC. I’m not sure how much a $500 million cut would divide up between 4-year and community colleges.

The official roll-out was supposed to happen yesterday (Thursday), but lawmakers said they needed more time. According to the latest, the Senate is releasing its budget Monday. The House releases theirs on Tuesday.

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I walked out of the last Wenatchee School Board meeting wondering if the school board will follow through with a “resolution of support” for the fire department’s proposed station. My hunch is they might sit on it a while.

The fire department plans to put another bond proposal on the ballot this fall. The official “decision” to go out for a bond won’t be made until June, Chief Stan Smoke said.

Smoke and the assistant chief gave a presentation pitching the idea of the fire station being a good neighbor to Lewis and Clark Elementary. (If you remember, the school district built Foothills next door to the secondary station on Maple).

What do you think: Would a school and fire station be good neighbors?

From the fire department’s perspective, yes. They’ve done studies that show the new station would respond to about 700-800 calls a year, and about 80 percent of them would drive away from the school on Springwater Avenue. For 20 percent of the calls, trucks would drive by the school on Springwater. The fire department wouldn’t use Princeton, where the school’s main entrance sits.

They also said they would use some bond money to improve the streets around Lewis and Clark. They’d offer the station’s huge parking lot for school event  parking at night.

In the presentation, the fire dept. staff admitted to a few mistakes in the last bond attempt. They didn’t consult the school’s PTA about the fire station. More than a few parents questioned the location as the fire dept. staff and volunteers knocked on doors last fall for support. The voting precinct around the school showed low fire station support.

I’ll be writing a story on this soon. Stay tuned. As always, your opinion is welcome.

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I took a road trip to Salem, Or. last week for the regional Association for Experiential Learning conference. Basically, it’s a outdoorsy get-together for teen outreach folk — think Outward Bound-like programs, adventure therapy, drug and alcohol counselors, rope course designers, etc. My significant other, a teacher, is big into this stuff.

Here’s what I saw:

1) A family-oriented workshop on how to talk with kids at their developmental level – from 3 to 8, 8 to 14, 14 to 18, and 18-plus.

2) A workshop from a drug and alcohol counselor about how to gain trust among teens.

3) A day-long seminar for teachers about building a learning community in the classroom.

I didn’t know what I’d get out if it as a reporter. A lot, as it turns out. In some ways, the conference was more powerful than some journalism conferences I’ve attended. Go figure.

The first workshop solved a few mysteries why some age groups are harder to interview than others. I lost count a long time ago how many blank stares I’ve gotten from kids after asking them a question.

Freshman for example. Why must I pull them aside, alone, out of eye contact with other teens in order for them to say anything worthwhile? The gurus answer: Because I’m walking into a world of silent social norms and rules they’re too scared to break at their age. Hmm.

How do you get little kids talking? The gurus answer: Ask them to perform, demonstrate or do something active with their bodies. They’re still developing words, meaning and context. Hmm.

Lots of hmms. Lots of epitomes. By Sunday, my head was full of a lot.

The key word here is “experiential.” Every workshop conducted some sort of activity or game that pertained to the subject matter. I was in the Learning Communities seminar which did an activity about perspectives. A bunch of laminated sheets of paper laid face down on the floor. Everyone grabbed two and negotiated with the group how the pictures on the cards fit within a sequence. The first card zoomed in on a red rooster waddle. The last card was a zoomed out picture of Earth.

To put this activity into context for me, I signed up to teach a few classes on writing at an elementary school in May. I looked at the sequence of cards and it hit me: This is kind of how I put together a lead. I have to decide whether to zoom in or zoom out. I tuned out the speakers for a few minutes (sorry Scott) to write an activity-packed lesson plan for my writing workshop. I also wrote the skeleton for an 8-week afterschool curriculum to help struggling middle school students find passion for writing through a series of community-building, writing-centered activities. I’m amped.

An0ther note about Learning Communities, I was surprised to see a familiar face on the big screen. The presenters featured the same classroom I covered last week at Lee Elementary. It turns out the teacher, Natalie Dorey, is a trainer for these guys. Her fourth-graders made a class video on teachertube about their learning community. Check it out.

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This is a classic tug-of-war on the education beat, and I’m the rope.

I got an e-mail from a proud mom of a Knowledge Bowl student, who asked that we give some well-deserved recognition to the team. They aced regionals and is headed to state for the first time in 5 years. She added:

Also, in the Apple Leaf (WHS student paper) it was mentioned that the debate team is going to state.  Another honor that has not been mentioned in the
Wenatchee World.
Just thought I’d let you know what the “academic” teams are doing.

Her daughter wrote a letter to the editor last year along the same lines. Why doesn’t The Wenatchee World cover academic teams with the same gusto as sports teams? I get this question a lot.

Here is my answer to her and anyone who wants to know:

I talked with the two metro and features editors about our policy on where, when and how to write news on academic clubs. You’re right, we don’t publish the progress of academic clubs unless a parent, coach or student (I remember your daughter’s letter) pushes the issue. We only hear from a few clubs a year — never from WHS debate and occasionally from Knowledge Bowl — so academic clubs on the whole are not represented well. The Apple Leaf only covers one high school, so it makes sense they’d track the progress of all the clubs better. They’re a great paper, and a great medium for the coverage you’re looking for.
The challenge we face is that I’m one education writer covering a college and 13 school districts. We’ve got 3 sports writers and a sports clerk. There’s no way I can cover all the academic clubs like we do sports. I know it’s not fair to the students, so I talked to the editors about what we CAN do.
We’re going to continue relying on coaches and parents for academic club news which will, generally speaking, be published in Features under Your News. We generally publish the top three places for academic competitions. I’m saying generally so much because it depends on how they do, and how big of a deal it is. For example, we’ve published Sports Medicine and Apple Leaf in the A section when they’ve won national recognition.
For Knowledge Bowl, I’m worried that if we wait for state results, it may not be published at all unless they place in the top three. Marco Martinez, the features editor, asked that I write something about how the group did at regionals March 2nd, where it was held, if any individuals placed in the top three and when/where state will be held. Can you send me this information? Maybe Mr. Cloke? Please get back to me soon. I hope I’ve answered your questions, but please let me know if you want to talk more about the issue.

I haven’t heard back from her. I did get the results from Coach Cloke, so we’ll print them soon.

I know it’s not totally fair. Even-stevens, we’d have to hire an “academic clubs” department to match sports. Find me a paper that does that. Anyway, I’m looking for suggestions. What do you think? How would you respond to these parents’ concerns?

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Sweet ride, good interviews, scary mountain passes – that sums up a 14-hour whirlwind Thursday as I rode with a group of WVC students protesting budget cuts in Olympia. Here’s the students making signs on the bus in Olympia before the protest:

The trip turned out to be the highlight of my year so far. All 8 students took the incredible stories with them to the capitol. Here’s two local students who spoke to the crowd:

I wish I could have published every audio interview I recorded as we drove through the snowstorm on I-90 and Blewett. What’s online isn’t even the best of it. Truth is, the best interviews were ruined by a little-known button on the back of the recorder called “gain control.” Whatever that is. I had to redo those interviews on the ride home, when everyone suffered from serious over-stimulation at the rally. This online thing is a steep learning curve. I wrote the story on a laptop over Stevens Pass (I-90 was closed on the way back).

The bus, affectionately called the “Knight Rider,” is a college student’s dream. The chairs are cush. The ceiling glows with a blue neon light show. The bass bumps to shake the street. The wall has an iPod holder and plug-in jack. The sound system makes DVDs sound better than the Liberty Theater. The rows have a pull down flat screen televisions. If music and movies aren’t enough, the bus also has a playstation. Here’s a short sample of us pulling out of the parking lot:

Ironic ride for a group asking the state Legislature not to cut funding. The story behind the bus is this: The ASB paid for the bus out of student fees last year. The parent booster club paid for the signage and logos on the bus. Before the Knight Rider, the college owned old econo-vans that they could only drive half-full, so any sports team going to an away game had to take two. The center of gravity was so high the thing would roll like a potato bug.

Link Transit helped the college find a deal on the new van, which looks like a tricked-out short bus. I didn’t write down how much the bus was, I’m sorry. I was busy being a reporter-photographer-videographer capturing advisor Kelly Ketcham as he was talking about it. I thought I got it on video, but no. As the college shopped for the bus, enrollment was down and they needed to recruit more students to maintain state funding.  The college let the students buy the bus last year because they considered it a billboard on wheels.

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My goal was to reach one kid Monday, and I think I got him.

The background: I signed up to read Dr. Suess to a class of 4th-graders Monday. I chatted up a table of students as they finished their art project before the reading. The class was learning how to draw human figures, beyond just the sticks.

One little boy at the table would only mumble when I addressed him. He stared down at his hands. Something about his expression told me he had a lot on his mind and none of it school-related.

The rest of the class was antsy and talkative. They all lost points for Make Your Day (a behavior program).

I put on my blue-and-white stripped Cat-in-the-Hat hat and took The Lorax to the front of the class. I’d been practicing my inflections and theatrical performance.

I started reading, but soon stopped to order some kids to the front row – my first attempt at classroom management – so I could focus my efforts on reading and keeping an eye on the boy. He hadn’t even turned his chair. I was reading to his back.

I took the theatrics a step further. When the Lorax coughed on smog, I coughed. When he yelled, I yelled and stamped my foot. I used my one free hand for visual affect and made eye contact with as many kids as I could while turning the page.

I don’t know at what point the boy turned around, but he did. And he was smiling.

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I’m haunted by this 15-year-old girl I met last week at a scholarship event. She didn’t want to talk to me, and when she got up from the lunch table I could see why.

I was reporting on the College Bound Scholarship, a program that gives low-income students a full ride for four years at any in-state college if they keep their grades up and stay out of trouble.

I asked a bunch of ninth-graders fairly predictable questions:

- Where are you thinking of going to college? A lot of them knew already.

How would you pay for it if you didn’t have College Bound? A nervous giggle and a lot of “I don’t know.”

I got the impression they signed up for something they can’t really comprehend at this age. I remember, I was there. What’s $19,000-times-four to a 15-year-old? A huge investment, but how huge is about as meaningful as $1 billion versus a $1 trillion. Now I realize that’s like buying four new cars in four years. That’s huge. To these kids, the scholarship is just a piece of paper.

Back to the girl, she didn’t want to talk to me. She whispered to her friend next to her and avoided eye contact with me. Her friend talked to me about her situation, guardedly. I dropped it. I not going to spend energy prying good quotes out of people who don’t want to talk to me. Not if I can help it. I moved on to other students.

Then, I saw the girl stand up from the lunch table. She had a belly. Maybe baby fat? No, she walked the duck-walk of expectant moms – hands on her hips, shoulders tilted back. I was scared to ask for fear of being wrong.

I talked to her again as she was walking out. I asked her the same questions as anyone. She reluctantly gave me one-word brush-off answers. Her parents signed her up. She doesn’t know what she wants to do, or where she wants to go. I gained eye contact — big brown doe-eyes —  toward the end of our conversation. I knew this was my chance: How will this College Bound Scholarship affect the future of your child? I didn’t ask. I let the moment go.

I have this protectionist side of me that’s totally self-defeating as a storyteller. I didn’t want to hurt this girl by publishing her name and her pregnancy when it was clear she didn’t want attention. The story is about the scholarship, and I knew she would have stole the show as a pregnant 15-year-old.

But then again, that’s the power of this scholarship, and the strength of this girl for taking this opportunity. We’re talking generations of families here affected by on state scholarship. I walked away feeling proud for both the girl and the cause.

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I attended the last part of a student forum with President Jim Richardson Wednesday.

Tidbits: I found out there are some students leaving for a demonstration in Olympia next Thursday. I’m calling the organizer for details. Maybe I’ll go (yahoo!). I also heard something about stimulus dollars going to the college, I’ll ask Kathi Rivers Shannon about that Thursday.

Student questions:

* Note: The answers are paraphrased. I have it tape-recorded if you want a copy.

Where can students get a copy of the budget? I’m paraphrasing Richardson, but it’s coming. The budget is an inches-long, unreadable document. He said he could work on a more accessible budget to be available for students. He didn’t indicate when. I’m assuming he’ll let students know.

Are online classes any cheaper for the college? Richardson says no. A faculty still has to teach those online classes, so it’s a wash.

Those teachers who were laid off, when are they returning? Richardson says there’s no money now. He doesn’t know when more money is coming. The college is facing state cuts for the next two years.

Will there be more classes cut next year? If the college doesn’t get mid-year cuts like last year, they’ll have a yearly class schedule that students can plan on.

What’s happening with Adult Basic Ed and ESL classes? You’ll see fewer locations for ESL and Basic Ed classes next year. They’re paid for with federal and state dollars.

How do you decide how much to overload a class? It’s determined by the classroom, the class requirements (labs, etc.) and how much workload the teacher is willing to take on (how many extra essays to grade, students to keep track of)

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I’m going to kill the suspense right now: Every rumor I’ve investigated out of WVC this year was false or a half-truth.
All year long, I’ve had students stopping by the office, sending letters, leaving messages on my work phone, calling my personal cell phone (not okay!) … They’re frustrated with things they’re hearing from “faculty” and “other students.”
As promised, I investigated the major claims. Some were addressed in WVC’s question-and-answer page, so I’ll leave those out of this post.
Here’s what I gathered:

Claim: The college plans to layoff up to 24 more people.

No. President Jim Richardson told me Wednesday (Feb. 25) that the college is done with cuts for this year. If the state takes out any more money from this year’s budget (which ends in June), the college will pay the deficit with reserves.

As for next year’s budget (July to June 2010) the state legislature is talking about cuts beyond Gov. Gregoire’s proposed budget. A committee of faculty and staff will decide how to handle program and employee cuts if it comes to that.

Claim: The WVC administration is overpaid
It’s a matter of opinion. I got the administrative salaries as reported to the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges. It’s a snapshot report taken in 07-08. Here’s how the top jobs at WVC compare other colleges:
President
WVC: $161,000
Big Bend: $152,034
Yakima Community College: $122,511
Walla Walla Community College: $154,000
Columbia Basin College: $179,789
State average for same position: $160,605
NOTE: The president is in his 4th year of a 5-year contract. By state law, community college presidents cannot have travel, car or any other living allowances.

Vice president of instruction
WVC: $94,000
Big Bend: $97,825
Yakima Community College: $99,009
Walla Walla Community College: not listed.
Columbia Basin College: not listed.
State average: $104,215

Vice president of student development
WVC: $95,000
Big Bend: not listed
Yakima Community College: $63,766
Walla Walla Community College: $94,000
Columbia Basin College: $98,877
State average: $95,516

Vice president of administrative services
WVC: $94,000
Big Bend: $101,762
Yakima Community College: $88,621
Walla Walla Community College: $94,000
Columbia Basin College: $115,000
State average: $103,243

Human Resources Director
WVC: $73,000
Big Bend: $77,299
Yakima Community College: $63,766
Walla Walla Community College: $84,600
Columbia Basin College: $108,700
State average: $88,855
Claim: The administration gave themselves a raise at the same time as layoffs.
Everyone got a raise. All staff received cost of living adjustments (called COLA) in July or September last year, which was granted by the state Legislature for last biennium.
Here’s how raises work:
There are three kinds of employees at WVC:
Exempt: At-will, salaried employees, includes administration. The state set their COLA raise at 1.7 percent in 2007 and 2 percent in 2008.
Classified: Hourly employees, represented by a union which negotiates statewide with the governor. Includes office staff, maintenance, etc. The state bargained their COLA at 3.2 percent in 2007 and 2 percent in 2008.
Faculty: Salaried employees, represented by the union. Part-time faculty are not represented by the union and are offered contract as needed by semester. Their COLA was 3.7 percent in 2007 and 4.4 percent in 2008.
All three kinds of employees are offered annual contracts in June, which sets their salaries. For exempt staff, those raises take affect in September. Faculty and classified raises took affect July 1, a benefit of joining the union.
After everyone gets raises, there’s usually money left over from vacant positions, etc. That leftover money has to stay in the job class it came from — either exempt, classified or faculty.
The classified union has a committee who decides their salaries. I’m not sure about the faculty raises, but I’d guess it’s the union.
In the exempt field, that leftover money amounted to $74,000 this year. In June, the president decided how to distribute those extra raises. He asks the vice presidents and cabinet to suggest which employees should get the bonus. The decision is based on factors like extra responsibilities, maybe their salaries have fallen below average, etc.
This year, that $74,000 was distributed to 17 of the college’s 60 exempt employees. That list included vice presidents, assistants, database programmers, systems and securities administrator, network engineer, the director of the basic skills program … I’m won’t name them all.

Claim: The administration hired people after the hiring freeze.

All state agencies are under a hiring and out-of-state travel freeze, which WVC has not broken. The last person to be hired out of operating funds was the Early Learning program director. She was hired in October and started in November. This program needs a director for it to be state certified and the college is obligated to keep a program going for current students. Otherwise, the college has to pay the difference of that student going somewhere else for the same degree.

There have been a couple of  people hired out of grant funds, which can only be used for a specific purpose. For example, the Running Start assistant and the new person hired for GEAR-UP.

Claim: The staff is giving back their raises to help the college budget.

Unfortunately, that fell through. The college set up a payroll deduction program in January for staff to donate part of their salaries to help the college deficit. As of last week, three people contributed. One was the president, another was a vice president and I don’t know who the third contributor was.

Claim: They’re cutting spring classes.

If the college cuts classes, it’s because of low enrollment. The latest class schedule reflects which classes the college can afford. President Richardson said that some faculty donated their professional development money to make sure some classes were put back on the schedule, including yoga and journalism from what I hear. I have to wait before getting comparison of how many classes were offered this spring to last. Registration began Wednesday.

Claim: WVC is paying for student housing across the street.

Not really. WVC did have to cover some while they were waiting for state loan money to come through. That loan money will pay for the whole project. Rent will pay back the state loan.

See the WVC FAQ for details (Web link above).

Claim: The gym is closing.

No. The gym hours were recently limited. It’s not closing.

Claim: The college is closing.
By law, it can’t close. Not without a huge legal process with the state anyway. The decision to close cannot be made by the administration alone; it’s the state’s call and it’s not even being discussed. The state Community College Act of 1967 lays out the junior college system and requires that system to be accessible for all people. WVC’s area covers 10,000 square miles. Legally, some community college has to serve that area. It might as well be WVC, budget crunch or not.

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