Letter to the Editor: Form a task force to find a new home for preschools
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
To the Editor:
As the founder and 30 year teacher of the Shorenorth Parent Education COOP and a taxpayer, I am extremely concerned about the loss of the COOP’s 40 year rental space from the Shoreline School District. With King County and the state of Washington prioritizing early childhood programs in the educational spectrum, it seems short-sighted to eliminate such effective programs as the Parent COOPS in the Shoreline community. High profile leaders have been participants on the local COOPS: Senator Patty Murray, Representative Ruth Kagi, Shoreline School Board members Debi Ehrlichman and Dick Nicholson, Shoreline Public Schools Foundation Executive Cindy Pridemore plus numerous PTSA presidents and officers.
Worldwide problems are being solved by bringing groups together to work on common issues. Our own Senator Patty Murray, a former Shoreline Parent Educator, has used this concept of building consensus and finding solutions with the 2014 budget deal with Paul Ryan, and now by passing the updated “Leave No Child Behind” with an early childhood component. Under the leadership of Dow Constantine and Rod Dembowski and a coalition of community leaders who see the value of early learning, King County was able to pass the Best Start levy this past fall. By not providing rental space to the Shoreline Early Childhood COOPS, the Shoreline area becomes out of step with the nation, state and county.
Since all public buildings are taxpayer owned, I know that our Shoreline community strongly supports both the Shoreline Public Schools and the Shoreline Community College Parent Education COOPS. They want to see both programs be strong, feel that they are very complementary and benefit the Shoreline community. Therefore, I am proposing the formation of a task force to find a viable solution for both programs. The school district has previously exhibited this type of cooperation when they helped to find space for the Shoreline Historical Museum. We are all stronger when we work together to find solutions that benefit everyone!
Pearl Noreen
Shoreline
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2 comments:
Although as I recall re: Historical Museum, the school district only decided to save it when the members said they would lobby and vote against the levy for building the new schools. If you can figure out some $ incentive, collaboration partners will come out of the woodwork to help!
Yet the City is going to blow hundreds of thousands of dollars on marketing Shoreline to future residents, when schools are overflowing and there's no space for the population of early learning students. This marketing plan seems to be largely directed toward families with school age children. Wouldn't it make better sense for these funds to applied toward an early learning facility? Or should just stuff Shoreline to the gils and expect taxpayers to foot the bill?
Meet our new mascot: "The Squatch" - who may end up leaving Shoreline after the trees are all ripped out and replaced with concrete urban blight in a few years.
http://cosweb.ci.shoreline.wa.us/uploads/attachments/cck/council/Packets/2016/Packet010416.pdf#page=55
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