St. Joseph Newsleader • www.thenewsleaders.com
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Friday, April 12, 2013
Opinion
Our View
Support old, new city traditions
There’s nothing like a good comeback. That second time around might be just what was needed to revive an event or start a new tradition. Well, the St. Joseph Park Board is in comeback mode and it should be commended for it. While lack of funding of projects and not having enough volunteers are easy deterrents in moving projects forward, this city board is forging ahead with new ideas to bring people together. The most recent idea executed by the board was the introduction of Joetown Snowtown, a winter event that featured ice skating, sledding, snowshoeing and chili tasting. The event was held in February. Despite low attendance, park board members plan to do it again next year and make it even better, officials said. They view it as a learning experience and not a total flop. City traditions are what shape a place and its people. Whether old or new, they are worth the investment and the park board understands that. They should not stand alone in their efforts. As city officials work to collaborate to make St. Joseph a destination point, more consideration should be given as to how to support the comeback of city traditions and how to contribute to the success of new ones. Members of the park board are also working on bringing back a 5K event in St. Joseph. They hope to host the event during the weekend of the annual Millstream Arts Festival, typically the last Sunday in September. It’s been about three or four years since the city has hosted the 5K event. Why not bring it back? There are so many events for which St. Joseph is known. Signature events include the Fourth of July Parish Festival and the Joetown Rocks concert, the annual Millstream Arts Festival and the holiday tree-lighting ceremony. All of those events are popular with people far and wide but are associated with St. Joseph simply because they are held within its city limits. That’s fine, but there are few events that are solely sponsored by the city. Maintenance of events like Joetown Snowtown and the revival of the 5k event is one way to change that. These efforts deserve support.
Fairness and ethics
Newsleader staff members have the responsibility to report news fairly and accurately and are accountable to the public. Readers who feel we’ve fallen short of these standards are urged to call the Newsleader office at 363-7741. If matters cannot be resolved locally, readers are encouraged to take complaints to the Minnesota News Council, an independent agency designed to improve relationships between the public and the media and resolve conflicts. The council office may be reached at 612-341-9357.
Secret-service appointment is sign of progress It’s safe to say there have been a lot of “firsts” during the tenure of President Barack Obama. His election is the most notable as the first African-America president. Another first came recently when Obama named the first woman as the head of the secret service. He appointed Julia Pierson as the next director of the U.S. Secret Service on March 27, making her the first woman ever to hold that job. Hooray for progress! I was happy to read about that appointment. It not only shows times are changing but are changing for the better when it comes to gender equality in employment and leadership. The 53-year-old was chosen for her experience rather than her gender. Her 30 years of experience was enough to lead to her promotion. Pierson was named director while she was serving as the chief of staff for the secret service, the agency that, among other things, is expected to protect the president, Vice President Joe Biden, the first family and other designees. She succeeds former Director Mark Sullivan in the post. Sullivan announced his retirement earlier this year follow-
TaLeiza Calloway Reporter ing almost 30 years with the agency and almost seven years of which he was director. All I could say was “Wow!” as I continued to read the newspaper article. I hope other women and girls who learn about this historic feat do the same someday. It should make us all proud. After I read the story I started to think about other women who stand out in leadership roles. I thought about Condoleeza Rice and Hilary Clinton. Rice served as the 66th U.S. Secretary of State and was the first female AfricanAmerican to serve in that post. Rice also served as President George W. Bush’s National Security advisor during his first term, making her the first woman to serve in that position. Clinton is an American politician who was the 67th U.S. Secretary of State from 2009-13, serving under
Obama. She was previously a U.S. senator from New York from 2001-09. These are just two examples in the government sector. But what about the representation of women in other areas? According to the 2012 Catalyst Census, women representation in Fortune 500 business has stagnated in recent years. In 2012, 14 percent of executive officers at Fortune 500 companies were women. Their representation made up 14.1 percent in 2011. During the same year about 16.6 percent of board seats were held by women. In 2011, 16.1 percent of board members were women. Those percentages remained close to the same for the last three years and only increased by a few percentage points since 2009 when women made up 13.5 percent of executive officers and about 15 percent of boards. It’s taken years for women to achieve high-leadership posts so when they do it’s worth noting. I was happy to see Pierson’s accomplishment on the front pages of national and local newspapers. In my opinion, her promotion is definitely worth noting.
Early education investments will place kids on path to success Much has been written about the longterm benefits of high-quality early education and all-day kindergarten, especially for poor children. Research abounds to support investments in young learners as a critical way to close achievement gaps and improve student outcomes. Gov. Mark Dayton’s budget contains significant new investments for both early childhood education and all-day kindergarten, and every sign indicates substantial investments for early learning will be coming out of the legislature as well. Minnesota is home to some of the most compelling research on the high return of investment for early learning – up to $16 for every $1 invested according to former Federal Reserve Chair Art Rolnick. And there’s more: Childdevelopment researchers at the University of North Carolina recently published a study that found low-income students who attended preschool had higher math and reading scores in third grade than their low-income peers who did not. City University of New York conducted a study showing one in six students who can’t read at grade level by third grade will not finish high school by age 19 – nearly four times the rate of their more proficient peers. A study begun in 1962 in Michigan tracked two groups of low-income students – those who attended preschool and those who did not – and found at age 40, participants who attended preschool had attained higher levels of education, earned higher wages, were more likely to own a home and were less likely to have been incarcerated than those who did not attend preschool. Yet, despite the evidence, pockets of opposition continue to question the wis-
Brenda Cassellius MN Commissioner of Education dom of early childhood education. To which I say this: if you want a real life success story that illustrates the potential for high-quality early education to change a life, look at me. I was a Head Start baby. I can personally attest to the value of early learning, not only the early benefits to a poor girl growing up in the projects of south Minneapolis, but the long-term effects on my life. I could easily have ended up in a cycle of poverty and dependence, but I didn’t. Why? For many reasons, including hard work and a little bit of luck, but also because of the early opportunities I received and the parenting support given to my mother, who had my sister at 16 and me at 20. Head Start allowed me to develop school-readiness skills and a love of learning that have lasted a lifetime. I remember the fun of outlining my 4-yearold body on a big sheet of paper and labeling my parts, of watching a celery stalk turn red in a glass full of tinted water, of reading my first book, Harold and the Purple Crayon, and imagining my own dreams for adventure as I drew them with a purple crayon. My best memory, though, is when my teacher would round us up in a circle at the end of the day to touch the tip of her “magic wand” to the top of our heads, and if we were good and had done all of our work, the magic star on the end would light up. Why do these experiences matter now,
nearly four decades later? Because they taught me perhaps preschool’s greatest contribution to a students’ future success; the so-called “soft skills,” which help children learn how to pay attention and stay on task. My earliest teachers shaped me by instilling not only a love of learning, but also the principles of hard work, goodness and perseverance. These qualities cannot be measured by a test, but they matter a great deal in a competitive and diverse global economy and are necessary for success in life. I’ve been lucky. Lucky to be born in the right decade and that my mother had access to resources and support. Lucky to have had great teachers who pushed me to be my best. Lucky that wise Minnesotans who came before me realized a good education for every child was the surest way to strengthen our state’s competitive edge, leading a generation’s War on Poverty and crafting a Minnesota Miracle along the way. But should it come down to luck? The Governor and I believe not. We believe all children deserve access to the same great start I had. Investing now, this year, in our youngest learners – with more scholarships for high-quality earlyeducation programming and increased access to all-day kindergarten – gives us the best chance to fully leverage the potential that lies within every child. We may never be able to fully measure the profound impact early learning has on life success. Or maybe we can. Maybe we’re just waiting for a future education commissioner – a little girl or boy learning and dreaming in a sun-filled classroom today – to show us just how it’s done. Send it to:
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