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Friday, April 5, 2013
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Heroin problem Hard drug use rears its ugly head in Issaquah, Sammamish BY LINDA BALL LBALL@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
Red Gate Preschool students Emily, 4, and Dominic, 5, grind a variety of spices to create their own tea. Below, Jedaiah, 4, uses a saw for his project at Red Gate Preschool. KEVIN ENDEJAN, Issaquah & Sammamish Reporter
HANDS-ON LEARNING Red Gate Preschool offers unique educational experience atop the Plateau
BY KEVIN ENDEJAN KENDEJAN@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
O
nce upon a time, in a little red house hidden in the woods of Sammamish, lived Bun Buns, a potty trained rabbit, Wilbur, a pig who sits on command and Pokey Feathers, a chicken, who spends part of his time indoors.
through experience, or an emergent curriculum. “When a child figures out how to do something by themselves their neurons connect, it’s concrete learning — very different from teaching at them,” she said. Through this method, children are allowed a
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No, this isn’t a children’s tale — it’s just part of the cast of one of the more unique learning experiences in the region. “There’s nobody else around here like us,” said Suzie Rockey, owner of Red Gate Preschool. Founded 18 years ago, Rockey followed her dream of opening a place where children learn
freedom to do whatever they like. “You can do anything you want at our school,” Rockey said. “We have no rules, but one. You must be respectful to your peers, the materials and the natural environment.” There’s also one word Rockey tries to avoid at all costs. “We pretty much never say ‘no’ to the children here,” she said. When they’re doing something in a way we don’t like it, there’s always a yes way to say ‘no.’” The method might be out of the comfort zone of some, but it’s far from chaos. The three-hour classes, designed for children ages 3-5, are broken up in three parts, starting with a free play time that allows kids to explore various “interest centers.” Those stations include activities like painting, crushing spices to make tea, baking, reading, or digging
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An alarming trend is showing up in Issaquah. Drug overdoses, particularly from heroin and prescription drugs, are on the rise. A graph presented at a joint city council/school board meeting March 27 depicts a huge spike in calls for overdoses particularly in the past two years, with the largest spike in people between the ages of 19 and 50. Greg Tryon, deputy chief of operations for Eastside Fire & Rescue, who prepared the graph, said most of the calls are either for alcohol or opiate overdoses. In 2012 within the area of the Issaquah School District, there were 31 overdoses in the 19-30 age group, compared to 16 in 2009. In the age group 31-50, there were 25 overdoses in 2012 compared to 15 in 2009. Within the city of Issaquah, there were 18 overdoses in the 19-31 age group in 2012 compared to eight in 2009, and in the 31-50 age group there were 15 overdoses in 2012 compared to seven in 2009. Tryon added that past data indicates that 7 to 10 percent of cardiac arrest calls are overdose related. The reality that there is a heroin problem in Issaquah/ Sammamish is no different from any other community, said Jerry Blackburn, director of early recovery services with SEE HEROIN, 15 lands
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