COVERING WHIDBEY ISLAND’S NAVAL AIR STATION COMMUNITY
CROSSWIND Whidbey
VOLUME 1, NO. 28 | 07 OCTOBER 2011
www.whidbeycrosswind.com
Child Development Center is pint-sized palace
Skipper shares state of the station By K ATHY REED
Whidbey Crosswind
Naval Air Station Whidbey Island commanding officer, Capt. Jay Johnston, charmed the crowd as he presented a ‘state of the station’ address to the Oak Harbor Area Council of the Navy League Tuesday. In an apt description of all that falls under Capt. Johnston’s command umbrella, Navy League copresident Beth Munns introduced Johnston as the “mayor” of NAS Whidbey Island. “He is in partnership with us. He is one
SEE SKIPPER | PAGE 2
The new NAS Whidbey Island Child Development Center is nearly complete. The new center will nearly triple the child care available for active duty and qualifying families. KATHY REED/WHIDBEY CROSSWIND
New center slated to open in November By K ATHY REED
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Whidbey Crosswind
aval Air Station Whidbey Island’s soon-to-open Child Development Center on Regatta Drive can only be described as a marvel of kid- and eco-friendly construction. Work on the project began last October and officials anticipate being able to open its doors in November, a full two months ahead of schedule. “We anticipate the building will be turned over to us in October,” said Linda Jury, Child and Youth Programs Administrator. Jury said there will be unpacking and finishing touches to be completed by the staff before the center can begin operating. The new center will accommodate 218 children ranging in age from 6 weeks to 5 years, nearly twice as many as the current Child Development Center located a few blocks away on Clover Street. Because the Clover Street facility will remain open, child care capacity for active duty and
qualifying personnel will nearly triple. The new center features all the latest innovations child care workers could wish for, including child-sized bathroom facilities in each of the 17 child activity rooms, roll-out steps that lock in place so children can make their way (with assistance) up to the changing table instead of having to be lifted, built-in magnetic cabinet locks, pinch-proof doors, pintsized furniture and windows — lots of windows — to better enable staff to see, no matter where they are in the building. A closed-circuit television system will allow the director to monitor activity in each room as well. New outdoor play areas — which can only be accessed from inside the building — stand waiting to be used and abused, complete with artificial grass to help keep busy children clean and special rubberized material to cushion them if they fall. Rooms in the new facility are flexible, and can change with the population. “The number of children in a particular age group can fluctuate from year to year,” Jury said. “So they’ve made the rooms adjustable.” Rooms can change to accommodate either infants or pre-toddlers, for instance, or be shifted from toddler to preschooler rooms. As the population
SEE CENTER | PAGE 7
THIS EDITION Navy League meets at NAS Whidbey ................pg. 2 Pets’ Sake: The importance of clean teeth.........pg. 4 Local business proves fitness is not for sissies .....pg. 5 Navy and Marines make naval aviation history ... pg. 10
A total of four wind turbines in the parking lot of the new Child Development Center on Regatta Drive in Oak Harbor will help generate alternative power for the new facility. KATHY REED/WHIDBEY CROSSWIND
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