Saturday, April 2, 2011

Protect Pre-K Education at UNI

Magda and I were informed late Friday afternoon that our three young daughters along with 22 other children of UNI faculty and staff will no longer be able to attend the UNI Child Development Center. Just Thursday, parents were informed of a decision to reduce the number of classrooms at the center. That decision will displace the current 3-4 and 4-5 yr old rooms at the center. We have been told that the only alternative offered was deemed unsafe by the state fire marshall. Parents are mobilizing, but we need your support to maintain the integrity of Pre-K education at Northern University: Iowa's Research & Development School.

I am calling upon parents, students, educators, and others to help us persuade Interim Director Lyn Countryman and Dean Dwight Watson to reconsider their decision. It is a terrible shame that a NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) Accredited Program and Iowa's Early Childhood Program of Excellence is threatened with such cuts. Ironically, our College of Education just touted these achievements on its website in March.
http://www.uni.edu/coe/news/coe-news/uni-child-development-center-featured-article-naeyc-accredited-program

UNI should be leading early childhood education, not damaging it on our campus.

There are damaging implications involving the amount and quality of student field experiences, tuition revenue (faculty pay higher tuition than students), the impact on teachers and families, and most importantly the quality of the program itself.

Parents request that the same number of classrooms and equivalent facilities be provided to the center so as not to jeopardize its national accreditation or licensure by the Dept of Human Services––both are threatened by the alternative space offered upstairs which has been deemed unsafe for children under 5 by the fire marshall. The status quo should be maintained or another appropriate facility should be provided without displacing the many UNI families currently being served or putting our children at risk.

I have appealed directly to Interim Director Lyn Countryman (Lyn.Countryman@uni.edu), Dean Watson (dwight.watson@uni.edu), and Provost Gibson (gloria.gibson@uni.edu). Please call, email, or use whatever connections you have to help us persuade these people to increase, not decrease their support for early childhood education at UNI. Thank you!
--
Robin Galloway
Father of three
Instructor, Curriculum & Instruction
at

3 comments:

  1. MBaumannApril 2, 2011 at 2:55 PM

    Thank you for creating this, Robin. let's get a group of parents together early next week to discuss ideas. I have a few and would like to hear others.

    Mary Baumann

    ReplyDelete
  2. Robin GallowayApril 3, 2011 at 12:17 AM

    Actually, I didn't create this blog. The parent representatives of the CDC Policy Board created it. I just shared my own story first. Thanks for your support!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousApril 3, 2011 at 9:39 AM

    I am a past parent of CDC, my daughter attended 2006 through 2008 and it was a wonderful experience. The programs and the teachers are amazing and it more than prepared her for her school years. She is now in the 1st grade and is reading at a 3rd grade level. I believe the interaction and early education she received from the CDC got her to this point. I also have two year old twin daughters and they do not attend the CDC because I am no longer a student. However when we were looking for childcare for them it was tough because I kept comparing everyplace to CDC, and nothing compares. I realize there has been state and goverment cuts regarding HeadStart and early education but there has to be someway the University could keep the programs because they are so important! Sorry to hear this news I feel for the parents, children, and staff.

    ReplyDelete

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