On Monday, when it became clear that teacher strikes would delay the start of school, the staff of Project Transformation asked themselves what they could do to support students who would have to wait a little longer to go back to class.
“We were like, ‘We have to do something,'” said Sean Crews, program coordinator for Project Transformation’s Pacific Northwest chapter.
Within hours, the summer program had a plan and started implementing it Tuesday, providing meals and hosting activities for students and their parents in LeRoy Haagen Memorial Community Park. More than 30 children were at the park Wednesday.
Rachel Neer, executive director for Project Transformation’s Pacific Northwest chapter, said that it was important for students “to have a place to be and to have something to do while everybody’s feeling this anxiety about when school’s going to start.” That anxiety gets to the kids, too.
“They were built up and ready for the first day, and so they were holding all of that anxiety in them, and then the first day didn’t happen so there was nowhere for that anxiety to go,” Neer said.
This is a new service for Project Transformation, which normally functions as an eight-week day camp during the summer for at-risk elementary school students; the goal is to help them retain what they’ve learned in school. The organization has several locations across the country, including multiple chapters in Texas and a new one in Washington, D.C.
There’s another concern beyond the students losing their academic skills, though: hunger. According to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, roughly 45 percent of students in Washington receive free or reduced-price lunches.
“If a kiddo is hungry, they’re not going to learn as well, because all they’re thinking about is how hungry they are,” Neer said.
Fortunately, Project Transformation isn’t tackling this issue alone. Local churches, as well as the Clark County Food Bank, are helping to donate food, and the Salvation Army is helping to make sack lunches as needed — and they’ll continue to do so until the strikes conclude.
“As long as there’s a need for a place to be, and for breakfast and lunch, we’ll be here,” Crews said.
Parents were grateful to Project Transformation for giving their children somewhere to go and something to do while schools are closed.
One parent in Evergreen Public Schools, who didn’t want her name used, called Project Transformation “absolutely wonderful (for) providing community support and offering food for children who might not have access to it at home right now.”
If not for the strike, Kimberly Taddei’s son Gunnar, 6, would have started first grade Tuesday at Illahee Elementary School, rather than participating in Project Transformation’s activities. Still, Taddei, 35, was supportive of the teachers.
“I think teachers should get paid more. They deal with the children from pretty much the morning until the evening, and so I think they deserve to get paid more,” she said.
Crews also supports the teachers, calling their work vitally important.
“I’m fully, 100 percent standing behind our teachers,” he said. “If they have a need with their children — regardless of what it is, whether it’s a strike, or something during the summer or during the school year, we’re just here to support them.”
Project Transformation returns today to LeRoy Haagen Memorial Community Park on Northeast Ninth Street from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will also be at Orchards United Methodist Church, 11000 N.E. Fourth Plain Blvd., from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. The group will continue lunches and activities Monday through Friday until the strikes end, except for Labor Day.
Additionally, Evergreen Public Schools and Battle Ground Public Schools will offer lunch options for children 18 and younger at Crestline Elementary School, 13003 S.E. Seventh St., Vancouver, from 11 a.m. to noon, and Kiwanis Park, 422 S.W. Second Ave., Battle Ground, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., respectively.
