Children In Crisis Sen. Murray Talks About Problems, Possible Solutions
Teacher-student ratios in Washington’s public schools are among the nation’s worst.
One of every three children in the state lives in households too poor to provide basic food and health care. One of every five teenagers contemplates suicide.
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., flew to Spokane on Tuesday to discuss these and other crises with 150 citizens at the West Central Community Center.
“We have a responsibility as adults to do right by our children,” Murray said, kicking off the third of four forums she calls “conversations about Washington children.”
Murray, a former pre-school teacher and school board member, is seeking a consensus agenda for children’s issues she can champion in Congress this year.
The first-term senator listened to a panel of Spokane leaders, teachers and activists describe the problems.
Bemiss Elementary School Principal Dale McDonald told her so many of his pupils come from poor, unstable homes almost half of them move at least once a year.
Heather Hanley, a freshman at Spokane Falls Community College, said she quit East Valley High School because it was “boring.” Teachers spent half the class time “disciplining kids who don’t want to be there,” she said.
Public health nurse Cheryl Beyersaid a lot of the pregnant teenagers she sees “have never been parented themselves.”
Beyer also noted the problems their babies face. “We know infants need bonding, that attachment at a very young age, to survive. If they don’t get that by age 8, they’re going to have problems.”
Murray is not sure what legislation she will craft to combat the broad array of problems facing kids, but said she is considering introducing proposals to:
Give tax credits to businesses that allow employees to take time off to get involved with needy children.
Encourage public school curriculums, with grants and initiatives, that provide more job training.
Pursue a national health care program for children, particularly for preventive measures like immunizations.
Murray had the Spokane audience break into discussion groups to come up with ways of helping children on which they could all agree.
One of the ideas Murray liked: letting boys and girls into clubs they can’t afford in exchange for good grades or community service.
Murray said she plans to put the suggestions on her office walls in Washington, D.C. “I want to provide leadership on these issues,” she said.
The impetus for the community forums grew out of the senator’s frustration with Congress. She said she is tired of being constantly on the defensive, fighting proposals to cut welfare, health care and other social programs she believes help children.
She’s sending surveys to 130,000 Washington families to help shape her views on the issues.
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