* * Keeping public education alive in challenging times

These are stressful and difficult times for everybody, but perhaps none more than our children and the folks who educate them.

So I called to Mark Miear, Superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools, to see how they were fairing. Happily, the answer is, surprisingly well. Good leadership and dedication are why.

“Our team really pulled together,” he began, “at the first days of hearing about the pandemic. We were planning the possibility of a shut-down three weeks before the order came down from the Governor on March 13^th. We were thinking about having to close ourselves. We got all our various operations managers together and created a plan for continuing to educate and feed our kids.

We were perhaps the only school system that was feeding our kids two meals every day starting Monday because we already had a plan. We worked with our teachers to have academic plans in place to educate them remotely, beginning that Wednesday after the Monday we closed.

“About four years ago, we invested in Chromebooks for every student, and we’ve been working with Google Classroom since then. So it was an easier transition to fully remote teaching. Teachers have done a great job getting assignments out.

“We are delivering food from six schools (Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Eastern Montgomery, and Auburn High Schools and Blacksburg and Christiansburg Middle Schools) and send aids on buses with the drivers to give lunch and breakfast in the same drop-off. We’re delivering breakfasts and lunches to 5000 children every weekday. The Governor and State Superintendent suggested that school systems continue to feed the kids. We have a summer feeding program which we expanded with delivery by bus. We can deliver to any kid at any income status. We’re even feeding children who are home-schooled or in private schools. This is reimbursable by the federal government.”

I asked about the educational side, and what schooling the kids are now missing.

Miear said, “It was actually a good time for us, because the shut-down occurred at the end of our third quarter. Basically, this is the last 9 weeks that we’re doing with distance learning. We’re meeting our educational goals. In grades K-2, teachers are mailing packages home. In grades 3-12, we have about 6000 students and only 500 didn’t have internet. So we’ve supplied many of them with a ‘hot-spot’ to get internet access at home, one per family. This is not the school system we grew up with.

“In this crisis, we’re still educating kids and feeding kids. I got an email yesterday from a parent moving here from Virginia Beach. There, the school system stopped educating the kids and they plan to add 15 minutes every day to make up for lost time. We’re progressive not only for Southwest Virginia but for the entire state.

“When the Chromebooks arrived, we required our teachers to learn to use them. We were preparing for this pandemic without even knowing it. I appreciate the School Board being supportive of this and the Board of Supervisors for their votes to fund it. Some members questioned whether it was worth it. Now we see other school systems trying to catch up, to buy computers that our kids already have. And there are none to be bought.

“Competence and funding matter. We have shown that government funding is important. We finally got a state budget advantageous to public education the first since prior to the recession twelve years ago. Now we’re concerned about that. We have people representing us who are supportive of public education.

“If there has ever been a time when we’ve seen the value of teachers, it’s now. They have had to switch the way they teach in just a couple of weeks, and they’ve been successful at it. And I’ve seen lots of praise from parents.

“This food delivery program hasn’t just been about the food. It’s been about the kids keeping contact with drivers and aids from their school. Kids are excited to see the buses. It’s their one daily sense of normalcy. Kids are doing chalk signs on their sidewalks in appreciation. They’re making signs. It’s pretty special. We have a special group of teachers and staff.”

Miear said he hopes the pandemic will end and they can get back to normal in the fall. But, “We can extend if we have to. We will always be devoted to educating our kids. We will always give them the knowledge and skills they need to move forward in life. Education is too important. We can’t let kids fall behind.

“There is nothing like face-to-face interaction in education. But we have a system that works in the meantime. And we’ll improve on it. This pandemic will change education permanently. It’s hard to change people in any profession. We’re thinking about new ways to do things, but we’re moving forward.”

* * Social responsibility and my motorcycling

One weekday recently, I went motorcycling with my friend Margie. Like most of us during this pandemic, business was slow and I had free time to spare. Our plan was to head up Big Walker Mountain on the Wythe/Bland County line and take in the view, carrying a picnic lunch in anticipation of the General Store at the top being closed.

We met at the NRV Mall and headed west on Peppers Ferry Road to Fairlawn, then through Dublin and Pulaski, cresting Little Walker Mountain on the wonderfully sinuous Robinson Tract Road. Motorcyclists live for curvy roads like this!

Continuing west on Little Creek Road, the western skies darkened and spits of rain splashed against my face shield. By the time we passed under Interstate 77, rain was heavy and we decided to retreat, heading back to Pulaski and pausing for our delayed picnic on the Draper Valley Overlook. It was a grand sight, leaden clouds resting just above, painting the landscape in a palette of grays, blues, and earthen browns, with brief, warming sun-breaks.

Margie and I talked some about the pandemic and how it has affected her work and mine, and the economy of the region. She’s a Tech professor of microbiology, and she understands COVID-19 at a microscopic, cellular level. Her informal teaching has increased my knowledge, especially as it pertains to the way the disease spreads.

Motorcycling is an exercise in social distancing, because both face and hands are covered in protective gear. We were careful at the gas pump to keep our gloves on to protect from germs on the handle. We kept our distance from each other and others we encountered at our stops.

I’ve been a devoted motorcyclist for decades, riding both for work and utility transportation, including my daily commute. It’s always been thrilling for me, a spark lit during my teen years and never diminished. It’s my refuge, my quiet, private space, just me and the bike, the road, and nature. It is a special privilege to have owned capable, fast and efficient motorcycles and these amazing southwest Virginia roads upon which to ride.

It’s an understatement that the pandemic has dramatically altered our world. We believe the doctors and scientists, at least most of us do, that the virus is pernicious, sometimes fatal, and easily spread. And we’re cooperating, again at least most of us, to follow the directives of our national, state, and local authorities to avoid contact with each other, practice strict hygiene measures – Wash your hands! – and stay at home if possible.

Here, we’re not there yet, but many countries and some states are literally confining people in their own homes except in emergencies. It’s maddening to me, and I’m sure to most of us, to see photos of people still gathering in large groups, partying at Florida beaches, and attending churches, in defiance of public officials and of common sense. But in particular in defiance of the shared responsibility we have to each other. Because the fact is, the better we isolate ourselves, the faster we can stem the spread of the disease and the sooner we can resume daily life.

We continued our ride, back through downtown Pulaski, then over Cloyd’s Mountain into Giles County, where we caught the timeless view of the New River at Eggleston.

Back home, I posted a trip account on Facebook, sharing my photos. While most comments were positive, one friend, ironically also a motorcyclist, wrote, “I understand you are alone and this is “social distancing” ...but what happens if you crash....or someone runs into you and you need to be hospitalized?”

Fine. I get that. People have been pounding into my head the irresponsibility of my hobby for decades. But I do not intend to stop riding. In 50 years of riding, I've had exactly one accident that sent me to the emergency room. That was in 1977 when I did something stupid. I do not consider my riding to be a risk to me or anyone else, any more than driving my car or pushing my lawn mower.

My last emergency room visit was 3 years ago when my gallbladder erupted. Should I stop having gallbladders?

So far, there are no shortages of hospital beds here. I am not depriving anyone in need of care. If the governor tells me to stop riding, I'll stop riding. Otherwise, I feel no shame in it.

This pandemic will bedevil the world for months if not years, and the world will be changed medically, economically and politically as a result. Those of us who survive the toll will tell our children and grandchildren about living through it the way my mom talks about the Great Depression and World War II. In the meantime, while we follow best hygienic habits and governmental guidelines and restrictions, we still need to eat as well as we can, exercise regularly, and do the things – like motorcycling for me – that nourish our souls.

* * Rainbow Riders prepares children for life

Unless you have a pre-school child, you probably don’t think much about early childhood education. Kristi Snyder, administrator at Rainbow Riders Child Care Center in Blacksburg, thinks about it every day. “I’ll spend my entire working life at Rainbow Riders. It’s in my blood. I eat and sleep it.”

Children are programmed by nature to learn. Their synapses are geared to picking up information and retaining it readily. For example, they are far better equipped to learn new languages than adults. “They are not afraid to try or sound silly,” Kristi said as we chatted in her office, “They learn to speak foreign languages and even to write in other alphabets like Chinese.

“We see two-year-olds recognizing their printed name. In early childhood, we have an incredible opportunity to provide an environment to learn.

“Children learn best by playing. Their play is their work. They see puzzles and counting and sorting. Numeracy emerges by age one or two. In infants, they babble and piece words together, then sentences. I tell our teachers that they are Webster’s dictionary for the kids, and I ask them to narrate everything. Those words become the children’s.”

Kristi started at Rainbow Riders at age 17 as a high school student and she just turned 50, so she’s been at this for 33 years. She has a degree in early childhood education from Virginia Tech. She became director at age 22 and owner at age 26.

“We’ve learned so much about how the brain develops and works since I began my career. What we know now is there is a huge amount of brain development between zero and five years of age. Researchers think that 90% of brain development happens during those years.”

Wrap your head around that: Public schools now start with kindergarten, at age 5. So 90% of a child’s mental development has happened before most kids get any formalized schooling.   

Kristi mentioned several programs like Headstart and Early Headstart, but for the most part, unless parents can afford to send their kids to a quality school like Rainbow Riders, education is often piecemeal or not at all. Children are parked in front of TV or computer screens.

In decades past, in many families, moms didn’t work. So they provided care for the children. Nowadays, it’s rare when both parents don’t need to work.

Rainbow Riders gets 96% of its income from tuition, paid by the parents, typically $800 to $900 per month per child. In the infant room, there are 3 babies per teacher, then less for the older children. And yet Rainbow Riders still struggles to pay living wages to its staff. “They start at $10/hr., and we’ve worked for 30 years to get to that. I have people who have been here for 20 years and still make under $20/hr. It brings me to tears. It’s unfair beyond belief.

“I’m looking to hire teachers that love children and have a willingness to learn, communications skill, and common sense. That’s a tall order at $10 or $12/hr.”

And schools like Rainbow Riders get no help from the governments, either local, state, or federal. This is a different model from the rest of the developed world and even much of the emerging world where childhood education is socialized just like our public schools. Consider this: Cuba is a world leader when it comes to early childhood development, with over 99% of its children under six attending a learning facility. Cuba is far ahead of the USA! We need to fix this and we need to fix it fast.

Not only are Rainbow Riders kids better prepared for academics in kindergarten, but they’re also better socialized, better problem solvers, and far more likely to be successful and productive citizens as adults. She said, “Our teachers instill in these children the value of good decisions, every day. We teach caring, empathy, and citizenship. Our children do better not just in grade school, but for the rest of their lives.”

Most kids in our area and in much of our nation don’t receive instruction from a licensed program. “We accept only 32 one-year-olds and we’re the largest facility in Montgomery County. There are thousands of young children in the New River Valley who aren’t in a licensed program due to affordability, access, or quality.  

“In many other nations, federal governments take care of people, young and old. Here it is a familial responsibility. We should be ensuring that every child should have a quality early childhood experience. Our country’s future depends on it.

“What our programs are doing well is creating innovators, problem solvers, and thinkers. The society that raises innovators will rule the 21^st Century economy.

“What we’re not doing well is involving all children. We need to have significant change. We need to elect people who put children and families first, not billionaires and corporations. Early childhood education is not political. But I want people to know that it is essential to our future, for public safety, for national security, and our economy.”

* * Adam Ryan works for worker rights

“No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country,” Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Working class Americans need a raise.

For a few days a couple of weeks ago, Christiansburg native and resident Adam Ryan was internationally famous. Adam’s story became the narrative lead in an article from The Guardian, a 200 year old British daily newspaper, seen here and worldwide on the internet, quoting him about his experience at the Target store where he works about conditions there for workers.

“I have to live with my family because I can’t afford rent on my own. I don’t have health insurance. I’ve had a rotting tooth in my mouth for years that I haven’t been able to receive treatment. I’ve applied for Medicaid in Virginia and every time I’m told I make too much money, and Target has told me I don’t qualify for their benefits because I don’t get enough hours,” Ryan, age 31, was quoted in the article.

So I tracked him down and spoke with him about his interview with The Guardian and his thoughts on the relationship between workers and management in 21^st Century retailing.

He told me, “I make $13 an hour. It’s the hourly minimum at Target, which is scheduled to increase by $15 by the end of the year.” But he and his co-workers have noticed that Target is cutting their hours, often dropping them below what qualifies for company health benefits.

“I got into labor organizing some years ago, prior to working for Target. There is the belief that direct action of the workers is the best means of getting issues addressed in the workplace. A lot of hostility people have towards unions is because of the backroom deals.

“I grew up in a conservative, right-wing household. I deviated from my family’s politics. The ‘Occupy’ movement resonated with me. I started becoming more attuned to the issues of working people and racism. It was a process (to become an activist). We were led to believe an American utopian version of history, where communism is dead, the USSR has collapsed, and America is the beacon of freedom and democracy in the world. Then 9/11 happened and we started wars in the Middle East against enemies that didn’t threaten us. Iraq. Afghanistan. The justifications that weren’t real. It caused me to lose faith and trust in our institutions. Just like Vietnam; it was all based on lies.

“I got a job here in Christiansburg with Target. I knew I’d start organizing (co-workers). I’ve been with them for about three years. Target gives us a survey each year ostensibly to measure employee satisfaction. Our voices can be heard. But workers don’t trust the survey. It is an anonymous survey, but they ask questions that can identify you. So people are less candid. They feel pressured to give positive answers.

“We did our own survey, hoping to find the raw truth. We asked about cost of living, transportation, housing, and healthcare. We found these are bad jobs that people can’t even live on.”

I said, “It feels like a race to the bottom, where Amazon, the 800 pound gorilla in the room, sets increasingly lower standards of worker protection and compensation, then other competitors like Target attempt to match them.

“I did a fun calculation the other week,” I continued. “I took the per-capital income of the state of West Virginia, which incidentally is around $25,000, and multiplied it by the population of the state. Then I compared it with Jeff Bezos’ income, the founder of Amazon. Bezos makes half-again more than the entire income of that American state for a year. One man! We are not a poor nation. It’s just that in the fight between workers and owners, workers are getting creamed.”

“Right,” he agreed, “and they’re suffering. It’s obscene to me that one man can hoard that kind of wealth. People who can’t afford to live on their wage depend on charity or government assistance programs. So taxpayers are subsidizing huge corporations that refuse to pay workers a living wage.”

I said, “As a former employer and taxpayer, it seems to me that anybody who is willing to get up every morning, Monday through Friday, and work a 40 hour week, should not be dependent upon government assistance to afford the basics of life: food, clothing, transportation, shelter, and health care.” 

“Yes,” he agreed. “And right now, that’s just not happening. Target won’t allow people to work enough hours to get benefits. Then they won’t set a fixed schedule, meaning folks can’t get a second job, because what employer will hire them without knowing when they can work? How can you arrange care for your children? Seventy-seven percent of our economy is these poorly paid service jobs.

“We’re just trying to achieve a stable schedule. A full work week. Benefits. Dignity. Workers want our contributions to be adequately compensated so we can live independent lives.”

* * NRV Homegrown encourages local shopping

The concept of local shopping is in the DNA of most folks around here. We all know that when we buy from a big box store or an online store, most of that money goes far, far away. But when we buy locally, that money stays here, where it belongs.

It is with that thought that five local entrepreneurs, John Wilburn, Mike Donnelly, Lea Wall, Marie March and Stacy Martin got together a couple of years ago to do what they could to turn the tide. From their efforts emerged an organization called NRV Homegrown. And their idea is working! Have you seen that red and black logo on the door of a local business, where two squirrels back to back with their tails forming a heart? That’s a NRV Homegrown participating business.

I dropped in on a board meeting to get a better understanding of the goals and progress. Marie said, “I found a program in Asheville, North Carolina, that we initially mimicked. We wanted to do something but we couldn’t wrap our brains on how to get started and make it work. We got a consultant from the Asheville Grown Business Alliance to teach us how to move forward.”

She described how their program was more central to Asheville, but because our population here is more disperse, the NRV group needed to go more regionally, to include Floyd, Montgomery, Pulaski and Giles Counties and the city of Radford.

The whole goal was to help locally owned independent businesses to thrive. It gives these businesses, many of them quite small, more visibility in the market. Someone looking for a new restaurant, a plumber or salon or pet care, can find exposure through the NRV Homegrown alliance.

NRV Homegrown has put considerable effort into its organizational structure, including operating manuals, directories, and a website. Sarah Vogl is the website administrator and media specialist, and is the glue that holds the organizational structure together. The organization already has 250 participating businesses.

The consumer buys a membership card for $20, good for a year. With it, he or she receives discounts on products and services of membership businesses, with those discounts specifically selected by the businesses.

Folks at the table gave me several examples where consumers have paid for their card with a single purchase. For example, if you buy a lawn mower from a participating business for $300 and gets a 10% discount, that’s $30, already more than you spent on the card. If you buy $7000 worth of furniture or appliances, you can save $700, far more than your initial investment. Wow!

The participating businesses like the program and are willing to give discounts because they want to support an organization that supports them. And they want shoppers walking in the door.

One unexpected aspects of the program is the interaction with local public schools. NRV Homegrown makes member cards available to student groups trying to make money. When a new member is signed, the student group gets a cut. For example, rather than selling roses or candy, made elsewhere, they can sell the card. But even better, explained John, “It inculcates the students to the idea of buying locally. It also fosters an entrepreneurial spirit, helping them understand that they can open their own business. Kids don’t have to leave the area to be successful.

Caroline Mora said, “When I grew up here, I thought this was a black hole. So I moved away. But I always wanted to move back. Kids don’t realize the opportunities until their eyes are opened to it.”

NRV Homegrown is targeting 1000 businesses or more, and businesses are calling to be added every day.

Local entrepreneur Stacy Martin says having the directory to give away in his retail store encourages tourists to shop locally while they visit here. “When a shopper was looking for a place to eat recently, I showed her the participating restaurants listed in the directory. It brings attention to places that are often left out.”

John added, “We are not anti-Amazon or the big box stores. We are pro-local. We want people to think about going local when they can.”

Caroline said, “This process has shown me how many sincerely good people there are in this area. It’s changed my mind on who business owners are. They are people who have a dream and are working really hard to be successful and give back to their communities. It has reinforced my beliefs in humanity.”

Marie said, “We’re a group of strong personalities. But we’ve been able to work together in our roles without infighting or bickering. We’re working together and we’re all passionate about the cause. We believe in our mission.”

John said, “People seem to know innately that buying locally is good for the community, good for everybody.”