A recent short article in the Valley News explained the commuting difficulties faced by a lot of who work in Lebanon, Hanover or Hartford, but stay in the more compact, extra rural towns surrounding the core spot (“Commuters go the further, costly mile for Higher Valley jobs,” April 3). The report noted the deficiency of very affordable housing in the 3 core communities as a person of the good reasons for these prolonged commutes, and to some extent this is appropriate. Even so, the resolution to the difficulty is a lot more intricate than only constructing more housing shut to key employers.
In new several years, the reaction to the shortage of housing in the Higher Valley has focused on the design of substantial blocks of rental flats, generally in Lebanon and to a lesser extent in Hartford. For case in point, Mt. Help Road in Lebanon will soon have upwards of 1,000 residences, exactly where there were being virtually none a ten years back. This quick charge of growth will inevitably have major impacts on the town and its latest people.
Let’s think for a minute that many of the new apartments are intended to home present employees who presently commute long distances. Why would these staff members relocate — to help you save fuel, for comfort, or possibly for the facilities involved with residing in a far more urban environment? Potentially, but I would argue that for many people the rewards of possessing their own property in a much more rural setting extra than offsets the charge and inconvenience of commuting. They might not want to transfer! We ought to also consider the damaging ramifications to modest towns from mass migration to the main regions, this kind of as troubles in recruiting volunteer firefighters/EMTs or not acquiring enough young children to assist a area college.
Attracting and retaining the workforce essential to maintain a vivid nearby economic system will certainly demand supplemental housing, but it can not be concentrated in one or two communities, and can not be minimal to large apartment complexes. To realize success, we should have a coordinated regional technique to incentivize housing building a lot more broadly and equitably. This will gain all our communities.
Tim McNamara
Lebanon
McNamara is Lebanon’s mayor
Defend Croydon children’s instruction
Thomas Jefferson advocated for public training mainly because he said it would prepare our young children for citizenship. I, too, am an advocate for public instruction. In my feeling dad and mom try to do what is very best for their youngsters. It may possibly be public education, parochial university, dwelling education or personal faculty. Mothers and fathers with the indicates and want ought to pick whatever they think is best for their kids. Not all parents have the suggests for possibilities other than community training. But I sense strongly that it is by means of public education and learning that we learn how to reside in a civilized environment. It is through range that we master about just about every other and ourselves. It’s through understanding with many others that we discover endurance, compassion, crucial considering, perseverance, dilemma fixing and creativeness.
I have faith that the citizens of Croydon will show up at the special school district meeting on May possibly 7 at 9 a.m. at Camp Coniston. Let us help our small children and perspective their education by way of the lens of furnishing just about every little one with the understanding atmosphere that very best suits their require. Our little ones are our foreseeable future. We have to stand up and help them.
Rev. Donna Leslie
Croydon
U.S. silence on war crimes speaks volumes
A couple months or so in the past, a reporter caught Joe Biden and questioned him if he considered Russians ended up committing war crimes in Ukraine. To this question, he could have only replied “The whole war towards Ukraine is a crime” and he would have been proper. But he did not. He hedged, stating some thing like “We will be wanting into that.” Why?
Nullum crimen sine lege: no crime with no law. A person issue Russia and the United States have in common is that neither is a bash to the treaty that gave rise to the Intercontinental Court of Justice (ICJ). This court has jurisdiction in excess of war crimes. It concerns arrest warrants. It tries and punishes war criminals. No 1 else does. Is there then this kind of a matter as a war criminal offense in The us, if The usa does not figure out the authority of the Global Court docket of Justice?
A single point President Biden has in popular with President Trump apparently is that neither recognizes the International Court of Justice. Trump renounced the treaty and blocked all U.S. cooperation with the ICJ. Joe Biden has nevertheless to reverse this conclusion. Why? The reply is a pretty unhappy commentary on America.
Williamson County Schools announced past month virtual school Discovery K-8 would be closing forward of the upcoming tutorial yr because of to small enrollment.
According to district administration, 82 students used for enrollment in the university by the March 20 deadline. At the finish of the to start with thirty day period of this school calendar year, there were being in excess of 340 students enrolled.
“These (figures) merely usually are not sufficient students for a K-8 college to be practical,” WCS wrote on the school’s news website.
“K-8 on-line was considerably far more expensive than our common on-campus presented the enrollment figures we gained,” WCS Superintendent Jason Golden claimed at a meeting with County Commissioners on April 4. “We just did not have adequate students in each course for us to even seek the services of complete-time lecturers in some of the (lessons).”
Vanguard Higher University, the district’s digital college for grades 9-12, is scheduled to stay open up with about 140 whole-time students and around 4,600 “semester seats” requested by large university pupils opting to acquire one or more virtual programs when attending their zoned educational institutions.
Discovery K-8 parents react
On hearing the information, dozens of dad and mom united in a Facebook team known as “Conserve Discovery Virtual.” Over a dozen of people parents reached out to The Tennessean hoping to advocate on behalf of maintaining the college open.
Quite a few said they ended up stunned to listen to the news so shortly following they’d manufactured the final decision to re-enroll in the distant choice. They also said the schools have developed beyond just a response to COVID-19.
Third quality parent Rajeev Nair reported with fewer than a yr in the publications, the tiny enrollment could be positive and the price tag could be an investment in the education of tech-savvy kids and in an included device for the rising district.
Nair claimed Discovery practical experience was an improvement from the start off of the pandemic when virtual faculty was challenging for more youthful grades. Outcomes of the new set-up must impact closure, not enrollment quantities, he reported.
“We are producing choices entirely primarily based on the number of people who are enrolled. We have not looked into the TNReady or TSAT scores,” he reported. “How did the on line students score compared to the students who took class in the creating past 12 months? Was it the exact? Worse or superior?”
As a former govt for an on line instruction procedure, he thinks the district could have promoted the university much better with the goal of gradual advancement.
David McCrea-Dastur, a parent of two who attend Discovery, mentioned his kid who has an individualized education and learning plan and ADHD has thrived in digital college with far more room to target, much less possibility to be bullied and the capability for a guardian to be close by as a makeshift tutor.
“The most important component of the (Men and women with Disabilities Education and learning Advancement Act of 2004) is to supply an ecosystem for children of all talents or disabilities to be provided a productive surroundings that does not handicap an unique,” he wrote in an email. “Eliminating this natural environment deters from the most effective probable ecosystem for all learners to be prosperous catering to the masses.”
Kristy Branson, a mum or dad to fourth and seventh graders, explained though lots of consider on the internet school could result in a decline of social connection and bodily exercise, she’s observed the opposite.
“I can see (parents’) concern and their position, but the lecturers and staff below have absent over and outside of to present golf equipment of all types that the kids can participate in, not to mention the college students are in a position to take part in any right before or following college golf equipment or sports/extracurriculars at their zoned faculty,” she wrote in an e mail.
WCS parents Rebecca Hellemans and Sarah Riebau said Discovery has fit the desires of their families.
Hellemans, mother to a third grader, is an aerial arts instructor who is effective most afternoons and evenings. Her husband, an entertainer, is on the highway.
Discovery K-8 permits her kid to show up at school without having any interruptions or decide on-up needs, and she can prevent investing time at household by itself. Attending their zoned university would pull Hellemans away from do the job.
“I have a little one who is genuinely dazzling. She’s obtained all A’s and B’s, but I do sense like she’s got some anxieties, specifically in social cases when she’s having assessments,” Hellemans stated. “She just does so a lot improved at home with our animals, in her have atmosphere, in her personal configurations. A ton of these pressures are off of her, and she can genuinely emphasis.”
For Riebau, a dad or mum of the two third and seventh graders, the university presents her family some peace of head about the likelihood of another COVID-19 variant, as effectively as a more calm and connected school encounter.
“If we have to ship them to school subsequent yr, when we’re inclined to do that, there could be a different variant and then we’re stuck with the scenario of do we deliver our young children in and feel uneasy about their well being or do we pull them and test to discover an additional solution,” Riebau said.
What is actually to come?
Golden and the WCS Board of Instruction will talk about following actions for Discovery K-8 at the board’s April 14 get the job done session and April 18 conference, which are both equally open to the community. Golden plans to advocate closure of the university at all those meetings.
Board members will vote on the conclusion April 18.
According to WCS, the district’s human means section is operating with Discovery’s employees to changeover them to other positions for the future university year.
Golden claimed 26 people today make up the virtual school’s staff. The roster featured on its web page involves a principal, an assistant principal, 21 instructors throughout 9 grade levels and numerous subjects, a counselor, an attendance secretary and a K-12 bookkeeper.
In the meantime, whilst dad and mom are creating their voices listened to they are also exploring other alternatives for their children. They are weighing sending them to in-particular person faculty or getting other on the web general public faculty choices, like the state’s on the web college or those people at other districts like Bristol City Schools or Rutherford County Universities.
Anika Exum is a reporter masking Williamson County at The Tennessean, component of the United states Right now Community — Tennessee. Attain her at [email protected], 615-347-7313 or on Twitter @aniexum.
WATAUGA — If you build it they will come, and the Children’s Playhouse accomplished just that with a jam-packed celebration of childhood fun and learning at BuildFest 2022.
Free to all families, BuildFest welcomed children ages 2-12 to the Watauga High School campus for a Saturday filled with wall-to-wall, hands-on science, technology, engineering, art and math activities. Sponsors from community organizations and members such as the Children’s Council of Watauga County, local elementary schools and Appalachian State students gathered to create seemingly unlimited numbers of activities for children to join throughout the day.
In the gymnasium, robots circled around a mat in one corner while an ever-growing labyrinth of cardboard boxes consumed the other end. In the cafeteria, children engaged in painting activities, built a brain-cap to wear or played in other sensory-engaging activities.
Many parents reported their children had yet to attend a BuildFest due to the pandemic, and the sheer volume of activities meant there was no shortage of learning and play throughout the day.
Children of all ages took advantage of the variety of activities, sunny weather and opportunity to play together at BuildFest.
Children use their imaginations to build a kingdom out of cardboard boxes in the gymnasium of Watauga High School.
Photo by Marisa Mecke
Representing Two Rivers Community School, April Flanders, professor of studio art at App State, and App State art senior Will Christ help April Flanders use green paint to print a picture.
Photo by Marisa Mecke
Outside Watauga High School, multiple stations are set up one after another for kids to take place in a variety of hands-on activities.
Photo by Marisa Mecke
Allison, Lacey and Lachlan Saine enjoy the kids’ first BuildFest with some hands-on games.
Photo by Marisa Mecke
Sunny and Ocean Morgan practice engineering structures out of pasta and marshmallows.
Photo by Marisa Mecke
The Boone Fire Department paid a visit to BuildFest to answer questions from kids and show the community around the fire truck
Photo by Marisa Mecke
From above, the cafeteria of Watauga High School is filled to the brim with kids, activities and adventures.
Photo by Marisa Mecke
Danny Proctor and his child Ace Proctor fight against gravity building a skyscraper out of blocks.
Photo by Marisa Mecke
In the middle of a sea of cardboard boxes, kids find the perfect building materials to create a cardboard maze throughout the gym.
Photo by Marisa Mecke
Students from the AGElabs at App State’s Psychology Department volunteered their time to share a bit about their brain development research and knowledge via festive brain caps for attendees to wear. Pictured are Tianna Martinez, Peyton Teer and Adam Peterlin.
Photo by Marisa Mecke
Finn Hoffman races a car down a track with the help of volunteer Milene Trejo.
Photo by Marisa Mecke
Finley Garner gets hands-deep in some “floam” at BuildFest 2022.
Photo by Marisa Mecke
Parents and kids mill around to check out the fire truck courtesy of Boone Fire Department.
Photo by Marisa Mecke
Throughout the day, the maze of cardboard boxes grew as kids added on more extensions to the labyrinth.
Photo by Marisa Mecke
Finn Krause and Sophie Zimmer husk corn outside of BuildFest.
Photo by Marisa Mecke
Using a cranking device, Sophie Zimmer takes the kernels off a dried cob of corn.
From suitable, SU President Mary J.C. Hendrix and Mayor Jim Auxer stand beside former SU president Suzanne Shipley, as she retains a plaque presented to her by Hendrix, in commemoration of the Wellness Center’s commitment in her honor on Saturday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston
SHEPHERDSTOWN — A team of 67 community associates, Shepherd University workers and honorees collected jointly in the Shepherd College Wellness Center’s arena on Saturday afternoon, to witness the dedication of the centre underneath a new name — the Suzanne Shipley Wellness Middle.
Renamed in honor of Shepherd University’s 15th president, who served from 2007-2015, the middle now bears signage pertaining to its identify modify, 1 signal of which was unveiled during the dedication ceremony.
“It is basically not feasible to element all of Dr. Shipley’s amazing achievements even though she was at Shepherd, but I would like to share some noteworthy highlights with you right now, because they are extraordinary,” stated Shipley’s successor, latest Shepherd University President Mary J.C. Hendrix. “During her tenure, Dr. Shipley introduced the university into the Council of Public Liberal Arts Schools, identified as COPLAC, a North American consortium of general public colleges and universities that drives awareness of the price of substantial-high quality, public liberal arts education at its member institutions — an group for which she also served as president. Dr. Shipley’s enduring legacy involves overseeing the accreditation of academic systems, laying the basis to grow Shepherd’s worldwide college student population.
“She also orchestrated the design of the underpass, uniting the east and west campuses, which she was informed could not be finished!” Hendrix reported. “Dr. Shipley was vital in serving to to raise $26 million by means of the university’s initially complete marketing campaign, referred to as Create the Potential. The marketing campaign exceeded its $20 million target intention and was accomplished a calendar year early.”
Shipley expressed her thanks for the commitment, and mentioned how her tenure would not have been as successful as it was, without the need of the assist of her spouse and children, mentors and fellow Shepherd University leaders.
A indicator prominently displays the Shepherd University Wellness Center’s new name on Saturday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston
“I’m grateful for the Shepherd College custom, of like educational leaders in its facilities’ names, and I’m humbled to take my area below beside President James Butcher, professor of physical training Dr. Sara Cree and the famous chair of new music Male Frank,” Shipley reported. “Here, . . . I was able to keep my own wellness, actual physical and psychological, by working out along with our school, staff and learners, and Shepherd supporters like Mayor Auxer. In simple fact, it’s a defining reason of the centre, in that it delivers all of these teams collectively to satisfy a number of demands in this area.
“All of us add to the Shepherd tale. Some epics of our 150-calendar year-outdated story are marked on names of buildings, but surely, not all. Universities like Shepherd, exactly where just about every person counts and every single name is recognized, are compendiums of particular person effort and hard work,” Shipley explained. “Every specific and every single work counts, and it is more vital currently than at any time that all those endeavours continue, mainly because today, more than at any time, a household liberal arts practical experience such as ours, generates the dynamic and very well-educated leaders that our area demands. Our future is crafted on our earlier, but our potential is normally remaining developed, like today, and by you.”
Mayor Jim Auxer closed out the ceremony with a couple feelings on the appropriateness of the determination, considering his private and experienced encounters as Shepherdstown’s mayor all through Shipley’s tenure.
“To have this facility, a community accumulating spot, now focused as the Suzanne Shipley Wellness Middle, feels far more than ideal. Suzanne and I would satisfy below to explore subjects of great importance to us both of those. But our key intention was caring about our exercise,” Auxer mentioned. “We talked about the want for preserving the city-gown marriage, which I imagine actually is wonderful (to this working day). You can not convey to exactly where a single commences and just one ends!”
The commitment conclusion was created by the Shepherd University Board of Governors, through its June 10, 2021 assembly, according to SU Communications Govt Director Dana Costa.
From ideal, SU President Mary J.C. Hendrix and Mayor Jim Auxer stand beside previous SU president Suzanne Shipley, as she retains a plaque offered to her by Hendrix, in commemoration of the Wellness Center’s dedication in her honor on Saturday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston
A indication prominently shows the Shepherd University Wellness Center’s new title on Saturday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston
Neighborhood customers and Shepherd College employees mingle collectively in the Suzanne Shipley Wellness Centre lobby, prior to Saturday’s determination ceremony. Tabitha Johnston
Shepherd College President Mary J.C. Hendrix formally announces the devotion of the Suzanne Shipley Wellness Centre in the center’s arena on Saturday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston
Shepherd University President Mary J.C. Hendrix, still left, assists previous president Suzanne Shipley unveil a signal, relating to Shipley’s tenure, in the Suzanne Shipley Wellness Center arena on Saturday. Tabitha Johnston
Shepherd College President Mary J.C. Hendrix, left, will help former president Suzanne Shipley unveil a signal, about Shipley’s tenure, in the Suzanne Shipley Wellness Centre arena on Saturday. Tabitha Johnston
Community customers and Shepherd College workforce mingle alongside one another in the Suzanne Shipley Wellness Centre foyer, prior to Saturday’s commitment ceremony. Tabitha Johnston
Shepherd University President Mary J.C. Hendrix formally announces the devotion of the Suzanne Shipley Wellness Heart in the center’s arena on Saturday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston
RIDGEFIELD — The written term is encountering a pleasure-crammed resurgence at Ridgebury Elementary University many thanks to quite a few initiatives.
For the next yr in a row, Ridgebury bought its learners enthusiastic about language arts by The Rex Readathon, named soon after the school’s canine mascot.
Moreover, Lisa Figaro, the fundraising president for the Ridgebury PTA, is developing a literary magazine named “The Rex Reader.” Her group has been accumulating submissions more than the earlier several weeks. She hopes the products will arrive jointly over the upcoming thirty day period.
“This university paper is supposed to showcase students’ get the job done when encouraging them to further more acquire their writing expertise,” she reported.
Young children have been inspired to post a assortment of operate, together with artwork, poems and a lot more. The organizers delivered some prompts and theme strategies to get them started.
“We want our pupils to be self-confident that they can rework their thoughts and ideas into literary functions of art,” Figaro mentioned.
The theme of this year’s Readathon was the Olympics. Figaro adopted the software for RES right after viewing the achievements of very similar initiatives at her college district in Westchester County.
“I needed, personally, for my own children to read through far more, so I wished to appear up with an fascinating system to motivate them,” she claimed. “To me, examining is so significant.”
Although learners obtained energized about turning in their studying logs, lecturers made use of the option to augment their instruction. The initiative also served as a fundraiser on behalf of the college.
“It is a win-win,” Ridgebury Principal Jamie Palladino explained. “While we want young children to be energized to read all the time, we use this Readathon as our prospect to re-spark the flame of examining … even though supporting the PTA.”
The outcomes are apparent, numerous parents concurred.
“My youngest is in fifth quality and this is … the ideal issue at any time,” PTA parent Cathy Davis explained.
The assortment of activities to stimulate university student studying have also confirmed effective, she added, noting problems to read a ebook in a tree, less than the desk or go through aloud to one one more.
Davis explained the Readathon teaches youngsters that looking through does not have to just include the publications they are assigned in faculty, but a vast vary of matters from graphic novels to recipes.
Mother or father Lisa Mariakakis found that her two small children, who participated very last yr, could not wait around to entire people literary issues yet again.
“They each experienced guides tucked away, waiting for March to start to crack them open up,” she said. “It gave them incentive … whilst earning the university more money that would advantage the pupils.”
Guardian Megha Shah has viewed her two youngsters, who had been already avid viewers, come across new approaches to delight in finding lost in a ebook.
“It has encouraged them to enterprise out of their consolation zone of just looking through guides to studying magazines, newspapers, manuals, comic strips and, I will even dare to say, an outdated-fashioned dictionary that made use of to be mine when I was a child,” she said. The program’s volunteers “obviously treatment about the children in their group. They have enhanced the life and future of my small children and RES as a entire. I am grateful.”
Describing herself as a “modern day Mary Poppins,” Pacific Beach resident Trisha Goolsby swoops in not with an umbrella, but with a bag of recycled cans.
And in her version of Poppins magic, she turns the recycled goods into books for children.
It’s all part of her unique effort — the Cans4Books Community Initiative — to provide as many free books to local youngsters as possible.
Pacific Beach resident Trisha Goolsby holding stuffed monkey Rupert, one of the Cans4Books mascots.
(Elizabeth Marie Himchak)
Goolsby said she was inspired to start the initative during the pandemic.
“I took unemployment for a month, thinking the lockdown would be over soon,” said Goolsby, an in-home educational consultant. “My roommate drank a lot of sparkling water during that time and it sparked an idea.”
When one of her neighbors needed help paying bills, several of the surrounding homes pitched in with their CRV recycling items — including her roommate’s water bottles. The money raised was enough to cover the neighbor’s bills.
So in late 2020 Goolsby decided to aim a bit bigger with another recycling goal.
“I thought I’d just try and collect cans from everyone. I asked my neighbors and the Military Village to donate and every day I ended up picking up recycling,” she said.
An informational display on how recycling cans and plastic bottles can result in free books for children.
(Elizabeth Marie Himchak)
By the end of December 2020, she said Cans4Books took in 3,599 aluminum cans, 823 plastic bottles and 252 glass bottles.
With the money received from the recycling efforts, she purchased and donated more than 200 children’s books.
Goolsby said the recycling continues when she buys the books.
“I know thrifting is a wonderful resource; I can get a paperback for 59 cents and a hardback for a dollar at the Goodwill store, plus I get a teacher discount,” she said.
Goolsby said, on average, with a dozen cans she can purchase a used paperback; with 20 cans she can purchase a $1 thrifted hardback, and with the money from 300 recycled cans she can purchase a $15 brand new book.
She makes sure the entire community is represented in her purchases, and searches out local children’s book authors and books in different languages.
“I realized it was totally do-able. And it was so simplistic — there didn’t even have to be any contact with anyone,” she said. “Recycling also creates good, sustainable habits, which will help our youth as they get older.”
She said the recycling program is also another way to reallocate government funding, so that money earned from recycling efforts is filtered back into the community.
Someone recycling a plastic water bottle at the Cans4Books display during CicloSDias in Pacific Beach.
(Elizabeth Marie Himchak)
As word of her organization spread throughout Pacific Beach and beyond, Goolsby said she ended up spending a lot of time driving around.
“In the beginning, I sometimes would need to pick up eight to 10 bags of recycling at a time. Since I only have a small car, I would have to rent a large truck to get the larger loads,” she explained.
That issue was resolved with the help of several community businesses.
Drop-off locations in Pacific Beach include Randal’s Sandals at 1033 Barnett Dr. and Cancer Books Headquarters at 4057 Promontory St.
In addition to PB, Cans4Books now includes the neighborhoods of North Park, South Park, Ocean Beach, Point Loma, University City and The Village at NTC.
Goolsby has partnered with even more local organizations, such as Shore Buddies, a San Diego-based organization which makes stuffed animals from recycled plastic bottles and also donates books.
She also receives books from fellow members of the Pacific Beach Woman’s Club and the Pacific Beach Town Council.
“At the end of last year, we received and donated more than 3,000 books,” she said. “Up to this point this year, we have already donated more than 4,000 books.”
Carol Posey of Point Loma is just one of numerous residents appreciative of Goolsby’s efforts.
“It works out beautifully because we can donate our recycling and we don’t have to go anywhere to do it,” Posey said. “It also helps out the kids in the community with books, so it’s a win-win.
“Trisha is so enthusiastic and passionate about her cause; she really wants to help the community and the kids,” Posey added.
Stuffed monkey RJ with some of the children’s books Tricia Goolsby purchased through proceeds from recycling cans and plastic bottles.
(Elizabeth Marie Himchak)
Husband-and-wife Rich Soublet and Lindsay Mineo of North Park also save their recyclables for Goolsby’s cause.
“Trisha has always been very enthusiastic, and encouraged us to get other people in our building to donate,” Mineo said. “She usually sends us a group text and picks it up from whoever has it ready. She makes it very easy, very convenient and I know it goes for a good cause.”
As part of her recycling efforts, Goolsby teams with BluLite Bonfires and PerfectFirst Beach Cleanups, meeting on the first and third Saturday of each month.
And like many of her other recycling efforts, she expanded her own goals for the cleanups.
“We are only conducting the beach cleanups for about an hour and a half at a time, so I wondered how we could continue to provide those resources to the community,” she said. “So I am committed to being on the PB Boardwalk every Sunday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.”
So far, Goolsby said she has been on the boardwalk several weekends in a row, resulting in more than 70 children’s books being donated and more bags of recycling being filled.
“I may extend my hours,” Goolsby said. “By creating a habitual space, it’s easy for people to grab a bag and fill it up. We have a reusable glove program, free bags and we educate the community on working together. All the little parts come together to create a much bigger impact.”
In her efforts to keep children involved with the recycling efforts, Goolsby can also be found with many of her small charges participating in street cleanups through Street Stewards, an organization in which individuals adopt neighborhood blocks and keep them clean of trash on a weekly basis.
And just as Mary Poppins sings “In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun,” Goolsby brings a couple of tiny friends along for the beach and street cleanups. Rupert and RJ (short for Rupert Jr.) are a couple of stuffed monkeys. Since her clients’ children all know the pair of stuffed critters, it’s not much of a surprise they would be an integral part of her recycling efforts.
“Rupert is all about reading and kindness,” she said. “All the kids know him. RJ represents community and fundraiser.”
Similar to Free Little Libraries, in which residents set up book-sharing boxes at their homes which are available at all times, Goolsby said she hopes to place Rupert’s Bench Libraries in playgrounds all around the area.
The benches will be made out of recycled plastic and beach trash, and feature child-sized bookshelves on the side.
Trisha Goolsby talking with passersby on the Pacific Beach Boardwalk about her Cans4Books Community Initiative.
(Blair Kirby)
Goolsby herself has a Free Little Library outside her home and has set up three this year through Cans4Books. But she explained that many of the libraries are often filled with books for adults. She plans to keep her bench libraries filled with children’s books.
There is another difference between her benches and the Free Little Libraries.
“Because we are using recycling, I don’t expect people to exchange the books,” she said. “I want the kids to be able to get the books and keep them. With this concept, there will never not be books distributed in the community.”
Goolsby’s interest in expanding children’s reading opportunities ties in with her career. In August 2020 she founded Stellar At-Home Educaitonal Consultants, in which she provides educational services and consulting in children’s homes. Her stated goal is to help young children “be the best they can be.”
Goolsby said she is passionate about providing developmentally appropriate education for her young charges. Making sure kids have plenty of children’s books readily available is one of her core beliefs.
“The first five years of their lives, children are very impressionable; by providing them with positive skill sets, they are also provided with a strong foundation that will only continue to grow stronger as they grow older,” she said.
Goolsby has a Masters in Education with a concentration in early childhood and early childhood special education from Radford University in Virginia. Early childhood refers to pre-kindergarten through third grade. Early childhood special education is through age 5.
“Ever since I was little, I’ve always wanted to be a teacher,” she said. “Once I switched to early childhood, however, I fell in love.”
Goolsby said her 10 years as a nanny and nearly as many teaching in preschool taught her the importance of teaching children not just in a school setting, but in their home environment.
Joey and Amanda Ferrante agree. Goolsby has been working with their older children, Arabella, 5, and Jojo, 3, from their Point Loma home for about two years. Louie, 9 months, is a recent addition to the family.
“From my perspective, she has taught them that every moment in life is a moment you can take to learn, and to share kindness with everyone,” Amanda Ferrante said.
“She taught me it’s important to recycle and keep the earth healthy,” Arabella Ferrante said.
The scale of Goolsby’s recycling efforts and belief in the power of books for children is not for the faint of heart.
It must be some of the Mary Poppins magic allowing for Goolsby to accomplish so much. Her days are typically busy with picking up recycling from various locations, taking it to the CRV Recycling Center, distributing books, running her consulting business, attending local events and spreading the word about the Cans4Books Community Initiative.
“This is not for everyone, but I just love it, I get so much joy from it,” Goolsby said.
