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Head Start Director and President of the Vermont Head Start Association · Aired Out

0:54
Speaker 1: All right, gang, good morning, and welcome to a new day.
0:59
Speaker 1: It looks like it's foggy and cloudy out there, and
1:04
Speaker 1: it is right here in the Granite City. I will
1:06
Speaker 1: tell you, though, that the sky is blue and the
1:09
Speaker 1: sun is shining up, well, at least on the east
1:14
Speaker 1: side of the Orange Heights this morning it is, and
1:16
Speaker 1: that fog is going to lift, and a pretty nice
1:21
Speaker 1: day ahead today. Definitely some... Some frost on the pumpkin
1:27
Speaker 1: this morning. And maybe even my tomato plants, although I'm
1:34
Speaker 1: almost afraid to look. We're going to keep watch of
1:40
Speaker 1: the forecast. And yes, for a fall nor'easter to be
1:48
Speaker 1: developing off the east coast, not bad. Super common, but
1:54
Speaker 1: it's happening. And the strongest impacts across southern and coastal
2:02
Speaker 1: New England are supposed to be happening. I'll give you
2:04
Speaker 1: the timing on this here in just a second. But
2:07
Speaker 1: Virginia already this morning, roads underwater. So looks like Friday,
2:14
Speaker 1: today and Friday, pretty good for most of Vermont with
2:19
Speaker 1: sunshine and rain. Temperatures are real nice. Upper 60s, maybe
2:24
Speaker 1: even into the lower 70s in parts of the Champlain Valley.
2:30
Speaker 1: But then the clouds and the rain showers come into
2:34
Speaker 1: picture on Saturday. Some gusty north winds, and that's it.
2:40
Speaker 1: That's these two systems combining and moving up the eastern seaboard.
2:45
Speaker 1: And maybe even as far west as.
2:52
Speaker 1: Uh, New York city and maybe even, uh, pushing West
2:55
Speaker 1: beyond that. But, uh, showers staying with us, uh, Saturday,
2:59
Speaker 1: Saturday night, Sunday, uh, it looks like a rainy windy
3:04
Speaker 1: 65 and Monday will be a gradual improvement is what
3:10
Speaker 1: they're saying. Um, I hope you're off to a great
3:13
Speaker 1: start this morning, uh, no matter where you are, what
3:16
Speaker 1: you're doing. I hope the coffee's hot. I hope you
3:18
Speaker 1: got a gas in the tank. I hope that you're, uh,
3:22
Speaker 1: As well-rested as you can be as we approach the
3:26
Speaker 1: weekend and the end of the week, I hope it
3:29
Speaker 1: was a good one for you. Christy Swenson is my
3:34
Speaker 1: guest this morning, sitting right across from me from Capstone
3:39
Speaker 1: Community Action, the Head Start Director and the President of
3:44
Speaker 1: the Vermont Head Start Association. A very good morning to you.
3:47
Speaker 1: Thanks for coming in here.
3:49
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me here.
3:50
Speaker 1: We have a lot to talk about. Vermont families who
3:56
Speaker 1: are connected with Head Start, who are familiar with it,
4:00
Speaker 1: have some pretty great concerns right now. We're going to
4:06
Speaker 1: talk about this. But first, what is Head Start? I mean,
4:10
Speaker 1: I kind of have my idea of what Head Start
4:14
Speaker 1: is and how important it is. But what is it, though?
4:18
Speaker 1: And I know it's right here in central Vermont.
4:21
Speaker 2: So Head Start is a program that is aimed at
4:24
Speaker 2: making sure children who are at risk of being behind
4:28
Speaker 2: academically when they start kindergarten are caught up with all
4:31
Speaker 2: of their peers. And the way that we do that
4:34
Speaker 2: is through a three-pronged approach. So what everybody knows about
4:38
Speaker 2: is the high-quality early childhood education that we provide. But
4:42
Speaker 2: that's one of... three things that we do. We also
4:45
Speaker 2: do work to support the whole child, not just their academics.
4:50
Speaker 2: We support them with any medical needs, making sure they're
4:53
Speaker 2: up to date on their immunizations. We make sure that
4:56
Speaker 2: they're getting all their dental needs and their mental health
4:59
Speaker 2: needs met, nutrition, all of those pieces, because we know
5:04
Speaker 2: that when children are hungry and don't feel well, they
5:07
Speaker 2: can't learn. Then that third piece, that third prong, if
5:12
Speaker 2: you will, is making sure that families are thriving. Because
5:16
Speaker 2: we know that when families are under stress, struggling to
5:19
Speaker 2: find housing, struggling to make ends meet, a child, again,
5:25
Speaker 2: isn't going to be able to thrive and take advantage
5:27
Speaker 2: of education.
5:30
Speaker 1: So Head Start is only for folks that are low
5:35
Speaker 1: income or at risk of homelessness and.
5:39
Speaker 2: Not entirely. It's for children that are at risk of
5:42
Speaker 2: being behind. So a lot of the things that make
5:45
Speaker 2: a child eligible are related to income. So it can
5:49
Speaker 2: be strictly income-based. It can be because they are experiencing homelessness.
5:55
Speaker 2: It can be because they're making use of Reach Up
5:58
Speaker 2: or Snap. All of those things help them qualify. But
6:01
Speaker 2: they also qualify if they're in foster care or if...
6:08
Speaker 2: we have another 10% of the children that we enroll
6:12
Speaker 2: that there are no income barriers at all. It's just
6:15
Speaker 2: based on their level of risk.
6:18
Speaker 1: Okay. So in the next couple of months here, what
6:27
Speaker 1: could be happening to Head Start?
6:30
Speaker 2: Well, so on August 7th, the federal government put out
6:35
Speaker 2: what's called a notice of proposed rulemaking, meaning that they
6:39
Speaker 2: are proposing to change the rules under which Head Start operates.
6:44
Speaker 2: So that would be, we currently operate out of a
6:51
Speaker 2: 131-page rulebook that tells us the quality standards that we
6:55
Speaker 2: must meet. they are proposing to change that to a
6:59
Speaker 2: 12-page rulebook, so eliminating more than 90% of the quality
7:03
Speaker 2: standards that we're required to follow. And I can talk
7:08
Speaker 2: in more detail about that in a bit, but the
7:11
Speaker 2: way it all works is everyone has an opportunity to
7:16
Speaker 2: make a public comment about whether they think this would
7:19
Speaker 2: be a good idea to make this change or not
7:22
Speaker 2: through October 6th. then the federal government will take several
7:26
Speaker 2: months to read all of those comments that folks have
7:29
Speaker 2: made about their opinions on this proposed change. And then
7:34
Speaker 2: they will issue what's called the final rule. That is
7:36
Speaker 2: what they have decided will be, um, the new rules
7:40
Speaker 2: moving forward.
7:40
Speaker 1: They being Vermont or they being the federal government.
7:47
Speaker 2: Wow.
7:50
Speaker 1: There's a, there's a lot to unpack here. Um, And
7:54
Speaker 1: I think you're just kind of scratching the surface here
7:59
Speaker 1: on some of the impacts that could follow. Sure. Student-teacher ratio.
8:07
Speaker 1: Talk to me about that. What is it now?
8:09
Speaker 2: So currently student-teacher ratios, they vary by age group. So
8:14
Speaker 2: currently for infants, we need to have one teacher for
8:18
Speaker 2: every four children, every four infants. One teacher for every
8:23
Speaker 2: four toddlers, which means 18 to 36 months old. And
8:28
Speaker 2: then one teacher for every 10 students for three to five-year-olds. Well,
8:34
Speaker 2: I take that back. Three-year-olds, we need to have one
8:38
Speaker 2: for every eight children. And then four and five-year-olds, one
8:43
Speaker 2: for every 10.
8:44
Speaker 1: All right. Those standards are Head Start standards.
8:49
Speaker 2: Correct.
8:50
Speaker 1: Not state standards.
8:51
Speaker 2: Correct.
8:53
Speaker 1: What could that change to?
8:56
Speaker 2: So how that would change, it would be the same
8:58
Speaker 2: for infants in Vermont. We still have one teacher for
9:03
Speaker 2: every four infants, so that would remain the same. For toddlers,
9:06
Speaker 2: those 18 to 36 months old, it would change to
9:11
Speaker 2: one teacher for every five toddlers. And then for three-year-olds,
9:16
Speaker 2: it would be the same as four and five-year-olds, so
9:20
Speaker 2: one teacher for every 10 children. Okay.
9:26
Speaker 1: So number of teachers would also be going down. Correct.
9:33
Speaker 2: Yeah. Particularly in the older age groups. Yeah. And I'll
9:39
Speaker 2: speak a little bit more to that. That's maybe not
9:43
Speaker 2: as clear cut. But in Vermont, almost every Head Start
9:46
Speaker 2: program has three teachers for every 15 children for three
9:51
Speaker 2: to five-year-olds. And that is because of the level of
9:54
Speaker 2: need of some of the children that we serve because
9:59
Speaker 2: they are experiencing families with diagnosed mental health issues or
10:05
Speaker 2: families with an incarcerated parent, sometimes they need more one-on-one support.
10:11
Speaker 2: We would no longer probably have permission to do that.
10:17
Speaker 1: Has the writing been on the wall for quite a while?
10:25
Speaker 2: In some ways, yes. So for folks who are familiar
10:29
Speaker 2: with Project 2025 that was put in place several years ago,
10:35
Speaker 2: it called for the elimination of Head Start. And in
10:40
Speaker 2: April 2025, when the president's budget was first worked on,
10:46
Speaker 2: It had a $ 0 budget for Head Start, so basically
10:49
Speaker 2: eliminated Head Start. That was pushed back, and now we
10:54
Speaker 2: have changes that, if they were implemented, would really change
10:59
Speaker 2: what Head Start is because we really are about kind
11:03
Speaker 2: of that whole child, whole family work.
11:07
Speaker 1: So these changes not only affecting staffing, classrooms, requirements, family engagement.
11:19
Speaker 1: What else? Health services, nutrition.
11:23
Speaker 2: Absolutely. So right now we help families to make sure
11:27
Speaker 2: that their children are up to date on their well
11:29
Speaker 2: child visits, are getting all of their immunizations on time
11:34
Speaker 2: and are treating any health conditions, which in Vermont, well
11:39
Speaker 2: in Capstone, I'm not sure I know about Vermont, but
11:42
Speaker 2: in At Capstone Head Start, 40% of the children we
11:45
Speaker 2: serve do have a diagnosed chronic medical condition. So we
11:50
Speaker 2: make sure they're getting all their follow-up visits. Even sometimes
11:53
Speaker 2: that means that we're driving them because what we know
11:56
Speaker 2: in Vermont is transportation can be a real issue. So
11:59
Speaker 2: we'll drive them to their appointment to make sure that
12:01
Speaker 2: they're getting all their immunization. We have a lot of
12:06
Speaker 2: parents who are afraid of the dentist. And so we'll
12:09
Speaker 2: go with them to the dentist so that actually to
12:12
Speaker 2: support the parent rather than the child so that those
12:14
Speaker 2: dental appointments happen. All of that would no longer be
12:18
Speaker 2: the case.
12:19
Speaker 1: So the effects locally right here in central Vermont would
12:24
Speaker 1: be pretty significant. I still feel like you're kind of
12:30
Speaker 1: just scratching the surface here.
12:33
Speaker 2: It's true. So I think like if I could talk
12:37
Speaker 2: a little bit about the whole family work, about what
12:39
Speaker 2: we do right now, We currently have 18% of the
12:44
Speaker 2: children that we're serving here in central Vermont through Head
12:47
Speaker 2: Start that are experiencing homelessness.
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Speaker 1: What's the percentage?
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Speaker 2: 18%. And of those, we are housing 40% of those
13:00
Speaker 2: by the end of the school year, which is a
13:03
Speaker 2: phenomenal rate for here in Vermont.
13:07
Speaker 1: I have to process this. a little slower. You are,
13:12
Speaker 1: Head Start is housing?
13:17
Speaker 2: We don't do housing, but we do intensive case management
13:21
Speaker 2: with our families. So for every child enrolled, every 35
13:26
Speaker 2: children we have enrolled, we have a full-time social worker
13:29
Speaker 2: that is helping them access all the programs they need
13:33
Speaker 2: in the community. And it's helping them with their housing
13:36
Speaker 2: case manager, helping them navigate all the systems. And that
13:41
Speaker 2: is why we have that success rate.
13:43
Speaker 1: And what would happen to that?
13:46
Speaker 2: That would, that would be a bit devastated. It would
13:50
Speaker 2: no longer be something we were required to do. And
13:53
Speaker 2: the fear is then will they pay for us to
13:55
Speaker 2: do that work?
13:59
Speaker 1: We're going to make sure that our listeners or followers
14:04
Speaker 1: this morning are privy to how they can have a
14:08
Speaker 1: voice and how they can exercise their opinion. Of course,
14:13
Speaker 1: they can do that right now in the comments, but legislatively.
14:21
Speaker 1: In just a little bit, how many children here in
14:26
Speaker 1: the state of Vermont are currently enrolled statewide in Head Start?
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Speaker 2: So right now we have 1,049 children enrolled in Head
14:38
Speaker 2: Start in Vermont, but there are additional about 650 children
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Speaker 2: who are not enrolled but are benefiting from Head Start services,
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Speaker 2: either because they're in a classroom that serves Head Start
14:51
Speaker 2: children and is receiving all the Head Start supports or
14:55
Speaker 2: because they're in an elementary school or private child care provider.
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Speaker 2: that is being supported by Head Start to provide staff
15:02
Speaker 2: training and coaching for teachers to improve the quality of service.
15:09
Speaker 1: For Capstone alone, just right here, right up a couple
15:14
Speaker 1: hundred yards from here, how many students are we talking about?
15:19
Speaker 2: So here at Capstone Head Start, we serve 236 children,
15:24
Speaker 2: but then we have an equal number of children that are...
15:29
Speaker 2: that are enjoying increased services because of Head Start, even
15:33
Speaker 2: though they're not enrolled.
15:35
Speaker 1: Okay. That's tremendous. Let's talk about the Brook Street School.
15:44
Speaker 2: Okay.
15:46
Speaker 1: For Barry, that's the primary location for Head Start. Am
15:49
Speaker 1: I right?
15:50
Speaker 2: That and home visiting. We do a lot of home
15:53
Speaker 2: visiting in Barry.
15:56
Speaker 1: Up in... And you serve Lamoille County, Washington County?
16:01
Speaker 2: Lamoille, Washington, and Orange County. And Orange.
16:03
Speaker 1: So you have the Lamoille County Early Learning Center. Correct. Okay,
16:08
Speaker 1: that's an actual building.
16:10
Speaker 2: Yes.
16:10
Speaker 1: Okay. We have the Brook Street School, and outside of that,
16:16
Speaker 1: heavy home visits.
16:18
Speaker 2: Right.
16:18
Speaker 1: Like you were just saying. And you also partner with
16:21
Speaker 1: local schools and get involved with the schools there, too.
16:25
Speaker 2: Absolutely. So we run classrooms in some of our local
16:29
Speaker 2: elementary schools and also in some of the local private
16:33
Speaker 2: child care providers. Not so many of those in Washington County,
16:38
Speaker 2: but certainly in Orange and Lamoille counties. All right.
16:42
Speaker 1: So we have the towns of Orange, Washington, Chelsea, Tunbridge,
16:47
Speaker 1: Waits River, just to name a few of where you're
16:52
Speaker 1: going into homes. We're talking.
16:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, we go into homes all through Washington County. Those
16:58
Speaker 2: are cities or towns where we have classrooms either in
17:03
Speaker 2: the elementary school or in a private child care provider.
17:06
Speaker 1: Okay. The public comments are available and, frankly, needed and
17:17
Speaker 1: welcomed through October 6th.
17:20
Speaker 2: Correct.
17:21
Speaker 1: Why October 6th?
17:23
Speaker 2: Because we... They gave us 60 days for the public
17:27
Speaker 2: to make a comment about whether they wanted the government
17:30
Speaker 2: to move forward with these proposed changes, and that will
17:33
Speaker 2: be the 60-day mark.
17:35
Speaker 1: All right. What about eligibility for... And we're going to
17:41
Speaker 1: talk more about how folks can get their comments in.
17:46
Speaker 1: Eligibility for teachers. What kind of requirements... Are there in
17:55
Speaker 1: place right now to be a teacher? And then we'll,
17:58
Speaker 1: of course, I'm going to ask you what they would
18:00
Speaker 1: be if this change goes through.
18:04
Speaker 2: Right. So currently, to be a classroom teacher for those
18:08
Speaker 2: three to five-year-olds, you need to have a bachelor's degree.
18:12
Speaker 2: This proposal would change that to an associate's degree or
18:15
Speaker 2: a two-year degree. Okay.
18:19
Speaker 1: Anything else?
18:22
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, do you want me to talk about
18:25
Speaker 2: many of the other changes that are proposed.
18:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would love to. I mean, I hope everyone's
18:31
Speaker 1: sitting down here because this is some pretty heavy stuff.
18:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it would eliminate all of the quality standards
18:39
Speaker 2: that we currently have around providing services to children with
18:43
Speaker 2: English as a second language. And in fact, we would
18:46
Speaker 2: be required to provide all instruction in English and And
18:50
Speaker 2: we would not be allowed to have any materials in
18:53
Speaker 2: the classroom that were in a language other than English.
18:59
Speaker 2: It would eliminate all of the quality standards for providing
19:02
Speaker 2: services to children with disabilities. So those would be eliminated.
19:09
Speaker 2: So those are some of the key educational changes.
19:14
Speaker 1: And staffing for teachers would be.
19:20
Speaker 1: Reduced?
19:22
Speaker 2: That is their vision.
19:24
Speaker 1: What percentage are we talking about here?
19:29
Speaker 2: Well, if you look at their proposed rule, there's a
19:32
Speaker 2: section at the end that talks about what their assumptions
19:35
Speaker 2: are of the impacts. The impacts are that we would
19:39
Speaker 2: have half as many home visitors because they would be
19:42
Speaker 2: serving twice as many families. Their assumption is that we
19:47
Speaker 2: would save, I wish I could remember that. the exact number.
19:52
Speaker 2: I'm going to guess like $ 60 million a year because
19:56
Speaker 2: we would reduce wages for teaching staff with the lower
20:00
Speaker 2: qualifications and there would be fewer teachers because they would
20:03
Speaker 2: reduce the number of teachers per classroom.
20:06
Speaker 1: And this is not... This is not just affecting Vermont.
20:13
Speaker 2: Oh, no. This is nationwide.
20:15
Speaker 1: So Vermont, this little green mountain state, we're going to
20:20
Speaker 1: feel it. We would... Understatement. But other states?
20:26
Speaker 2: So it certainly... Of course, I'm focused on Vermont, so
20:31
Speaker 2: I'm really concerned about what's happening here. But the reality
20:34
Speaker 2: is because... child care licensing in the state of Vermont
20:39
Speaker 2: is so good, our impacts would be much less than
20:42
Speaker 2: they are in some of the, especially the southern states,
20:47
Speaker 2: where you can have one teacher for 15 toddlers in Mississippi.
20:55
Speaker 2: That is children 18 to 36 months. So if you
21:00
Speaker 2: can imagine being in charge of not just keeping them safe,
21:04
Speaker 2: but teaching that number of toddlers, I think, well, it's
21:09
Speaker 2: hard to conceive.
21:10
Speaker 1: I'm thinking of the old TV commercial of Cal Con,
21:20
Speaker 1: Take Me Away. I would just have to, I would
21:24
Speaker 1: have a splitting headache every day. I cannot fathom that
21:31
Speaker 1: in reality. Other states. That's just... It's unreasonable. And I
21:39
Speaker 1: can't imagine that could even be considered even halfway safe.
21:47
Speaker 1: That's insane, frankly. Here in Vermont, I mean, all things
21:53
Speaker 1: are relative, though.
21:55
Speaker 2: Yeah. Wow.
21:58
Speaker 1: What can.
22:02
Speaker 1: If you're just joining us, by the way, Christy Swenson,
22:04
Speaker 1: Capstone Community Actions Head Start Director and President of the
22:09
Speaker 1: Vermont Head Start Association. Do we have enough traction right
22:17
Speaker 1: now to have enough of a voice under the Golden
22:23
Speaker 1: Dome with real concern about this? And I know that
22:28
Speaker 1: there's some things that... the governor just frankly just can't do.
22:35
Speaker 1: I mean, if it comes down, the federal hammer drops,
22:39
Speaker 1: then it drops. Um, but what can we do? You,
22:45
Speaker 1: you know, you, you and I chatted a little bit, uh,
22:48
Speaker 1: off camera about let's grow kids. What an incredible organization.
22:52
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
22:53
Speaker 1: They were on the air years ago here on air now. Um,
22:57
Speaker 1: they're doing something right now. They're pushing something and I'm
23:01
Speaker 1: going to, um, I'll show this on camera, but tell
23:07
Speaker 1: me about this, where they're basically saying, hey, the time
23:11
Speaker 1: for call to action is right now. Tell me about this.
23:20
Speaker 2: So we are hoping that the governor will speak out
23:26
Speaker 2: in opposition to this proposed change, and they have... Grow
23:32
Speaker 2: Kids has put together a really simple way for you
23:36
Speaker 2: to call the governor and let him know what your
23:39
Speaker 2: opinion is on whether he should speak out about this
23:45
Speaker 2: or be against this proposed change. The other thing is
23:50
Speaker 2: we would really love to have the state of Vermont
23:54
Speaker 2: and or the Child Development Division of the Agency of
23:59
Speaker 2: Human Services post a public comment about how this change
24:03
Speaker 2: would impact Vermont and the governor would be the one
24:07
Speaker 2: that would be the decider for that. So we would
24:11
Speaker 2: love to have people reach out to him and let
24:13
Speaker 2: them know their thoughts and what they would like to
24:16
Speaker 2: see happen.
24:18
Speaker 1: You know, October 6th is pretty much tomorrow.
24:25
Speaker 2: It's coming up.
24:27
Speaker 1: I mean, it's really coming fast. Please don't wait on this. And,
24:35
Speaker 1: you know, man, if you know anyone who has benefited
24:41
Speaker 1: from Head Start, maybe yourself, you know, don't wait on this.
24:49
Speaker 1: Don't wait on this. Do it today. Do it tonight.
24:53
Speaker 1: Write it down. Make a note. Tell your friends. Spread this.
24:57
Speaker 1: push this on social media call to action is is
25:01
Speaker 1: big and like i said there may be and i'm
25:03
Speaker 1: not trying to make any excuses for our governor um
25:07
Speaker 1: who should be well aware should be maybe is that
25:13
Speaker 1: over a thousand children in this state and their and
25:18
Speaker 1: their parents really rely on head start 1049 to be
25:22
Speaker 1: exact um Something hopefully needs to be done. I mean,
25:31
Speaker 1: there are so many low-income families. Homelessness is higher than
25:37
Speaker 1: it's ever been. Folks that are on Reach Up or
25:42
Speaker 1: Snap or what's the other one?
25:48
Speaker 2: SSI.
25:48
Speaker 1: SSI, yes. You know, we've got to figure this out.
25:56
Speaker 1: Because the picture that you have painted, if we don't
26:03
Speaker 1: get this figured out, is... That's pretty grim. I mean, wow.
26:10
Speaker 2: I think the reality is that regardless of the services
26:16
Speaker 2: that Head Start is providing, families still have needs. Yeah.
26:20
Speaker 2: So that means those needs will go unmet until kids
26:24
Speaker 2: enter kindergarten, which... What we know about starting early is
26:30
Speaker 2: that it really has a greater impact the earlier you start.
26:35
Speaker 1: Sure. We're talking about.
26:39
Speaker 2: Roots.
26:41
Speaker 1: We're talking about the beginning of the beginning. I don't
26:47
Speaker 1: know if I can think of anything that's more important
26:52
Speaker 1: than our youth making sure that they have the best
26:58
Speaker 1: start to their lives in a lot of different ways.
27:03
Speaker 1: And it's not just learning. It's all of these things
27:06
Speaker 1: that you've mentioned. The phone number to call Governor Scott's
27:11
Speaker 1: office is 828-3333. Easy phone number to remember. We're going
27:19
Speaker 1: to put the... We're going to put more information up
27:24
Speaker 1: on the page here on.
27:28
Speaker 1: How to get involved, how to log your call on
27:31
Speaker 1: the Let's Grow Kids Action Network. Also, Head Start Community Action. Capstone,
27:42
Speaker 1: you guys are going to have something that's on your
27:46
Speaker 1: page as well.
27:48
Speaker 2: Yeah. Unfortunately, I didn't bring the QR code with me.
27:51
Speaker 2: That takes you directly to where to post a public comment.
27:54
Speaker 2: But we'll make sure that we get that up on
27:56
Speaker 2: our website.
27:57
Speaker 1: Just go to capstonecommunityaction.org?
28:00
Speaker 2: Yeah.
28:01
Speaker 1: Okay. Easy way to do it. All right. We're going
28:03
Speaker 1: to link that up, too. I want to make sure
28:05
Speaker 1: everyone knows how to do this. I urge Vermonters, I
28:11
Speaker 1: urge anyone watching, listening, to think about this, take a
28:17
Speaker 1: deep breath, and then rethink it. That this is pretty
28:24
Speaker 1: serious stuff. There's a lot. Listen. We both... No, there's
28:27
Speaker 1: a lot of serious problems that we have in Vermont.
28:31
Speaker 1: Don't even get me started on infrastructure. But, I mean,
28:34
Speaker 1: this is huge. This really is. And I know there's
28:40
Speaker 1: so much sensitivity right now and concern and emotion that's
28:46
Speaker 1: running high right now about students, kids, their welfare. With
28:58
Speaker 1: the budget situation in our unified district, which is hardly
29:07
Speaker 1: unified right now, but kids as a whole, youth as
29:12
Speaker 1: a whole, there's very little, if anything, that's more important
29:17
Speaker 1: than that right now. I think we both would agree
29:20
Speaker 1: with that. Is there anything else that you can think
29:23
Speaker 1: of that you want to hit on this morning?
29:28
Speaker 2: I think those are I think those are the key things. Yeah.
29:31
Speaker 2: Just letting folks know that and also making sure everybody
29:34
Speaker 2: knows this is not a done deal. This is this
29:37
Speaker 2: is something that we can all speak out about and.
29:40
Speaker 2: and prevent happening.
29:41
Speaker 1: Yeah absolutely and we hope that our governor is paying
29:48
Speaker 1: attention and and others state.
29:51
Speaker 2: Reps yeah let your state legislators know they have largely
29:56
Speaker 2: been been very um keyed into this and aware of
30:00
Speaker 2: it and responding, the state legislature. I really appreciate their involvement.
30:05
Speaker 1: We've got to stand up. We've got to speak out
30:10
Speaker 1: for our children. Big kudos, tip of the hat, to
30:15
Speaker 1: Let's Grow Kids and Capstone Community Action for everything that
30:21
Speaker 1: you guys are doing. It's great, great work. And I'll
30:26
Speaker 1: be watching. I'll be paying attention. I know you'll email
30:31
Speaker 1: me if there's anything you need me to push out
30:34
Speaker 1: on the air here. I know Yvonne will too. Thanks
30:39
Speaker 1: for coming in here. Thanks for being a part of
30:42
Speaker 1: this and sharing this information. This is really, really important stuff.
30:47
Speaker 1: Christy Swenson, Capstone Community Actions, Head Start Director and President
30:52
Speaker 1: of the Vermont Head Start Association. Thanks for coming in
30:56
Speaker 1: this morning.
30:57
Speaker 2: Thank you so much.