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-Good morning and thank you for joining us today.
As you can tell, it is truly an honor
to be here at Causey's Learning Center,
founded by Jeanette L. Causey,
whose life was dedicated to serving Seattle's
children and families, as we've seen just next door.
On February 6th in 2021,
I was actually present for the proclamation
of Jeanette Lee Causey Day,
in honor of the many decades of her service
in preparing our city's children and for their education journey.
So, now what I want to do is introduce our host,
Ruth Causey-Brown.
She is the director here of Causey's Learning Center,
who carries her family's legacy and mission
to serve our children and our city.
And I should have introduced myself.
I am the proud director, Dr. Dwane Chappelle,
for the Department of Education and Early Learning.
Without further ado, come on, Ms. Brown.
-Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Chappelle.
Esteemed guests and cherished community partners,
I'm Ruth Causey-Brown, Director of Causey's Learning Center,
and it's my honor to welcome all of you here today.
We're here in the heart of the Seattle Center District
to celebrate the profound impact of early childcare education.
Joined by our distinguished leaders
like Mayor Bruce Harrell and Dr. Chappelle,
the Director of Early Learning,
along with all of you,
we emphasize the importance of investing
in our children's futures.
Causey's Learning Center was found by my mom, Jeanette L.
Causey, and has been a cornerstone
of education excellence and community service
for over two decades.
We have dedicated ourselves to nurturing young minds
and empowering future leaders.
Recognizing the potential in every child,
we focus on the setting, achievable goals,
and fostering love for learning, literacy, and self-confidence.
Our partnership with the city of Seattle and community allies
has been pivotal in creating an inclusive environment
where every child feels valued and supported.
Despite the challenges of COVID
that we just experienced not too long ago, we persevered.
By transforming a school bus into a mobile classroom
and adapting our methods,
we ensured that no child misses out
on essential learning experiences.
Looking ahead, we remain committed to our mission.
Together with our city leaders and partners,
we'll continue to provide high-quality education,
empowering every child in Seattle
to reach the full potential. Thank you all
for your unwavering support and dedication to our cause.
Together we'll build a brighter future for generations to come.
Thank you.
-Thank you for that warm and generous introduction, Ruth.
I appreciate it.
No, she's just -- you have to laugh when you come here,
because this is where the love and the joy
and the faith comes into place.
And I have to tell you
that I know Ruth is joined by some parents here
and her sister, your mother,
indeed, and your family has started a strong legacy
in the city that continues.
And it's really my honor to just sort of have
a little fun with some of the students.
They're not a shortage of joy and energy and creativity.
And you are doing -- you are one of the greatest investments
that this city could make.
And for that, I want thank you.
A quote that Nelson Mandela said is that,
"Education is the most powerful tool
which you can use to change the world."
And this sort of represents what we're trying to do.
Our commitment through programs
like the Seattle Preschool Program is that every child,
every neighborhood in our city,
can access education and opportunities
to build the future that they deserve,
that they have a right to.
That's why today I'm extremely excited to announce
that we're adding 279 new seats in 16 new classrooms
to the Seattle's Preschool Program for the upcoming year
and that applications are open now.
This program will serve nearly 2,500 preschoolers
in the 2024-2025 school year.
Now, I highly encourage everyone in our city
who has a 3 or 4-year-old child to take advantage
of this outstanding program and apply today.
We're exceptionally pleased that the Seattle Preschool Program,
I'll refer to it sometimes as SPP,
received a gold medal ranking
by the National Institute for Early Education Research
for the second year in a row.
This is quality preschool education and that's
why we stand so proudly behind it.
Currently 70% of families enrolled in SPP pay no tuition.
73% of SPP families enrolled this year are
from communities of color.
So, I also want to extend my gratitude particularly to
the teachers and the administrators
who are helping our children learn important,
not just sort of their academic skills,
but their social and emotional skills
that will serve them as they enter kindergarten
and begin their academic journey
which will be for the rest of their life.
It is the strongest foundation we can invest in.
This commitment to our youth is exemplified here
by Causey's Learning Center.
And that's exactly why we chose this location today.
Not to criticize the other ones,
I'm just saying it's sort of across the street
from another institution that's near and dear to me as well.
And I believe your sister attended Garfield, too,
if I'm not mistaken? Okay, so.
But in all seriousness, after 24 years,
you can see the positive impact
Causey's has had all over the Central District
and throughout the city,
and is still nurturing
and shaping the future leaders of our city.
And for that I thank you.
We are very proud of these investments.
Many cities are not in this space
and we realize in all of our strategies,
again, to invest in early brain development.
And I particularly want to thank the parents of a few here.
I was told a story, if I may be a little so bold,
as to a child now is in college as a result of being here.
Those are success stories.
They may not make the front page of the newspaper,
but they make the front page of our hearts
when we hear that kind of investment.
So well done, well done,
and we stand here very eager to continue this journey together.
And with that, I'd like to introduce Councilmember
and Education Chair Maritza Rivera,
someone who has been a champion for building a safer,
brighter future for our Seattle youth.
Councilmember Maritza Rivera.
Thank you. -Good morning everyone,
and thank you Ms. Kelsey Brown for hosting us this morning.
Reading with the children was really the best part of my day.
I will say the week,
even though the week has started,
I know it's going to be the best part of my week
this week as a mom myself. Children are, you know,
the education of children is so important.
We know that preschool is so much more
than play and childcare.
It's an essential step on the path to success
for our young children.
The skills and tools
that they get from programs like these
will be critical for their long-term academic
and social development.
SPP investments help children enter
elementary school, kindergarten
ready with the tools they need to learn, grow, and flourish.
As a parent myself of two former preschoolers
and now high school students,
I appreciate and value the important work and love
that's taking place at preschools
like Causey's Learning Center.
And I want to thank them for all they do.
We may well have future mayors, educators,
and city council members amongst these kids today.
I'm proud of the city's work and investment
around the Seattle Preschool Program,
and I'm committed to working with Director Chappelle
and the mayor to expand access to SPP to all areas of the city
in which there is a need for quality preschool like that
which Causey's Learning Center provides.
Thank you very much.
-Thank you, Councilmember Maritza.
So, now what I would like to do
is pass it over to a couple of parents for some remarks.
And before I do,
I just want to say I know that Director Ruth
and her teachers here at Causey
are also committed to making sure
that all of our Seattle's children
have an opportunity to learn, thrive, and prosper.
And we have a couple of parents here, Christina and Carlos,
that are going to come up
and share a little bit more about their child's
learning experience. So please, come on up.
-Hi everyone, my name is Christina.
-My name is Carlos.
-We are the parents of Christopher,
who has been going to Causey's for a little over a year.
And we are just so fortunate to have had him been a part
of such a great experience.
His learning and social skills have truly improved.
And thanks to SPP and Causey's,
you know, we've seen such an amazing growth in his --
just the way that he's developed.
You know, thanks to SPP and Causey's,
we've seen our child thrive,
and we've just been extremely fortunate to have sent him
in a safe environment at Causey's.
We're very happy that he's here.
Thank you.
-So I'll close this out by saying again, thank you.
And I should let you know
that Christopher made it very clear to the mayor,
he goes by Christopher.
Don't shorten his name. He proudly goes by Christopher.
Thank you for being here again.
And I think we may do some interviews,
some one-off interviews,
but I'd be more than happy,
if there's any questions about the program, to answer them now.
But there might be some other topics we need to discuss
and I'll still stick around for availability.
So if there are any questions, I will stand here and look at you.
Yes, sir.
Our cities, you know, we have a levy coming up next year
that we're already having preliminary discussions.
Our current investment, Dr. Chappelle,
can you answer that one for me?
I don't want to --
-So we've been partnering with Causey for quite some time.
We just even I think last year helped with the renovation
of the play area out front. For specific numbers,
I can circle back with you directly what those are.
-But for what you're announcing today,
the expansion, I mean what are we looking at here?
-We're looking at for expanding,
we'll be expanding to approximately 279 students
for this upcoming year,
excuse me, and 70% of those are served by students of color.
But the specific number, I can get those to you,
because I want to be exact with that for you.
-How many of these classrooms are for bilingual students?
-So it's interesting that you ask that question
because we care deeply to make sure
that students' language is represented
within their preschool sites that they are.
And we have quite a few number of sites
that have multiple languages that are spoken.
Again, I don't have the specific numbers offhand,
but I can get them to you and definitely get it back to you.
-You may recall we did a specific announcement
several months ago about the language immersion program
and tried to provide data. So we'll get that back to you.
Yes.
-Do you think this health expansion might help
the early education crisis we see through the pandemic,
whether that's through learning or behavioral issues?
-I'll take a shot at that.
So, you may recall I sort of alluded to the fact
in my earlier remarks that the City of Seattle
has not always been in this space of pre-brain development.
And under current Deputy Mayor Tim Burgess,
when he was on the City Council. Many of us, I joined him,
took tours across the country to see
how we look at some of the effects
of perhaps poor brain development or poor social
and emotional skills later in life,
realizing the data was overwhelmingly clear
that 0 to 4, kids can sometimes get behind,
and we wanted them all
to be reading proficiently by the third grade.
So we -- the data was clear
and we decided to enter into the space now for many years.
And we used some of the sweetened beverage tax
to set up some of the one-time funding
to make sure we were rocking and rolling, so to speak.
So now this is a sustainable program and will continue to be.
And so, again, we think that, again,
when we talk about some of the problems we see in the city,
we can go upstream, we can go downstream,
and address the immediate problems.
That could be not such a good thing
because we're reacting to some of the problems.
This is about as far as upstream as we can go,
this coupled with prenatal care.
So this is, again, one of our upstream strategies,
make sure each child could reach their potential,
and we think it's one of the greatest investments
that the city could make.
Okay, with that, I'm going to close -- yes, yes, David?
-Is the 16 new classrooms,
has the location of all those classrooms been identified
and providers,
and are you running into trouble with staffing at all?
I know that's been challenging.
-We do have those locations, right, Leilani?
Yes, we do have those locations.
Again, we have them specifically.
We can get that directly to you. And as far as staffing,
as you know, staffing is something that we want to
make sure our providers have the resources to take care of.
And there are some sites that are looking at alternative ways
to make sure that young people have what
they need to be served.
So I can share more a little bit about that to you
when I give you back the specific sites as well.
-Okay, thank you for being here this morning
and let's have a great week.
All right, thank you.
-Thank you.