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March 28, 2024

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In Our View: Cheers & Jeers

Later high school start times help teens; Transparency needed in negotiations

The Columbian
Published: September 3, 2016, 6:03am

Cheers: To later school days. Evergreen Public Schools this year has pushed back the start of the school day, a move that studies demonstrate will benefit students. At the district’s comprehensive high schools — Evergreen, Heritage, Mountain View and Union — classes now begin at 8:40 a.m. rather than last year’s 7:45 a.m.

“It’s just science,” Heritage Principal Derek Garrison told The Columbian. “We hope to improve our attendance rate, and their academic mindset in the morning.” Being more attentive in the morning is not simply a matter of high school students going to bed earlier the night before; research has shown that there are biological reasons teenagers are more productive with a later school day. We hope that Evergreen sees the intended results and that the learning environment is enhanced for students.

Jeers: To Washington’s collective bargaining system. State officials are busy negotiating contracts with myriad public-employee unions, a task that involves pay and benefits for 49,000 state employees and another 46,000 publicly funded non-state workers. The problem is that negotiations take place in secret and allow for no input from taxpayers. Once contracts are agreed upon, the Legislature gives a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to the deals.

Considering that taxpayers are the ones footing the bill, this opaque process should be anathema to those who favor transparency in government. The public, or its representatives in the Legislature, should be allowed to play a larger role than simply receiving the invoice at the conclusion of negotiations.

Cheers: To rules regarding oil spills. The state Department of Ecology this week adopted a rule dictating that railroads have contingency plans for dealing with oil spills on their tracks. Previously, only pipelines and vessels moving oil through the state were required to demonstrate that they could deal with a spill.

With a vast increase in the number of oil-bearing trains in recent years, the federal government and state governments have been slow to react to the inherent dangers. The new state rules take effect Oct. 1, and they represent an incremental but important step in working to protect the public and the environment.

Jeers: To careless driving. When the first rain in quite some time hit roadways this week, more than a couple drivers did not pay enough attention to the inherent risks. Emergency responders were called to a handful of accidents caused by slick roadways and those who didn’t pay attention to a fact of driving: Rain after a long dry spell combines with oil on the road to create hazardous conditions.

In addition, as Clark County Fire & Rescue Battalion Chief Tim Dawdy noted: “The second thing is, and this is super important, school just started. All those school zones that we’ve been ignoring all summer long are just alive again with little ones.” So, here’s a reminder to drivers: Let’s be careful out there.

Cheers: To girl cops. Well, cheers to all cops, but especially to an outreach program organized by the Vancouver Police Department called “Girl Cops are Awesome.” The department’s East Precinct recently invited the public to engage with officers and check out some of the equipment they use in their role of protecting the public.

Such outreach helps to build relationships and to serve as a reminder that officers are a benefit for the community. Men and boys were welcome at the event, but the emphasis on women in law enforcement also has value. It “gives the young girls hope that they can be in this field, as well,” said Molly Shotwell of the state Department of Corrections.

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