Gov. Jay Inslee started his week surrounded by children. And no, that isn’t a joke about the Washington state Legislature.
Sitting in a third-grade class at Fruit Valley Community Learning Center — the Fruit Valley neighborhood’s elementary school — Inslee asked a class of students what kinds of food familiar superheroes might eat to start their day.
“What does the Incredible Hulk eat for breakfast?” he asked them.
“Incredible things!” Anaiyah Andre blurted to laughter from the students and adults in the room.
Inslee, impressed by the 9-year-old’s answer, praised her creative thinking skills and named her Washingtonian of the Day, fixing a small apple pin to her shirt.
The Democratic governor kicked off a visit to Vancouver on Monday at the elementary school to tout the Legislature’s recent approval of the Breakfast After the Bell bill, sponsored by Rep. Monica Stonier, D-Vancouver. The law, which will go into effect next year, requires high-poverty schools to provide meals to children who arrive late for school. Inslee’s visit also included meetings with organizations that serve homeless people, school superintendents and business leaders.
“If you’re going to fill a child’s head, first thing, you can’t have an empty tummy,” Inslee said.
Meal assistance
Of the 80,429 students in Clark County, 38.9 percent receive free or reduced-price lunches, a barometer of poverty, according to 2016-2017 data from the Office of Superintendent of Public Schools. Fruit Valley Community Learning Center is one of the poorest in the county, with 85.7 percent of its 288 students receiving low- or no-cost meals last year.
While Principal Matthew Fechter praised Inslee and the Legislature for the bill, he said the school and the district have already been feeding students who arrive late, saying it’s part of the district’s culture to provide for students in need. The first two things Fechter or front office staff say to students as they’re heading in, he said, are “Good morning,” and “Did you get something to eat?” If the answer is no, it’s off to the lunchroom for a quick bite for students.
“You can’t pay attention to the lesson” if you’re hungry, he said.
Inslee’s visit comes just days after OSPI announced that, for the ninth year in a row, the number of homeless students in Washington is on the rise. According to data released by the state education department, 40,934 students in the 2016-2017 school year were homeless. That’s about one in 25, or one student in every classroom. In Vancouver Public Schools, 1,013 of the district’s 23,709 students were homeless.
In an interview with The Columbian, Inslee blamed broader economic instability for the increasing numbers of poor and homeless students. While Washington’s economy is growing, it’s not producing jobs with wages that allow families to house and feed their children, he said.
“We have an economy where more and more people are falling behind,” he said. “That means more hungry kids, more homeless kids.”
