Candidates talk children, family issues during  public forum

BY BRYCE KELLY

Mt. Pleasant News

It was all about the younger generations during a candidate forum focused on child well-being in Iowa on Wednesday night.

The forum, which took place at the ISU Extension Office in Mt. Pleasant, featured both candidates for Iowa House District 84, Rep. Dave Heaton (R ?Mt. Pleasant) and Democrat Carrie Duncan; and candidates for Senate, Sen. Rich Taylor (D-Mt. Pleasant) and Republican Danny Graber.

First, it was Duncan and Heaton, who were asked how to better improve high school completion in the state of Iowa and increase workplace preparedness by the time high school seniors graduate. For Heaton, he felt it was important to increase reading proficiency by the end of third grade, saying reading comprehension is critical for both school, college and workplace success.

Duncan said she felt focusing on increasing art and vocational classes in high schools were a critical need in Iowa.

?Not all our high school students are going to attend a four-year college,? said Duncan. ?We need to be preparing those students for the workplace by continuing to offer art classes, shop classes, and prepare these students for community colleges or apprenticeship programs where they can learn a skill and transfer that into the workplace.?

In keeping with classroom performance, both candidates were also asked how they would lessen the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACE?s), which can negatively affect classroom performance and developmental growth in children. Heaton cited legislation he has helped move forward that would implement more crisis intervention programs by state region. He also pointed out his views on providing proper mental healthcare for children who are experiencing ACE?s.

?Through my work on committees that are trying to address ACE?s in children, we have found that many of these children have mental health issues. By working with doctors and counselors, we are able to give these kids the proper level of medical treatment, he said.

Duncan, who could be seen shaking her head during Heaton?s response, was adamant that committees Heaton addressed were doing very little to solve the issue. In fact, Duncan stated she felt state committees that are charged with handling ACEs intervention need to be taking stronger action to deal with this issue, citing ?an extreme lack of accountability? with these committees.

?ACEs are a growing problem and it?s only going to get worse if we don?t start to move on some of the things these state committees have only just talked about,? she responded to Heaton?s response to the question. ?We can?t have talking all the time. We have got to have action and that just hasn?t happened. If I am on these committees, I promise to facilitate action. Not just talk.?

Moving on to other matters, Duncan and Heaton both were asked to speak more on their views of issues affecting working families, with both saying they would back sensible legislation to provide reasonable accommodations to pregnant and breastfeeding mothers in the workplace. When asked how they would address the need for more affordable quality childcare for working families, both candidates had different approaches.

Heaton, an advocate for this issue at the state level, cited his work to offer extra tax credits to childcare, offer preschool scholarships, and offer tax credits for school supplies for preschool children.

?Childcare is very expensive, I do realize that,? he said. ?But I am doing all I can because it is a big issue for families.?

Duncan, on the other hand, felt more focus needs to be given to businesses and encouraging them to provide childcare assistance for their employees.

?Many companies are working to provide childcare facilities closer to their facilities,? Duncan said. ?I think we need to work closer with our businesses to come up with solutions for this because them getting involved could be a real benefit for them.?

Moving to Taylor and Graber, the pair were asked to speak to how they would improve how the state addresses mental health in children. According to Taylor, he would move to get children into school earlier by encouraging preschool at the age of two. Talyor also stressed the importance of involved school nurses and counselors in school buildings.

Graber, however, posed that focus should be shed on parents of mentally ill children, saying support groups for these parents was critical.

?We need to involve parents in dealing with children with mental illness and things of that nature,? said Graber. ?Allowing parents to partner with their children?s school nurses, or a counselor to get these issues addressed is hugely important, I think.?

Addressing food insecurity, both men were asked to speak on their views of how to address the issue of families who struggle to provide efficient, quality foods to their children. Graber suggested looking at what types of food can be bought on food stamps, saying that food stamps should be used to purchase primarily foods that are healthy and beneficial.

According to Taylor, focusing more on expanding the free and reduced lunch programs could be a viable option to addressing this issue.

?I think our free and reduced lunch programs in our schools are working well. Those are healthy, beneficial meals,? Taylor said. ?But I think looking closer on offering those meals perhaps during the summer, or before and after school is something we should look at closer.?

When asked how they would address lessening the amount of children living in poverty, both candidates agreed that the issue was multi-faceted, but both said increasing the minimum wage would be a good place to begin addressing the problem.

Wednesday evening?s forum was hosted by the Henry County Child Advocacy Council and sponsored by a variety of statewide, child-serving organizations. After the forum was over, the candidates each took questions from the audience.