Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: Preschools save kids

Thursday, Dec. 2, 1999 | 9:51 a.m.

Mike O'Callaghan is the Las Vegas Sun executive editor.

BILL BENNETT'S gift of $5 million to build a new preschool on the UNLV campus looms large in a field of education too long overlooked. Educators know of its value but funds for preschools haven't come easily from legislators.

USA Today newspaper points out that, "Right now, preschool largely is a privilege of the middle class: 80 percent of families earning more than $75,000 a year send their children to preschool; among the working poor, fewer than half do so."

The newspaper goes on to explain what happens to kids from poor families. "For families in poverty, preschool is a matter of waiting for an opening in Head Start, a federal program that serves only about half of the eligible 4-year-olds. But even children who get one of those scarce spots can end up in part-day programs that too often consist of little more than baby-sitting."

The youngster who starts out behind in kindergarten or first grade oftentimes never catches up. Instead of the gap closing, the nonreader more often than not continues to drop even further behind those who had the advantage of preschool and/or educated and interested parents.

So it is a costly undertaking but the returns make preschool a worthwhile venture. The USA Today editorial tells readers: "Sounds pricey. But the best preschool programs, the ones targeting fragile children early, eventually save money, according to two long-running studies closely monitored by the education establishment. The Michigan-based Perry Preschool tracked its graduates to age 27 and found the program saved $7 for every $1 spent through higher earnings, fewer arrests, less welfare and fewer out-of-wedlock births."

Isn't it about time to reconsider the decision that sent the Nevada Class 4A football title game out of both Sam Boyd Stadium and the UNR stadium into a small high school setting?

The years that all four football championships were determined in one day and evening at Sam Boyd were most exciting. It also gave the high school champions, at all levels, an opportunity to play in a large stadium.

Oh, I know all the arguments about the games tearing up the grass turf. So just make it two games at least two days before the next college game to be played on the turf. Just two games? Sure, have two at UNR and two at Sam Boyd and rotate the different classes every year.

Henderson nurse Cynthia Bunch of the Nevada Nurses Association sent me a recent Gallup News announcement from Princeton, N.J.

"A century and a half after Florence Nightingale's heroic efforts in the Crimean War first brought attention -- and adulation -- to the nursing profession, public esteem for this profession is extremely high. In Gallup's annual Honesty and Ethics poll, expanded this year to include nurses and 19 additional occupations not previously rated, nearly three-quarters of Americans, 73 percent, deem nurses' honesty and ethics as either very high or high, putting them at the top of the list. Pharmacists remain the top-rated among occupations previously measured over the past 22 years; however, with a combined high/very high rating of 69 percent, they trail nurses on the new, expanded list by four percentage points."

A recent announcement from the prestigious Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis caught my eye. Actually the picture of a very attractive Dr. Leesa Galatz first got my attention. She looks so much like her mother, Elaine, they could pass for twins.

Galatz has been appointed as a member of the school's faculty for the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. According to the announcement, "Dr. Galatz specializes in traumatic and degenerative disorders of the shoulder and elbow, including rotator cuff disorders, arthroscopic surgery, upper extremity fractures, shoulder instability and prosthetic replacements. Her research interests include muscle degeneration and bone-tendon healing."

Reader and writer Dick Taylor wants to see more of Ruthe Deskin in the Sun. He calls her a "great citizen" and a "doer of good deeds." Nobody at the newspaper will disagree with Taylor's view of Ruthe.

The Women's Health Connection, a program of the Nevada State Health Division, is offering free breast and cervical cancer screenings for women 40-64 who are uninsured or underinsured and earn $20,125 or less (more if there are dependents). Call 798-1164.