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Elon Musks aggressive push to cut government spending reached new heights on Valentines Day, as employees across more than two dozen federal government departments were abruptly fired on Valentines Daywith those let go warning it could impact on how the government operates. Jack, who spoke on condition of a pseudonym (as did every ex-federal worker in this story), started working with the National Parks Service in April 2023. It was a dream job for him. I took to it quickly, and the combination of the dynamic work and beautiful environment had me hooked, Jack tells Fast Company. Jack took to the role like a duck to water: After his six-month first season working for the government, Jack scored above-average ratings in his first performance evaluation, which led to a transition into a new role, tackling major fires in the area he lives in near the national park at which he worked. Jacks response to the fires impressed his boss, who told him a 10-year full-time position would soon be coming up for candidates. Jack applied and was chosen for the position in late September 2024. I accepted graciously, and at 27, was absolutely thrilled to be in a position to make a full career with the parks and in federal service, he says. I pride myself in my work ethic, and my commitment to the taxpayers and citizens to be as efficient and effective as I possibly can, and that work ethic was also recognized by non-parks community members. Jack continued progressing in his job, but began to realize that things were amiss after Donald Trump took office, and tasked Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to slash federal spending. Uncertainty started to creep in, and around February 5 or 6, rumors of probationary firings started to circulate, says Jack. In the last week, the tension has gradually risen around Jack as gossip spread throughout the government. On Valentines Day, Jack began receiving messages from friends in other park units that probation workers like him were getting fired. At 4:45pm, my boss swung by my house, and broke the news that I had been terminated, showing me the email that claimed my performance was substandard and I was not necessary to the operations of the park, he says. This is not true, Jack claims, because he had just gone through a mid-term evaluation that had rated him as astounding. The federal Office for Personnel Management (OPM) did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Jack and his wife were cooking Valentines Day dinner at the time. When I received the news, I was completely heartbroken, he says. I dont cry often, but I absolutely lost it. I worked very, very hard, in a dangerous profession, to earn the position I was in, and to have it taken away from me truly hurt. Jack is far from alone. I received the termination email at 6:09pm Central on Thursday night, says Casey, another ex-government employee. (Again, Casey spoke on condition of a pseudonym.) My working day typically ends at 4:30pm, so this was after hours, like all emails we have received from Musk’s OPM team. Like others, Casey was told she was being terminated immediately for poor performance. I texted my supervisor that same night I received the email. He wasn’t aware this was happening. He called his supervisor, who also wasn’t aware, she says. That supervisor called the state office, who also knew nothing of these terminations. Casey expected this to happenrumors had been flying around the government after Musk mad begun cutting teams to the bone elsewherebut it still hit hard. I have a one-year old child at home, she says. We don’t have savings due to the cost of living these days. Caseys husband was recently laid off from a non-federal job. I honestly don’t know what we’re going to do, she says. The experienceand the feeling of helplessness that ensued after receiving the emailis one that many government employees are sharing right now. To me personally it has been devastating not only because I no longer have my dream job, says Derek. Derek, who works at Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a component of the Department of Homeland Security, was ranked as ”Exceeded Expectations & Above Excellence” in his 2024 performance review. Now I am in a position where I have to actively be looking and researching what my next steps are going to be because I financially cannot wait to see if they take me back and I also can’t stop fighting to get clarity on what my rights are, Derek says. The only thing keeping me sane is that at least I know I am not alone, there are thousands of people in my same boat. Derek learned he was fired at 7:43pm on Valentines Day, around 10 minutes after he had read a Reddit thread where federal employees like him have been commiserating with one another. I was terrified reading what they were posting and keeping track of the agencies being affected, he says. A lot of people seem to be afraid of disclosing where they work, which I totally understand. Reddit has proven useful to Jack and his boss, too. My boss and I both were using Reddit and news articles to get information on what is going on, as we were completely left in the dark from higher-ups, he says. Reddit has been similarly vital for Casey. I hoped it wasn’t true, or would be limited, she says. But it wasn’t. Reddit has almost been our breaking news source the last few weeks. Jack adds: It eases the pain of losing my job knowing Im not alone, and that people are taking the mantle up to fight this, but it honestly made me irate that so many hardworking people, people who just started their careers in government, were being wronged in such a callous way. It’s unclear what the future holds for those probationary staff. Some who have posted in the Reddit threads are considering legal action, while others seem to prefer to simply move on from the whole ordeal. But many agree that the broader impact will soon be felt by millions of Americans. We are in bad shape for the future, says Jack, and I hope more exposure of this fact will start to scare people that havent directly been affected by the impacts of these decisions.
Category:
E-Commerce
The restructuring firm that took control of Big Lots in the wake of its bankruptcy last year appears to be making progress in its effort to transfer some of the discount chain’s ill-fated locations to other retailers. Several retail companies, including some with ties to nationally recognized brands, have stepped in to take over leases on Big Lots stores in at least 12 different states, according to recent court filings. If the transfers are approved by the court, the spaces are likely to be turned into something other than Big Lots, although some of the retailers have not yet publicly confirmed their plans. Ocean State Job Lot, a discount retail chain with locations across New England and the Mid-Atlantic region, is seeking to assume control of at least 15 Big Lots leases, court records show. The list includes locations in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Jersey, New York, and Vermont. “We have expressed interest in several Big Lots locations,” a spokesperson for Ocean State Job Lot told Fast Company when reached for comment. “Presently, that is all we can share publicly. We will provide more information about our plans as soon as we are able. The proposed transfer of leases to Ocean State (via a number of limited liability companies) appears to be the largest such transfer outside of the 200 stores that are expected to be transferred to North Carolina-based Variety Wholesalers, which intends to continue operating those stores under the Big Lots brands, as Fast Company reported earlier this month. Smaller retailers circle the wagons In addition to Ocean State Job Lot, a handful of smaller retailers have been listed as assignees on Big Lots locations over the past week. Berat Corporation, which is linked to ShopRite supermarkets in the Northeast, is planning to assume control of a Big Lots lease in New Jersey, court records show. Owner David G. Zallie confirmed the proposed lease transfer with Fast Company last week. Goodwill Industries of Dallas, a local offshoot of the used-good seller, likewise confirmed that it will open two stores in former Big Lots locations in Texas. A Limited Liability Company with ties to ABQ Crazy Liquidation, an Albuquerque-based discount chain that resells overstock and returned items, is listed as the transferee for Big Lots leases in Illinois and Colorado. ABQ’s owner did not respond to a request for comment about plans for those locations. Additional Big Lots stores are expected to be scooped up by furniture retailers in Florida and Texas. Months of uncertainty following bankruptcy Big Lots filed for bankruptcy in September 2024 after facing falling sales, declining foot traffic, inflationary pressures, and unsustainable debt. It had previously planned to close all of its more than 800 locations before securing its last-minute deal with Variety Wholesalers at the beginning of this year. Meanwhile, Gordon Brothers, the liquidation and investment firm that now controls Big Lots, has been selling the chain’s leases at a discount on the open market, some of which do not expire until the 2040s. Fast Company reached out to Gordon Brothers for additional comment about the latest proposed transfers. The recent court filings offer a window into the types of retailers that are willing to step in and take control of such large spaces at a time when physical retail is facing headwinds. Big Lots stores tend to measure least 30,000 and sometimes well over 50,000 square feet. You can read a full list of proposed lease transfers below: Massachusetts 116 East Main Street Webster, MA (Ocean State Job Lot) Maryland 801 E. Pulaski Hwy, Suite 141, Elkton, MD (Ocean State Job Lot) 210 Marlboro Ave., Suite 55 Easton, MD (Ocean State Job Lot) 24 Kent Towne Market, Chester, MD (Ocean State Job Lot) Maine 730 Center St., Auburn, ME (Ocean State Job Lot) New Jersey 1075 Mantua Pike, West Deptford, NJ (Berat Corporation) 257 West New Rd., Somers Point, NJ (Ocean State Job Lot) 3845 Bayshore Rd., Cape May, NJ (Ocean State Job Lot) 580 North Main St., Barnegat, NJ (Ocean State Job Lot) New York 8015 Oswego Rd., Liverpool, NY (Ocean State Job Lot) 10 Village Plaza, Dansville, NY (Ocean State Job Lot) Pennsylvania Rte I-83 and 3800 Union Deposit Rd, Harrisburg, PA (Ocean State Job Lot) 7150 Hamilton Boulevard, Trexlertown, PA (Ocean State Job Lot) Colorado 7777 W. Jewell Avenue, Lakewood, CO (ABQ Liquidation LLC) Delaware 515 N. Dupont Highway, Dover, DE (Ocean State Job Lot) 900 Norman A. Eskridge Highway, Unit #50, Seaford, DE (Ocean State Job Lot) Illinois 480 Georgetown Square, Wood Dale (ABQ Liquidation LLC) Texas 3303 98th Street, Lubbock, TX (South Lubbock FP LLC) 2306 S. Jefferson Ave., Unit 160, Mount Pleasant, TX (JP & A Holding) 2855 Ridge Road, Rockwall, TX (Goodwill Industries of Dallas) 3621 North Josey Lane, Carrollton, TX (Goodwill Industries of Dallas) Vermont 66 Morrisville Plaza, Suite 5 Morrisville, VT (Ocean State Job Lot) Florida 11247 SW 40th Street, Miami, FL (Madesa Inc) 7565 W. Hillsborough Avenue Tampa, FL (Fine Furniture Décor) This story is developing…
Category:
E-Commerce
Jefferson Early Learning Center bears little resemblance to elementary schools many adults recall attending in their earliest years. The classrooms have child-size boats and construction vehicles children can play on, and ceilings painted to resemble outer space. There are no desksall space is devoted to learning through play. Windows are low to the ground so children can easily look outside. The gym floor is made of pre-K friendly layered vinyl, rather than hardwood, to cushion inevitable trips and falls. Hallways are lined with a corrugated plastic for wiggly fingers to touch as children transition to other locations. Children love coming to the building, said teacher Cathy Delamore. They feel like they own it. Alief Independent School District, which serves about 40,000 children in west Houston, is one of a growing number of districts across the country to pump money into creating a building that is tailor-made for pre-kindergarteners. Its new facility cost about $21 million and enrolls nearly 400 4- and 5-year-olds. By making the investment, school leaders are trying to avoid some of the pitfalls of placing young children in buildings designed for older students, including lost learning time when tiny feet have to meander down long hallways to bathrooms and cafeterias. Research suggests that when designed well, buildings can contribute to better outcomes for children. Creators of the Reggio Emilia approach to early learning, an educational philosophy that emphasizes child-led learning, even refer to the environment as the third teacher in a classroom. A construction themed classroom at Jefferson Early Learning Center. The program emphasizes play and is built around the needs of 4-year-olds. [Photo: Jackie Mader/The Hechinger Report] Benefits of personalized pre-K Over the past few years, educators have grown aware of the benefits of a personalized pre-K environment, said Melissa Turnbaugh, a senior principal at the architecture firm PBK, which has designed more than 240 elementary schools nationwide, including Jefferson and several others in Texas. Theres an openness and willingness to rethink these sites, Turnbaugh said. Similar pre-K renovations and investments have been made in both high- and low-income Texas districts, including the nearby Houston Independent School District, Willis Independent School District north of Houston, the Mansfield Independent School District south of Fort Worth, the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District in the Rio Grande Valley, and Leander Independent School District, just northwest of Austin. Nationally, districts of all sizes have embraced the trend over the past few years, including the Troy School District in Michigan and New York City Public Schools. In some cases, building a specialized facility helps a district with limited resources get the biggest bang for their buck, while meeting enrollment needs, said Turnbaugh. Some states and cities are also dedicating money to the efforts, including Illinois, Detroit and San Mateo, California. Two students play in a veterinary-themed classroom at Jefferson Early Learning Center. Each classroom is designed with a specific theme to encourage deeper play. [Photo: Jackie Mader/The Hechinger Report] The importance of play That embrace is in part because of a growing recognition nationwide of the importance of play for young children, as well as reports that play time has been increasingly squeezed out of the early grades. States are also seeing record high enrollment in state-funded preschool programs. During the 202223 school year, investment in state-funded preschool reached an all-time high. Spending on the programs increased in 29 states, buoyed in part by COVID relief funds. Between 2022 and 2023, for example, Texas saw more than 21,000 additional 3- and 4-year-olds enroll. The state also slightly increased pre-K funding and, beginning in 2019, started requiring districts to offer full-day pre-K programs. The full-day programs have been rolling out in districts since 2020. Scores of districts are adding this new grade of 4-year-olds, said Shelly Masur, vice president of advisory and state policy for the Low Income Investment Fund, which runs an initiative focused on creating and improving high-quality facilities for early learning programs. They have to figure out where those kids are going to go. A facility built for their needs, like Jefferson, is exactly where young children should go, some experts say. The children seem to agree. On a sunny fall morning, joyful screams could be heard as children chased eah other up and down gentle hills on a large playground with natural-looking features meant to replicate the highlands and lowlands of Texas. Pre-K students in elementary schools dont always have age-appropriate playgrounds, and structures are often designed for children who are older. But Jefferson has multiple large playgrounds and play courtyards, all designed for pre-kindergarteners, featuring natural structures and textures, like logs and grass. In Alief, where more than 83% of children qualify as economically disadvantaged, more than 20 percentage points higher than the state average, residents voted in 2015 to approve a property tax increase to help pay for full-day pre-K programs in the district. After touring the Mansfield Independent School Districts early learning facility, Aliefs district leaders decided they wanted to invest in an early learning building with immersive, themed classrooms, instead of simply adding on or repurposing classrooms in elementary schools around the district. Jefferson opened in 2022 as one of two new early learning facilities in the district. About six miles away, the second, Maria Del Carmen Martinez Early Learning Center, which has a similar design, serves around 400 students. A growing body of research shows that not all pre-K classrooms, or the facilities theyre housed in, are appropriate for young kids. Early learning settings in particular should have a warm, homelike environment with ample natural light, research shows. There should be spacious classrooms that allow children to move their bodies and play in a variety of spaces around the room. Facilities should have playgrounds that are appropriate for the littlest learners, and provide ample opportunities to experience and explore nature. Related: How play is making a comeback in kindergarten There are also practical details to keep in mind for preschoolers, like having bathrooms adjacent to classrooms, child-size furniture, tiny toilets, and sinks low to the ground so children can practice routines like handwashing independently. When we make things more accessible to them, they start to learn the independence that we need them to develop over time, said Masur. This type of setting isnt always present in elementary schools, which are built to accommodate a much wider age range of children and are typically designed for instruction rather than play. [Photo: Jackie Mader/The Hechinger Report] How the space impacts behavior Facilities can have a surprisingly large impact on the experiences of teachers and young children. A study of a preschool program in West Hartford, Connecticut, for example, found the amount of childrens time spent interacting with an adult caregiver increased from 3% to 22% after the program moved from a crowded basement room to a larger classroom with bathrooms, sinks, storage space, and phones inside the classroom. Although all other factors remained the same, the teachers reported their students had fewer tantrums, something they attributed to having a larger, brighter, and more organized space. A facility can even affect how satisfied early educators are with their jobs. Delamore, the Jefferson teacher, who has worked in the district for 18 years, said the bright, spacious rooms and hallways help keep her from feeling confined during the day. While aimed at 4-year-olds, the buildings calming atmosphere helps her enjoy being at work, she said. Certain aspects make more sense for children at this age, she added, like the spiral shape of the building, which makes it easier to keep students together as they transition. Students eat family-style meals around circular tables, creating a sense of community, Delamore said, a contrast to the long, rectangular tables often seen in elementary school cafeterias. Buildings that are not designed to meet childrens needs, or that are cramped and outdated, can impede development and learning, experts say. One of the most recent examples of this comes from a 2016 study of Tennessees public preschool classrooms, which are mostly housed in existing elementary schools. That study, conducted by researchers at Vanderbilt University, found 25% of each school day was lost transitioning children to another activity, including walking to bathrooms and lining up to go to lunch. Related: The complex world of pre-K play When designing Jefferson, Turnbaugh and her team tried to think of the campus through the eyes of a 4-year-old. Delamore, at Jefferson, said the intricately designed classrooms motivate students to go deeper in their play. On a recent morning in the veterinary classroom, a dozen 4- and 5-year-olds busied themselves around the room, immersed in play or small group work with a teacher. Children drew pictures of animals, read books, and played animal-themed card games beneath large, colorful pictures of dogs and cats painted on the walls. On one side of the room, 4-year-old Jaycyon had donned a white lab coat and was inspecting a fluffy gray and white toy cat lying on the counter in front of him. The cat was hurt, Jaycyon announced, likely from a sharp corner of the cage he was kept in. I have to give him a shot, he said bravely. Jaycyon dipped a clear, plastic syringe into an orange medication bottle and confidently injected invisible medication into the cat. At the end of three weeks, Jaycyon and his classmates will transition to a new classroom, sch as Tinker Town, where they will learn about construction, or Space City, an homage to the nearby NASA space center. On a daily basis, students have access to one of several outdoor spaces called a back porch, where families can also come and eat lunch together. These spaces also act as surrogate backyards for students, many of whom dont have yards at home or access to parks. Students also have access to a sensory room with toys and soft mats, where they can take a break when they are overstimulated and practice skills to calm down. Jefferson sits on nearly 20 acres of land, accessible via trails for students to explore with their teachers. (Alief returned the surrounding land back to its natural prairie state to help with climate-change related flooding.) The educators at Alief say the districts investment in a facility that encourages play-based learning has paid off. What I see as a major difference is the childrens self-regulation, but also their confidence, said the schools principal, Kim Hammer, now in her 16th year leading an early childhood center. A traditional pre-K setting is more teacher led and teacher directed, she said. Here it’s more teacher facilitated, so you see more of the children taking more initiative, she added. Children have autonomy, and children have much more choice. There is evidence that the new facility may be helping children progress. During the 2023-24 school year, 49% of students came in meeting vocabulary benchmarks. By the end of the year, 73% were at that level, Hammer said, a higher rate than previous years when the districts pre-K programs were in traditional elementary schools. School officials say the themed classrooms help enhance children’s language skills, as children learn the vocabulary specific to that room. Attendance rates are high and holding steady, something that is uncommon in pre-K. Despite the success and benefits of programs like Jeffersons, educators agree there are challenges. A pre-K only facility adds an extra transition for students who, in traditional programs, might otherwise attend pre-K at their home elementary school. Without more funding, revamped pre-K facilities are unlikely to spread fast. Many districts lack the money, partly because state and federal funding for pre-K is often less than for other grades. In Texas, for example, although the state now requires districts to offer full day pre-K, it only provides funding for half a day of pre-K. Alief has to cover the rest from local funds. Although sustaining the building will be financially challenging in the long run, educators are determined to find a way to make it work for the benefit of the kids. Contact staff writer Jackie Mader at (212) 678-3562 or mader@hechingerreport.org.This story about early learning centers was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education, with support from the Spencer Fellowship at Columbia Journalism School. Sign up for the Early Childhood newsletter.
Category:
E-Commerce
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