Play dough with the governor

QUINCY — It’s probably not every day the governor of the state of Washington sits at a tiny table surrounded by 5-year-olds and gets lessons on how to make play dough.

But that’s exactly what Jay Inslee was doing on Thursday during his visit to Camille Jones’ classroom at Pioneer Elementary School in Quincy.

Inslee stood in front of the class, ready to assemble the ingredients, as Jones — Washington state’s Teacher of the Year and back in Quincy on a brief break from a hectic speaking and meeting schedule, 41 classrooms across the state since January — asked her students to give the governor instructions.

“What do you need to make high-quality play dough?” Jones said.

Hands popped up. Salt, one student said. Flour, another said. Water, several more said. A drop of food coloring to make the dough something other than white.

“Is that good?” Inslee asked.

He needed to stir the mix, several kids said. Inslee grabbed a spoon, and a voice said no, he needed to use a fork to stir it.

“Forks are for mixing? Who knew?” the governor said. “Who knew play dough was so complicated?”

The project wasn’t just for fun, though the kids were having fun as they mixed and stirred and kneaded their styrofoam bowls of flour paste. It was part of the science and technology curriculum that Jones teaches at Pioneer, the school-wide enrichment curriculum that help make her Teacher of the Year.

“We were talking about the enrichment program that goes on here, and it’s very encouraging,” Inslee said before the kids arrived. “Most kids aren’t living in million dollar homes … and they need enrichment more than anybody. I’m really glad this is going on here.”

Jones explained that the goal is to expose all kids in the school — not just the gifted ones — to a diverse and challenging curriculum so they know what they can do and maybe find something they like or are good at.

“They know what their interests are, and they have a chance to say, ‘I can be good at science, because I’ve been doing chemistry since second grade, or kindergarten,’” Jones explained.

Inslee also told members of the Quincy School Board that he hoped the state legislature would soon allow schools to be built outside of growth management areas (GMA), giving small-town and rural school districts some options they currently don’t have.

“We passed a bill that would allow that, in certain circumstances,” Inslee said. “Unfortunately, at least from my perspective, the original bill was amended, which would also allow business and residential development associated with school.”

Inslee said the amendment was “unnecessary” and opened the door to development outside of GMAs.

A new bill, which the governor said should pass the House shortly, will exempt schools — and only schools — from restrictions imposed by the state’s Growth Management Act, which was passed in 1990 and limits development inside identified “Growth Management Areas.”

This has been an issue limiting where some rural and small town school districts can purchase land for new schools, making those purchases costlier than they would otherwise be.

“This keeps the GMA intact,” Inslee said. “To me, it’s a good solution; it maintains the integrity of the act.”

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.