Children’s Adventure Center Teachers Honored

Three senior teachers from the Children’s Adventure Center were honored recently by the Connecticut Department of Social Services for their years of service to children and their families at the Center.

Linda Markin has worked as a teacher at the Center for 22 years; Anne McCutchan has served the Children’s Adventure Center community for 30 years; and Florence Rubinstein has worked at the center since its inception 32 years ago. All three were honored on August 24 at a retreat held in Groton.

“As daycare teachers, yours is one of the most important jobs in Connecticut and certainly in Newtown,” commented Mae S. Schmidle, chairman of the Children’s Adventure Center Board of Directors. “You care for our very young Newtown children so their parents can work without fear and with the knowledge that their children are well cared for in an educationally and socially enriching environment.”

The Children’s Adventure Center has been serving Newtown since 1969 and was established by a group of concerned community leaders as a non-profit organization to provide early childhood education and daycare for Newtown area families. As a professional daycare provider, CAC is licensed by the Connecticut State Department of Health and is a delegate agency of the Town of Newtown. The Center is open from 7 am to 6 pm, Monday through Friday.

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal honored five teachers last week from the Children’s Adventure Center for their service to the children and families of the center. The five teachers were head teacher Florence Rubinstein for 32 years of service, teacher Anne McCutchan for 30 years of service, Linda Markin for 22 years of service, teacher’s assistants Marci Shpunt for 22 years, and Shirley Gravel for 20 years.

“It has been proven that staff retention is a mark of quality childcare,” Mrs Schmidle said. “For the State of Connecticut to acknowledge employment longevity is indeed very special and we are honored for our teachers as well as for the Children’s Adventure Center.”

While in Groton, the teachers participated in a full day of workshops and training. Some of the topics covered were supporting the needs of all children, recognizing and reporting abuse, positive approaches to challenging behaviors in early care settings, exploring parent involvement, including children with disability in classrooms, from theory to practice, stress reduction, using NAEYC’s code of ethical conduct, an educational Z file, staff professional development, and good places to work.

There were two keynote speakers at the event. They were Jean Berkwitt, famous pre-school teacher, author, and CDA program coordinator, and Maurice R. Sykes, executive director of the Early Childhood Leadership Institute at the University of the District of Columbia and an Early Childhood Champion.

“Yours is a wonderful legacy,” Mrs Schmidle added. “You will all have the undying gratitude of countless children and families in Newtown.”