Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, October 1, 1993                   TAG: 9310010340
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MICHAEL CSOLLANY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

STAFFERS SAY GOODBYE AT SCHOOL STARTING RELIGIOUS CURRICULUM

Since the center's board said that a Christian curriculum would be instituted, 18 of the center's 25 employees - including 10-year director Gulben Esser - have announced their resignations.

Following the reception, Esser addressed the parents and media gathered outside.

"I don't think it was fair the way they did this. . . . There was a right way to do this. I'm so sorry for the children and the families," she said.

Other staffers objected to the amount of notice given to parents, saying they should have been told earlier about the curriculum change.

"I don't want to leave, but it was all done the wrong way," said Melanie Davis, a 7-year employee who works with 2- and 3-year-olds.

Davis said she learned of the change in May but was told not to say anything about it to the public.

"The parents and staff should have been told a year in advance," she said. "That way they could have time to find other child care."

Maryanne Meredith, known by the children as "Meme," said she originally had intended to stay. But she said the board had a "cold attitude" to the parents.

"None of us are against Christianity. It's the way they handled it with the parents - no respect," she said.

Meredith and Davis will continue to care for former Mount Tabor children in private homes.

Approximately 85 of the center's 129 children have been withdrawn from the program. "And some parents are not even saying anything until they can find other arrangements," said parent Suzie Jackson.

Some parents have already met to make plans to start their own day-care center.

Jackson's daughter Chelsea is glad because she will be going to her friend Megan Downey's home in Blacksburg, where a staffer will take care of them and four others after school. But she said she still is not happy with the turn of events at Mount Tabor.

"Since I'm Jewish, I don't think this decision was fair. They just decided on their own. . . . They wouldn't do that if they really cared," the 9-year-old said.