THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 21, 1996 TAG: 9607190022
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 85 lines
The Virginia Council on Child Day Care and Early Childhood Programs went out of business recently with a salvo that might be mistaken for parody were its authors not so deadly serious.
``Major components of the child day-care system in our commonwealth have been compromised by the machinations of national special interests who . . . are attempting to impose a radical so-called `social justice' training agenda on our children,'' wrote Chairman R. Jefferson Garnett in a letter to Gov. George Allen as the council shut down.
Warning of a ``pernicious ideology''" that has crept into Virginia ``below the radar of public scrutiny,'' Garnett alleged:
A politicized core curriculum for day-care providers is being used ``to form the minds of our children with a radical ideology before they enter public schools'';
Colleges, and especially the community-college system, are turning out ``politically correct'' day-care professionals;
Parents are being inculcated with a ``politicized core curriculum and philosophy,'' spread partially through in-home visits;
Under the ``disingenuous guise'' of protecting the health and safety of children, advocates of this ideologically driven day-care movement actually are limiting competition, reducing access to day care and increasing costs.
Indeed, the letter warns, the movement has resulted in corrupt day-care-funding practices both in Virginia and possibly in many of the 50 states.
And where is the proof of this sinister conspiratorial movement?
In a convoluted, 32-page report that elaborates on contracting snafus uncovered by the state auditor more than a year ago and that then goes on to link those problems to the indoctrination of children with radical ideas. The report was written by an Ohio anti-trust attorney hired by the council.
Chief among the concerns is unfounded fear that Virginia children are being exposed to a curriculum offering training in political boycotts and exposure to same-sex marriages. The so-called ``Anti-Bias Curriculum'' is one of about 100 publications of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the nation's premier day-care accrediting organization.
The latter claim rests on a gargantuan leap of logic: that Virginia child-care groups that adhere to NAEYC standards must embrace each piece of NAEYC literature with lock-step devotion.
Follow the thread:
Because the NAEYC publishes a curriculum advancing tolerance toward same-sex marriages, and because members of the Virginia Child Care Resource and Referral Network adhere to NAEYC standards, and because members of the VCCRRN were heavily involved in Council on Child Day Care activities in an earlier era, then our children are in peril.
The inflamatory language accompanying those claims is unbecoming to the commonwealth and to the Allen administration. It is also an insult to the many committed professionals who have devoted energy and intellect to improving the care of tens of thousands of Virginia children whose parents work outside the home. The language and line of thought are - looney.
Our response could be limited to disdain were it not for an additional matter.
The report, authorized by the Council on Child Day Care after it was reshaped with Allen appointees, recommends that the information be forwarded to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for criminal inquiry. The report author has already met with the FBI.
At issue are the activities of Council on Child Day Care employees and board members before the Allen appointees took over. The report alleges that these employees steered contracts to a handful of agencies including the Fairfax County Office for Children and The Planning Council in Norfolk, thereby advancing the aforementioned sinister conspiracy.
In a 1995 audit of the prior council's last year in office, Auditor of Public Accounts Walter Kucharski uncovered violations of state contracting procedures. Kucharski recently described those errors as ``technical'' and added: ``I don't think there was ever any intent to do anything wrong.''
Now, however, those apparent missteps are being equated with a radical movement aimed at mind control. The reputations of committed individuals are being dragged into the culture wars that divide liberals and conservatives over day-care policy. That's gratuitously destructive.
The FBI and the attorney general's office are reviewing the report and its recommendation for legal action. Norfolk State Sen. Stanley Walker plans to convene a hearing at which various individuals in the debate can have their say.
We doubt that criminal violations have occurred, but we will soon know the opinion of federal and state legal authorities. If the allegations are founded, prosecution will follow. If not, sincere apologies are in order to the wrongly accused and to Virginia parents and children whose day-care needs are being subjugated to ideological fervor. by CNB