
DATE: Thursday, November 20, 1997           TAG: 9711200483

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH SIMPSON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   91 lines

AT HEARING, PARENTS AND CARE-GIVERS SPEAK OUT AGAINST CHILD-CARE PROPOSALS

Parents, grandmothers, day-care providers and child advocates sent a message Wednesday to state officials who are proposing changes to the state's child-care center regulations:

Make them stronger, not shorter.

About 70 people attended a hearing at Virginia Wesleyan College to gather comment on changes being proposed by the Virginia Child Day-Care Council. The majority of the 30 people who spoke opposed the proposals, particularly those that increased the number of children one teacher can care for and those that reduce higher education requirements for directors of child-care centers.

``To talk about minimum standards in Virginia is a joke,'' Curtis Alexander, a Chesapeake early childhood educator, told council members. ``Virginia is so far behind, it is lower than minimum, so don't applaud yourselves.''

One of the regulations stirring greatest concern is decreasing the amount of education a person needs to direct a center. Current regulations require at least 48 hours of college training or some type of early childhood certificate from an accredited college. The new regulations insert an option in which directors can attain that position with a high school diploma, provided they have three years of experience in the group care of children and one year in a staff supervisory position.

``How can someone direct and guide young minds and those of their parents if they only rely on experience?'' asked Cassandra Lancaster, a Norfolk mother of a 2-year-old boy. ``Education and the pursuit of it show commitment and real care.''

A child-care center director, Stacey Scott, said that while experience is a wonderful, it doesn't replace knowing the theory behind the practice of developing children's minds. ``Please do not cheapen the education that I and other directors have worked so hard to achieve,'' said Scott, who directs the Larchmont Baptist Church Infant Care Center in Norfolk.

Another concern was the establishment of a new category, called the ``balanced mixed-age group'' in which 15 children ages 3 through 6 can be cared for by one staff person. Current regulations require a ratio of one staff person to 10 children.

Nancy Guarnieri, a grandmother and former child-care teacher, said that while the Montessori schools may use a similar model, they do so only with teachers who have had hundreds of hours of academic training and classroom experience.

``Anything less than that is not going to provide the training needed,'' she said.

Speakers also complained about the deletion of regulations that require centers to supply parents with a center's philosophy and mission statement, to document injuries, and to have a written plan for staff development.

``If you don't know where you are going then you're liable to end up somewhere else and not even know how you got there,'' Alexander said. ``It's an abomination for children.''

While most speakers opposed at least some of the proposals, many still thanked the council for the hard work put into rewriting the regulations and for increasing the training of teachers from 10 to 12 hours.

Council members, who were charged by Gov. George F. Allen with streamlining the regulations and removing parts of the code that were burdensome or intrusive, say the new regulations are more user-friendly and concise.

Sharon Jones, chair of the council, objected to speakers describing the regulations as being weaker than the current regulations.

``Lest you think that these regulations have been gutted, that is not true. Things have been realigned,'' Jones said. Some training requirements have been strengthened, she said.

Wednesday's hearing was one of five being conducted across the state during the next two weeks. People can also send in written comments during the 60-day public comment period, which lasts until Nov. 29.

The council will then consider the public comments before approving a final version of the regulations. If changes are made, there will be a 30-day comment period for those changes. Jones said the earliest the regulations will go into effect is July 1998. MEMO: Written comments about the proposed regulations may be sent to

Sharon Jones, Chair, Child Day-Care Council, 730 E. Broad St., Richmond,

Va. 23219. Comments must be received by Nov. 29. ILLUSTRATION: CURRENT RULE

DIRECTOR EDUCATION:

CURRENT REGULATIONS REQUIRE

AT LEAST 48 HOURS OF COLLEGE

TRAINING OR SOME TYPE OF EARLY

CHILDHOOD CERTIFICATE FROM AN

ACCREDITED COLLEGE.

WHAT'S PROPOSED

CENTER DIRECTORS CAN ATTAIN

THAT POSITION WITH A HIGH

SCHOOL DIPLOMA, PROVIDED THEY HAVE THREE