THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 23, 1996 TAG: 9610230005
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 66 lines
The Virginia Child Day-Care Council is proposing dozens of changes to the regulations that govern day-care centers in the commonwealth.
Some are common-sense ideas that will make life easier for the businessmen and women who operate centers. But at least two represent an unwise trend away from careful attention to young children.
One such proposal would drop the requirement that ``supervisors'' - or teachers - in day-care centers have either a high-school diploma or a G.E.D. certificate.
That change would also reduce from one year to six months the experience necessary for supervising preschool children. As a trade-off, supervisors would have to get 24 hours of training within the first month of taking a job.
A high-school diploma or equivalent should be a minimum requirement for overseeing a sizable group of youngsters. The state has moved in recent years to upgrade the professionalism of child-care workers. To reduce qualifications would be a move in the wrong direction and would potentially put children at risk.
Supporters of change argue that flexibility is needed to allow welfare recipients transitioning to work to find jobs in day care. But state law already is lax enough. Nothing in current regulations prevents women with limited education from watching up to 12 children in their homes, for instance.
Nor do the training requirements apply to many church day-care centers that serve many poor children.
The second troubling proposal would allow a higher ratio of children to adults in day-care centers. Currently, most centers that have mixed-age groups must set the adult-child ratio based on the ages of the youngest children in the group. If the youngest are 2 or 3 years old, the ratio must be 1:10. If they're 4-year-olds, the ratio is 1:12.
The sole exception now permitted is in Montesorri schools where, under a highly structured program, one adult can supervise up to 15 children ranging in age from 3 to 6. Under the proposed change, all day-care centers would come under the Montesorri rule.
The laudable day-care trend in Virginia has been a push for safer settings and better-trained caregivers. Those changes grew out of General Assembly study showing that risk increases as day-care workers become overtaxed or when they are inadequately trained.
The proposed changes, which must undergo several stages of scrutiny before being adopted, are only the latest indication that reactionary forces are trying to reverse progress in day-care oversight.
State Sen. Stanley Walker of Norfolk, a champion of improved day care, is considering asking the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to investigate. Since a J-LARC study launched reforms, calling the agency back in would be an appropriate step.
The growing number of children who will rely on day-care centers due to welfare reform should be an incentive to make sure that those businesses are more, not less, careful about the services they provide. by CNB