[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 136 (Thursday, October 11, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1853]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  CHILD CARE WORKERS WERE HEROES, TOO

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                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 11, 2001

  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, since the terrible 
events of September 11th, we have all read account of the bravery and 
heroism displayed by Americans in the face of horrific terror in New 
York, Washington, and on board hijacked airliners. These men and 
women--fire fighters, police, rescue workers and airline passengers--
thought not about their personal safety and security, but about their 
responsibilities to others. They did their jobs, but they often did 
much more. By their bravery, they displayed the very best qualities and 
earned our gratitude forever.
  A recent column by Sue Shellenbarger in the Wall Street Journal draws 
our attention to another group of people who confronted the dangers of 
September 11 with great courage: child care workers. We have heard 
little about their determination to protect the children in their 
charge despite serious dangers. Ms. Shellenbarger recounts harrowing 
examples of children trapped and in danger whose lives were likely 
saved by dedicated child care workers.
  It is worth noting that child care workers are among the very lowest 
paid workers. Yet millions of Americans daily entrust their children to 
the care of these women and men in order to earn a living for their 
families. The poor pays of child care workers contributes to massive 
turnover that undercuts the quality of services for our children. We 
must make a greater commitment to improving the quality of child care 
for the sake of our children, and to properly honor those whose 
dedication and courage for their young charges is undiminished by 
dangers of themselves.
  The article follows:

          Teachers Safely Evacuated Children Caught in Attacks

                         (By Sue Shellenbarger)

       Is worksite child care safe? Amid few fears for children, 
     many parents wonder whether bringing kids to high-profile, 
     visible workplaces is unwise.
       Among all the tales of Sept. 11 heroism are two stories 
     that should reassure parents: How teachers at the World Trade 
     Center and Pentagon child-care centers safely evacuated the 
     children in their charge.
       The 14 teachers at Children's Discovery Center in 5 World 
     Trade Center, a building that later party collapsed had taken 
     in only 42 early arrivalsby the time the first plane hit that 
     morning.
       As the ground shook, teachers grabbed each child's 
     emergency records, took babies in their arms and, following a 
     drill they practiced every month, led the children outside, 
     leaving behind their own purses and, in some cases, their own 
     shoes, says Kristin Thomas, head of northeast operations for 
     Knowledge Learning, the San Rafael, Calif., operator of the 
     center. Some parents raced in to pick up children, too, 
     leaving staffers with just 28 kids.
       Once outside, the ragtag band was barred by police from the 
     preset evacuation destination, 7 World Trade. Then, the 
     second plane hit. Split into two groups by flying debris and 
     hordes of fleeing people, teachers began walking north. One 
     group picked up several shopping carts from a grocery store 
     and helped toddlers inside, telling them, ``We're going for a 
     little ride,'' Ms. Thomas says. Some passing businessmen tore 
     off their white shirts to cover the children.
       Some teachers, with babies propped on their hips, were soon 
     barefoot; the paper booties they'd donned in the center's 
     infant room had shredded from all the walking. Armed with the 
     emergency records, staffers borrowed phones to get messages 
     to parents. Both groups trekked more than a mile before 
     coming to rest, one in a hospital and the second in a 
     preschool. All the kids were returned safe to parents; in the 
     preschool, many were napping on cots as parents arrived.
       At the Pentagon, Shirley Allen, director of the Children's 
     World Learning Center, had plenty to worry about after Flight 
     77 plowed into the building. Her husband, a naval officer, 
     worked in an office directly in the path. But Ms. Allen, a 
     12-year child-care veteran, thought only of evacuating the 
     148 children in her center, located about 30 yards from the 
     Pentagon. In a process also honed by monthly drills, she and 
     her 36 staffers rounded up youngsters, put babies in mobile 
     cribs and set out across a park.
       Hundreds of panicky workers ran past the children. Rescue 
     workers relocated Ms. Allen's group five times. Again and 
     again, she had to demand loudly that security officers 
     accompany the kids as they moved. Heart pounding, she fought 
     fears that a child would be lost.
       But with the children, she and the teachers, many of them 
     equally experienced, kept calm. ``The children were relaxed, 
     because they looked into their teachers' faces and saw they 
     were relaxed,'' Ms. Allen says. To distract them, teachers 
     played pat-a-cake and sang ``Eensy Weensy Spider.''
       Not until three hours later, with the children safe and 
     most of them back in parents' care, did Ms. Allen allow 
     herself to think of her husband. She burst into tears. Two 
     hours later, she finally learned he was safe. Three children 
     at the center, Ms. Allen says, her voice breaking, lost a 
     parent. The center re-opened Monday.
       Child-care teachers generally aren't paid enough to reflect 
     the awesome responsibilities they bear. Both the Pentagon and 
     the World Trade child-care centers were high-quality 
     facilities subsidized by employers. That support helped 
     produce the policies, training and employee-retention 
     programs that prepared these staffers so well. Bright 
     Horizons Family Solutions, a high-quality child-care concern, 
     won't even open a worksite facility without employer support, 
     in subsidies or facilities.
       Operations chiefs at several big child-care chains say 
     they'll study government or military locations more carefully 
     before opening new centers, but none said they plan to pull 
     back. Joseph Silverman, president of Day Care Insurance 
     Services, an Encino, Calif., brokerage, says exits should be 
     safe and accessible, and centers probably shouldn't be above 
     the second floor.
       That said, worksite child care is still one of the safest 
     places to leave a child. ``Do I keep a day-care facility out 
     of the Pentagon? Probably not,'' Mr. Silverman says. ``You 
     start thinking that way: Do I keep a day-care facility off an 
     earthquake fault line? Do I keep a day-care facility off a 
     flight path? And where do you stop?'' Roughly three million 
     children attend child-care centers safely every day.
       In dangerous times, parents want their kids near them. 
     Child-care center enrollments haven't fallen in Oklahoma City 
     since the 1995 attack on the federal building there, a blast 
     that killed 19 kids in a center. Centers in U.S. government 
     buildings have since grown about 10%.
       Perhaps parents' biggest job is banishing fear--putting on 
     a calm face, as these teachers did, so children can stay 
     calm. ``Children, of course, always have giants and monsters 
     in their minds, but now the adults do, too,'' says Bright 
     Horizons' Jim Greenman. ``At some level, we have to remember: 
     We know how to cope with this.''

     

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