THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 22, 1994 TAG: 9410220280
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH SIMPSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
When Sheryl Payne first started working in a day-care center, she figured she'd eventually move on to a higher-paying field.
But 23 years later, she's still teaching children at Parkdale Private School. It's not for the money or the glamour. It's for the children.
``When you teach a child to zip his coat or tie his shoe it makes you feel good,'' said Payne, who started teaching children when she was 17.
She's broken the odds in a profession that has one of the highest turnover rates in the country. A 1991 national survey showed that child-care providers working in centers had worked an average of three years at the center. Not surprising given the average salary of a preschool teacher - $11,500.
Although it won't make their work easier or more lucrative, today has been set aside by the state as child-care provider appreciation day.
The goal of the day, celebrated every year since 1989, is to promote the job as a profession and to encourage parents to be more involved in their children's pre-school education.
Parents can show their appreciation of child-care providers by volunteering in their child's center, helping out on field trips, donating equipment and supplies, and helping spruce up a center. Parents can also arrange for someone to provide a special program for children highlighting a career or hobby. Simply thanking a child-care provider for the work they do goes a long way.
Throughout the country, different tactics are being tried to improve the status of child-care providers. The difficulty is in increasing the salary of child-care providers without increasing the cost to parents, many of whom already struggle to pay.
``We need to find a way to get more money into the system, whether it be through public dollars, private ones or philanthropic,'' said Barbara Weller, spokesperson for the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Centers are already experimenting with ways to do that. A public/private venture in North Carolina provides scholarships for child-care providers, with the promise of more pay once training is complete. The providers, in turn, agree to stay at the center for a certain number of years.
Some companies are giving child-care providers grants at centers where employees have children.
For people who stay in the profession for decades instead of months, the greatest reward is the children they teach.
``I enjoy the children or I wouldn't be there,'' Payne said. ``It's very rewarding work, and very challenging.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by JIM WALKER, Staff
Day-care worker Sheryl Payne comforts Jordan Barbarisi at Parkdale
Private School. Bruce Jacobs is in foreground.
by CNB