The Pentagon’s day care center, which officials had planned to close by September, will not be shut down until child care alternatives are found for parents, officials said.
“We originally targeted the fall of this year, but we are willing to keep it open as long as possible,” said Howard Becker, director of Washington Headquarters Services for the Department of Defense.
“We’re trying to do everything we can to alleviate the burden on some of the parents.”
These efforts have involved meetings and placement fairs to find child care openings in the area. Still, some parents say poor planning by the Pentagon has put them in “crisis mode.”
“The Pentagon’s making that good-faith effort … it’s just not enough for this 60-day bombshell,” said Jill Wood, an information technology manager who said she was given 60 days to find alternative child care for her 8-month-old daughter, Madison, and 2-year-old daughter, Grace.
“If security was the case, why didn’t you brief us six months ago? Why, just a few months ago, did you brief us that everything was just great, that … this was the safest child care facility in the country?”
An announcement was made July 7 that the center would close, and rumors about the reasons began to circulate.
“I’m still under the impression it’s a land grab and it’s a money issue,” said Laurie Altdorfer, a military analyst whose 2-year-old son, Jordan, has been on the day care waiting list at nearby Fort Meyer for 20 months. “They’re hiding behind the terrorism card.”
Mr. Becker said a garage and heliport that eventually will occupy the site are part of a long-term plan that also includes a new day care center. Resources and office space, he said, were not factors in the decision.
He said the closing is based on the Pentagon’s status as a high-profile target and the risk of attacks leading up to the presidential election, and that more information will be provided to parents who have security clearance.
“If the children are in danger, shut it down today and move the children away from there,” Ms. Wood said. “After 9/11, they moved us all to a hotel in Crystal City. If that’s not an option, can’t you pull in trailers?”
Rep. James P. Moran, Virginia Democrat, got involved after dozens of unhappy parents contacted his office. He said he plans to introduce an amendment to the military construction appropriations bill this year to accelerate the building of a child care facility at Fort Meyer, about a mile from the Pentagon.
But, he said, there will still be a large time gap between when the existing center closes and the new one is built.
“The reason we have controversy here is because the parents were given notice that the Pentagon wanted to close the center within two months, without any advance notice,” he said. “The majority of day care centers in Northern Virginia have a 12- to 18-month waiting list.”
The tight child care market has left parents scrambling.
“I feel like as [Department of Defense] policy-makers and workers, we can and should do much better than this,” Ms. Wood said. “That’s our job, to plan and analyze situations and execute, and they did not do that in this case.”
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