Car Alarm Comments

The following are two comments sent regarding the car alarm issue. I had trouble getting them to "publish" but felt they were important so I have cut/pasted them here! Please feel free to add your comments as well, this is an important topic and affects many children's safety as well as provider's businesses.
Thanks!
Patricia


CAR ALARM COMMENTS...

Hello. My name is Stefani Gallagher (Teach and Tumble Daycare, Inc.) and I am from New York. This law has not been passed here yet. I'm surprised due to our tight regulations. I agree with this law completely. No children should be left unattended on a bus. In NY last year a disabled child was left on a bus overnight. The thought is terrible. Would you pay $100 to ensure your child was never left on a bus alone? Another incident here was a church bus driver exited his vehicle of children, and the vehicle was hijacked with the kids in it. This is a preventative measure and everyone should respect it. The only problem is when you leave your vehicle to get the kids out. How will that work with the alarm?Perhaps I do not know enough about these alarms, but we strive for quality. So when we do get our vehicle it will have this alarm, regulated or not.

Thank you,
Stefani
www.TeachandTumbleDaycare.com


ANOTHER COMMENT...

My concerns go beyond the price of the alarms. I ... My concerns go beyond the price of the alarms. I did some research into the alarms offered, and the one I would pick was still too large to be able to install in my Suburban. On top of this, I used to alternate vehicles with my husband, depending on how many children were there, and what he needed to do for work, so we would have needed one in our van too. And, the way the law is written, it is unclear on whether or not we could "disable" it for his use, so he would probably have to go to the back of the vehicle to turn it off every day at work. Not something that would have been accepted by him. Also, when we are doing personal errands or vacations in our vehicles, it might require us to also go into the back of the vehicle to shut off the alarm. These are our personal vehicles, not dedicated child-care vehicles, as the law seems to imply.When the technology is more advanced for smaller family-type vehicles, rather than busses, I will be more than willing to install some sort of safety device and continue doing field trips. As for not, I am limited to walking trips or using a volunteer with a car and only taking two children on trips. Since I am not actively looking for children at this time, I will only have two this fall, so I will be able to do a few trips that way. Also, the systems cannot detect if a child is actually in the vehicle. There is a switch or button to turn off in the back of the vehicle that, if not pressed, will cause some sort of alarm to go off, alerting passers-by that a child might be in the vehicle. As far as I could see, Tennessee is the only state that has a similar law, though my senator seems sure there will be more states passing laws like this. I would encourage child care providers and advocacy groups to watch closely and voice your opinion before laws are passed to assure that all needs and concerns are addressed. The "public hearing" in Wisconsin had an attendence of 8, and two were from alarm companies. Family care was not represented, even by the family child care union.Lastly, licensing has not promulgated rules yet, so that process is something we in WI should be involved in somehow. The two people in licensing that I have talked to had some different opinions about the way the law should be interpretted. They are also reading into it more than the actual law says.

Katie Jorgensen
Neillsville, WI