Early Childhood Education Providers Issue Joint Statement in Support of Sensible Gun Laws

The Early Care and Education Consortium working together to lobby Congress for stronger gun laws to prevent future tragedies

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--We are deeply saddened about the children and teachers whose innocent lives were taken by gun violence recently in Uvalde, Texas. We mourn alongside their families, their community, and our nation. Sadly, this most recent tragedy is one of many examples of gun violence in our communities and in our schools. This must stop.

As providers who are entrusted with the care of young children every day, we prioritize first and foremost the health and safety of children and educators. While each of us takes strong measures every day to ensure the safety of the children in our care, we strongly believe there is more to be done to prevent these types of acts of violence in our communities.

The Early Care and Education Consortium, which includes some of the nation’s largest providers of early childhood education and care, stands with educators, parents, our communities and partners and calls upon Congress and state legislatures to pass more sensible gun laws. Now, more than ever, the nation needs to come together to end gun violence and ensure all children have safe and nurturing learning environments, and educators have safe and secure places of work. The time to act is now.

Signed,

Tom Wyatt, Chairman and CEO, KinderCare Learning Companies

Mark Bierley, CEO, Learning Care Group, Inc.

Bruce Karpas, Chairman and CEO, Crème de la Crème

Chad Dunkley, CEO, New Horizon Academy

David Evans, CEO, Childcare Network

Henry Wilde, CEO, Acelero Learning and Shine Early Learning

John Olsen, CEO, Teaching Strategies

Jeff Wahl, CEO, Big Blue Marble Academy

Gerry Pastor and Jane Porterfield, Founders and Co-CEOs, The Nest Schools

Joshua Frick, President, Kiddie Academy Educational Child Care

Matthew Marceron, President and CEO, Kaplan Early Learning Company

Wes Wooten, President, The Sunshine House

Kristen Waterfield, Founder and CEO, The Malvern School

Mary Ann Curran, CEO, Busy Bees North America

Leigh-Ellen Louie, CEO, Cadence Education

Jeff Altschuler, Founder and CEO, Old School Academies

Dennis Maple, Chairman and CEO, Goddard Systems, Inc.

Stephen Kramer, CEO, Bright Horizons

Ricardo Campo, CEO, Endeavor Schools

Richard Weissman, Co-founder, Chairman and CEO, The Learning Experience

The Early Care and Education Consortium (ECEC) is a non-profit alliance of the leading multi-state/multi-site child care providers, key state child care associations, and premier educational service providers, representing over 7,000 programs in 48 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and select international locations. ECEC’s members serve as the unified collective voice for providers of high-quality programs and services that support families and children from diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. ECEC advocates for strong federal and state policies that bring quality to scale.