To Whom it May Concern:

Let me be clear from the beginning.  I am not a fan of the new regulations proposed on families and cooperative preschools.

I am an older father, with a four year old son at the Arlington Unitarian Cooperative Preschool.  I LOVE IT.  Our son Toby LOVES IT.  My wife LOVES IT. 

Let me tell you why:

First of all the director is wonderful.  Susan is so friendly, knowledgeable, caring, active – and so many other adjectives and descriptions that could fill this page.  And of course, I could not say this if I wasn’t a “cooperative parent.”

I will also add that the teachers are equally as wonderful.

So, what has this school done for Toby and for us parents?

Let me tell you a little about a day in class…

When we coop, we are excited a) to see our child interact with others his age, b) we are excited to see the other kids with all their energy, c) we are excited to see the teachers in action with our kids and others.  d) we are excited to watch them eat the snacks we bring, e) and we are even a little exited for bathroom duty and cleaning up.  IT IS BONDING.   When you have excited parents, you will have excited kids.  They feed off our energy.  When we go home, we have so much more to talk about when we have been there.  We understand our children better and can accommodate any changes with personal knowledge and deeper empathy. 

I must add that we have met wonderful parents and have developed great friendship with them – that would not be possible in a “drop off, hands off” school.  The unity parents feel at drop off and pick up time with the parents is special.  All the other outside school activities are so much more rewarding when you know the children and their parents. 

I could not imagine at this point a preschool where we could not participate, and it will be deeply sad for me to let Toby go to Kindergarten and beyond, but I will smile knowing I was there, in preschool, doing my best for my child.  I will smile knowing that the love that I put in has rewarded my son in his development.  There is plenty of evidence that the more parents are involved in their child, the better off, and HAPPIER, they will be in all aspects. 

So, under the current proposed changes, it will be impossible for me to be a cooping parent.  And frankly with my current training and understanding of these kids, any additional hours will do nothing more to benefit anybody.