Action | Amend Standards for Licensed Child Day Centers to Address Federal Health and Safety Requirements |
Stage | Proposed |
Comment Period | Ended on 4/6/2018 |
Volunteer Parents in Cooperative Preschools should be counted in staff ratios
Volunteer Parents in Cooperative Preschools should have 4 hours of training annually
The new requirements for staff orientation (22VAC40-185-240) and ongoing training (22VAC40-185-245) would impose an undue burden on our parents by expecting them to complete 16 hours of orientation and 20 hours per year of ongoing training. Parents who are volunteering their time are simply not going to be willing or able to complete the same orientation and training requirements as our paid classroom teachers. Meekins is a part time preschool program which operates 3 hours a day for 9 months a year. Holding parent volunteers in cooperative preschools to the same training standards as full-time day care providers is unrealistic.
We request that the total number of training hours (both orientation and ongoing, collectively) for cooperative preschool parents be limited to the current 4 hours. Please remove the language "who are not considered staff" from section 22VAC40-185-245C describing the required annual training for cooperative preschool parents. Please include an exception for cooperative preschool parents in the new orientation training section 22VAC40-185-240.