Action | Amend Standards for Licensed Child Day Centers to Address Federal Health and Safety Requirements |
Stage | Proposed |
Comment Period | Ended on 4/6/2018 |
I am a parent of a Kindergartner in Arlington Public Schools (an AUCP alum) as well as two younger children who are or will be enrolled at Arlington Unitarian Cooperative Preschool (AUCP) over the next 3 years. We chose a cooperative preschool very intentionally because of the involvement of parents in the classrooms and the resulting community that is built around that involvement. It is a greater burden on parents, but we decided it was worthwhile because of the culture of the school and the opportunity to watch our children learn and grow. It is also a wonderful opportunity to grow as a parent and as a family - the training we receive to participate in the classroom as volunteer teachers' aides is very valuable.
Parent cooperative preschools, which have existed for over 100 years, are placed in jeopardy in Virginia by the Proposed Amended Standards. Current Standards for Licensed Child Day Centers recognize the critical role of parent volunteers in the parent cooperative preschool model by including for cooperative parents an exception requiring limited training annually. This exception recognizes the unique role that parents hold in a cooperative preschool, as well as the intrinsic value of an early childhood education model premised on parent involvement.
The Proposed Amended Standards as drafted, however, undermine rather than support the cooperative preschool model by requiring cooperative parents to either:
(1) Complete the 36 training hours (16 orientation, 20 ongoing) required of professional staff, or
(2) Remain in constant sight and sound supervision of a staff member.
These two alternatives fail to recognize that:
•Cooperative parents undergo the same background checks as staff;
•Cooperative parents assist professional staff in the classroom 1-2 days/month, for a total of 3-6 hours/month (thus required training hours could exceed the number of hours in class for the entire year);
•Cooperative parents serve a unique position in the classroom, where they remain under the guidance and supervision of professional staff but may at times not be in sight and sound supervision of staff.
These changes are unduly burdensome both to the cooperative parents who seek meaningful engagement in their children’s educations and to the small cooperative preschools that rely on parent engagement to survive.
To preserve the parent cooperative preschool in Virginia, the Proposed Amended Standards should be revised to allow cooperative preschool parents to work in the classroom without sight and sound supervision of a staff member provided that the parent:
(1)Satisfactorily completes the same background checks required of professional staff; and
(2)Completes a total of 4 hours of orientation and ongoing training annually.
We respectfully urge you to implement the above changes to the proposed regulations in order to preserve the viability of traditional cooperative preschools.