Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Department of Social Services
 
Board
State Board of Social Services
 
chapter
Standards for Licensed Child Day Centers [22 VAC 40 ‑ 185]
Action Amend Standards for Licensed Child Day Centers to Address Federal Health and Safety Requirements
Stage Proposed
Comment Period Ended on 4/6/2018
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4/2/18  4:54 pm
Commenter: Kate Williams, AUCP

Impact of New Regulations on Families and Cooperative Preschools
 

Parent cooperative preschools are one of the main reasons I left my full time teaching job. Involvement in a traditional cooperative preschool has been incredibly beneficial to both my childrens' development and my own parenting skills. The essential elements that make parent co-ops so successful 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.

I respectfully urge you to implement the above changes to the proposed regulations in order to
preserve the viability of traditional cooperative preschools.

CommentID: 64433