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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4/5/18  10:39 pm
Commenter: Christopher Mills

Oppose Proposed Changes to Cooperative Preschools
 

On behalf of Rock Spring Cooperative Preschool I am requesting changes to the Proposed Standards for Licensed Child Day Centers, specifically in regard to the requirements for staff orientation and ongoing training.

The proposed new training requirements for parents who volunteer at cooperative preschools are so burdensome that they will doom the traditional cooperative preschool model. It is not feasible to ask parents of young children to undergo 16 hours of orientation training and 20 hours of annual training.

There is no way that most parents would be able to complete this training, thus effectively destroying the option of cooperative preschools. I feel lucky to have the chance to be the "helping parent" in my children's classroom--it gives me a chance to teach and interact with my son and daughter's peers, and gives my children a chance to get to know the family members of their friends too, which creates a sense of community not replicable by replacing the parents with paid staff. 

We ask that the total required 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.

Cooperative preschools have been a valued early education option in Virginia for decades. Our school, Rock Spring Cooperative Preschool, was established in 1943. The traditional cooperative preschool model has many benefits for children and families including low tuition (because the parents serve as unpaid classroom aides) and deep, meaningful parental involvement in children's early education (widely acknowledged as beneficial for children's development).

In order to comply with the new regulations, cooperative preschools would have to hire aides so that parents would not be counted in staff ratios. This would not only reduce the significance of parents' roles in the classroom, but would also raise tuition so significantly that many families would be left without any affordable preschool options.

We respectfully urge you to implement the above changes to the proposed regulations in order to preserve the viability of traditional cooperative preschools. Thank you very much. 

 

 

CommentID: 64728