Dear State Board of Social Services Members,

My name is Natalie Hall  I represent Parent Cooperative Preschools International in addition to being a former cooperative preschool parent and grandparent in Arlington. A section of the Proposed Amended Standards threatens the 29 cooperative preschools in Virginia.  The requirement that a parent "volunteer" be in constant sight and sound supervison of a staff member should be changed because of the financial burden of providing additional staffing that would be needed  and 2) current and prospective parents would be discouraged from enrolling or continuing their membership if the much higher number of hours required for staff training was mandatory.

A reasonable change would be as follows: 1) continue the current regulation that parents satisfactorily complete the same background checks as staff and 2) continue the current exception that parents in a cooperative preschool complete a total of four hours of training annually.  This would allow the parents to continue to work in the classroom under the supervision of a staff member but without the constant supervision of the staff member.

BACKGROUND

The current regulations preseve a four hour annual training exception for coop parents.  The parent volunteers fit the definition of "volunteer" as 1) one who is not paid and 2) is not counted in the staff-child ration  The problem arises in 3) is in sight and sound supervision of a staff member when working with a child.  For many if not most of the 29 cooperative preschools in Virginia this change would effectively mean hiring more staff or require parents to meet the same training requirements of staff. The difficulty lies with the physical layout of the churches where most preschools are located. The additional training would be onorous and would discourage parents from joining or continuing membership.  This would jeopardize the continuation of these valuable programs in their communities.  We firmly believe children thrive when their parents are actively engaged in their children's classroom. 

Thank you for your attention and consideration.

Natalie Hall

900 26th Place

Arlington, VA 22202

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