I don't believe it is your intent to eradicate parent cooperative preschools in Virginia, but the proposed amendments being put forth could easily do just that.  Issues that are detrimental to co-ops are requiring cooperative parents to either:

(1) Complete the 36 training hours required of professional staff, or 
(2) Remain in constant sight and sound supervision of a staff member.

These changes are unduly burdensome both to the co-op parents who seek meaningful engagement in their children’s educations and to the small cooperative preschools that rely on parent engagement to survive.

The proposed amendments fail to recognize that:

•Co-op parent volunteers undergo the same background checks as staff;
•Co-op parent volunteers assist professional staff in the classroom 1-2 days/month, for a total of 3-6 hours/month (thus, the required training hours could exceed the number of hours in class for the entire year);
•Co-op parent volunteers 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.

The current standards provide an exception for co-op volunteers, recognizing 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.  

We ask that you continue to honor this exception and save Virginia's co-op preschools.

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.

Co-op preschools have thrived in our country since they were first pioneered by Katharine Whiteside Taylor in 1916.  Please allow them to continue to thrive in Virginia.