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On behalf of Annandale 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. 

 Since 1947 Annandale Cooperative Preschool has been a place for parents to actively participate in their children’s education by working directly in our classrooms as teachers’ aides.  The new requirements for staff orientation (22VAC40-185-240) and ongoing training (22VAC40-185-245) would impose an undue burden on our parents by expecting them to complete 16 hours of orientation and 20 hours per year of ongoing training.  Parents who are volunteering their time are simply not going to be willing or able to complete the same orientation and training requirements as our paid classroom teachers.   

 We request that the total 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. 

 Parents working in classrooms at Annandale Cooperative Preschool complete all of the background checks outlined in Background Checks for Child Welfare Agencies.  They work under the direct supervision of well qualified classroom teachers in our award winning, NAEYC accredited program.

If the orientation and ongoing training sections of the proposed standards are not changed, cooperative preschools like ours will be forced to hire additional staff, making the cost prohibitive for many of our families.  Cooperative schools may have to close as parents are unwilling to enroll their children in programs which put unreasonable burdens on them.  Either outcome robs children of the high quality, affordable early education that cooperative preschools provide.

Very clear research indicates that a parent's direct involvement in their child's classroom benefits them greatly. This is true even from a very young age (see Ansari, Castro, and other research at the Head Start level). A cooperative preschool like ACPS provides an exceptional outlet for parents and teachers to work in unison. The teachers are able to share their training and resources with a broad set of parents with varied skills they can also contribute to the classroom. The time and resources of each parent that commits to this model of education should be respected. Personally, having a chance to connect with my son as he started his education showed him the importance of education in our family and helped me better understand how I could help him learn. ACPS is a model for a true cooperative program thriving for over 70 years.

Thank you for helping preserve the cooperative preschool model in Virginia, Lauren Brennan