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. 

I have been an educator for over 15 years, and am currently licensed in Virginia to teach PK-6 and as a K-12 reading specialist.  When selecting a preschool for my 3 children, I chose Annandale Coop because of the strong parent-school connection that is provided in a cooperative program.  The school, families and children all benefit from the cooperative model, where parents are fully involved and invested in their child's early childhood experiences.  This is such a valuable education model, one which I wish we would see more of at all levels of our children's education.  After being a parent at the school for many years, I became a teacher because I feel so passionate about being a part of the cooperative preschool model.  It would be a real shame for these highly successful programs to become cost prohibitive for parents, or to be forced to close, due to the increased orientation and training requirement for parents.  I thank you for considering changes to these sections of the proposed licensing requirements.  

Vicki Mansuy