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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3/28/18  8:13 pm
Commenter: Katia Stuart-King

cooperative preschools in danger!
 

My children attend the Rock Spring Cooperative Preschool, and I am very concerned about the Proposed Standards for Licensed Child Day Centers, specifically in regard to the requirements for staff orientation and ongoing training. It is simply not possible for the vast majority of parents who volunteer at cooperative preschools to undergo 16 hours of orientation training and 20 hours of annual training. The current 4 hours required of cooperative preschool parents is much more appropriate. Please remove the language "who are not considered staff" from section 22VAC40-185-245C describing the required annual training for cooperative preschool parents. And 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 could be left without any affordable preschool options.

Please implement the above changes to the proposed regulations in order to preserve the viability of traditional cooperative preschools.

CommentID: 64364