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.  My son and daughter both attended Annadale Cooperative preschool and the six years we were able to participate in the classroom while they learned through play were an amazing experience.  Keeping up with the required 4 hours of continuing education each year was reasonable and also benefitted us as parents to learn more about child development.  If the proposed changes occur with out an exemption for cooperative preschools the requirements of 20 hours per year for parents in the classroom would be too difficult to maintain for parents, especially in families with two working parents.  It would be very unfortunate for cooperative preschools all over the state to be unable to continue to offer an experience where parents can participate in the classroom because the continuing education requirements would be impossible to fufill for non education professionals.

Thank you for your consideration,

Jon McMaster

Co-director parent education programs

Annadale Cooperative Preschool