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Cooperative Preschools
A Parent-participation Learning Experience
By Sharon Waldrop
Parents -- A.K.A. "Staff"
Odyssey O. Wofford is the director of the Lake Arrowhead Cooperative Preschool in Lake Arrowhead, Calif. She stresses the importance of the role that parents play in a co-op. "Parents are the 'staff' at the preschool," she says. "They work hand-in-hand with the director/teacher in keeping salary costs to maybe one or two paid employees." Odyssey says that it's common for parents to provide snacks, drinks, paper goods and party goodies. By serving on the Board of Directors as volunteers, parents "devote a lot of time and energy in making their children's school a better place." At the school in Lake Arrowhead, parents are required to help with the upkeep of the preschool by attending school maintenance days a couple of times a year, which helps keep costs down because outside maintenance workers do not need to be hired. Wofford says that the cooperative preschool atmosphere is a positive one where all aspects of learning take place. Children are free to choose activities where parents and the teacher act as facilitators. "It is a warm and loving environment where children are motivated to interact, create, explore and problem solve. They learn by doing things and playing. The parents and the teacher encourage them to have fun."
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