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Rowin Springsteel pushes a truck while Adagio van Peborgh, left, and Jamie McNelly swing away. |
CommentsParent-Run Cooperatives: A Fresh Alternative to Preschools
Published: April 11, 2009by Brooke Chabot
Learning at the Kings Beach Parents’ Co-op: (left to right) Sage Klein, Elbert Zendner, Wes Howle, Adagio van Peborgh, Jamie McNelly, Doug Howle and Director Lorelei Peborgh.
photo by Seth Lightcap
Click on images for slideshow
My daughter looks out the window longingly as a big yellow school bus rolls to a stop at the end of our street letting off a flock of backpack-laden kids. “When I get bigger, I will go on school bus too,” she exclaims hopefully. Maya is only 2 and a half but already I am feeling the pressure of preparing her for her first experiences of school. I want her to arrive on that doorstep confident, prepared and happy. And I am not alone. Some of my peers have thought about this next step since before their kids were born, putting their children through extensive application processes with interviews and observations. Feeling behind the curve, I hurriedly looked into local preschools around Truckee, and found long waiting lists, very expensive tuition costs, and student-teacher ratios that felt too high for my young toddler.
Serendipitously, I stumbled upon a flyer written by a Truckee mother offering solutions to the dilemmas we were facing. The flyer talked about an intriguing co-op concept for preschools, where parents share the responsibility of creating curriculum and providing care for the children. I met with the mother, Julie Kincheloe, and a handful of other parents who were also looking for preschool alternatives. Over pizza and salads, we found common desires; we want to be a part of our children’s education, and for our children to belong to a caring community that is flexible to their changing needs and interests. We would also like it to be affordable. Simple agreement on these basic principles has brought four families together to create our own preschool co-op.
For guidance, we’ve looked at a variety of childcare and preschool cooperatives. Some are as simple as organized play dates, while others are very large and complex organizations complete with by-laws, mission statements, and hired professionals, but all co-ops have a simple implicit and fundamental social objective: for parents and children to support and learn from each other.
The Kings Beach Parents’ Co-op is a well-structured example of a functioning preschool co-op. It opened in 2006 and enrolls up to 10 students, ages 2 to 5. Parents work along with Director Lorelei Peborgh to provide the kids with a caring and educative environment, sharing responsibilities like buying and preparing snacks, working at the co-op and attending meetings. They also make important decisions about how the co-op will run, including discipline policies and procedures. Children feel secure knowing that their parents are involved and also form meaningful relationships with a variety of adults who have come to know and care for them.
Peborgh started this program with her husband and seven other families who were feeling frustrated with the local preschools. “These families had a drive and passion to create the best education for their kids,” she says. With little funding, these families created a lasting school environment that has grown to two preschool programs and a kindergarten class. “Now that parents can see what we are doing, many want to join, but it took those dedicated few to get things started when it was unclear what the outcome would be,” says Peborgh.
Denise Springsteel is a mother of two boys who attend the Kings Beach Parents’ Co-op. Her oldest son, age 4, is enrolled and her 18-month-old accompanies her on assigned work days. When asked what she likes about this co-op she pauses and smiles. “Everything, but mostly I love just being here with him (her oldest son). I love seeing him thrive here. The program just works for him in a way that no others did.”
Over Brockway Summit, our Truckee Parents Co-op is beginning to take on its own form and structure. Four families, with seven children between us, meet twice every week as we accumulate the necessary supplies and curricula, to create an inspiring learning space. The children’s reactions to activities guides our choices as we institute circle time, music, art, outside play time and more structured Montessori activities. We each have taken on roles to ensure the success of our co-op, including researching early childhood development, visiting other preschools, leading various activities and providing snacks. All of this work has added to the strong sense of community inherent to preschool cooperatives.
As Kincheloe reflects on the Truckee co-op, she says, “There is a need in the area for mother-support groups. Also, most preschools in this area are focused on daycare instead of education and learning. Children learn better in a comfortable home-like environment where they can focus on learning and activities without the stress of being away from mother and siblings interfering with their participation. Children learn by teaching younger children, an opportunity not often available in traditional preschool settings where children are divided by age.”
“What I’ve learned so far from this process of starting a co-op,” explains Bridgett Depaoli, one of the other Truckee moms involved, “is that you just got to go for it and things will come about naturally as long as we pay attention to the children’s needs rather than our goals for them.”
~ For info on the Kings Beach Parents’ Co-op, contact Lorelei van Peborgh, Director, at 530-546-7519 or visit kingsbeachparentscoop.org. For info on the Truckee Parents’ Co-op, contact Julie Kincheloe, 530-582-5409 or kincheloes@sbcglobal.net.
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