Co-Operative Nursery School

My daughter loves it here. She learns a lot through their program, and it fits what my idea of a preschool should be. This is a play based school, but the children learn as much as in any other preschool! I love how close knit and involved everyone is here too.

We love the Co-​Op Nursery school! My now-​kindergartener started there at 15 months in their parent-​tot class which was a great way for us to get out of the house for some fun activities and meet other local families since we were new to the area. He then went through their other classes — 2-​year old, 3-​day, and PreK. He is now doing great in Kindergarten and loves school and I feel that the Co-​Op is a big reason why.
My three-​year old now goes to the Tuesday/​Thursday class from 9 to 11 am and his teachers are wonderful — patient and caring and they are so dedicated to helping the kids participate in a lot of fun and educational activities.
My 15-​month old will start soon with the parent-​tot class also. It is so fun to watch the little ones interact with each other and explore the activities and toys in the room.
Since it is a Co-​Op, you have the opportunity to participate in your child’s education by being the third grown-​up in the classroom once every 6 to 8 weeks. (Except for parent-​tot where you stay each week.) If you work or otherwise are not able to be in the classroom, there is an option that the school can provide an aide. (Just costs a little bit more.)
All of the staff are very special and so great with the kids! (And they often have good parenting advice too!)

All three of my children went to this preschool. They had so much fun and learned a lot. The school is play based which allows the children to explore and learn at their pace. The staff is wonderful. They take the time to know your child and help them in areas that they struggle.
Among many things that are good it’s wonderful to be able to participate in helper days. You can see how your child is doing along with meeting their friends in the class. I enjoyed helping throughout the year!
I would recommend this school to friends
and family. It’s a great environment for children and parents.

Great place! All of our children went to the co-​op and it was a great start to their education. We also met so many families and loved being involved in a great school.

I’ve used a day care before, but since being laid off, I thought I would put my younger child in this school for 2 – 3 year olds, so she would have something to look forward to during the week. She was used to being with other kids at the day care and was already potty trained. I’ve heard nothing but fantastic things, but after experiencing this place, I feel much different. (maybe it was just the 2 day class that I felt wasn’t good?)
The school strongly encourages you to volunteer in the classroom about once a month. You get a small discount if you volunteer. That sounded OK to me. They also require you to clean the classroom once during the year. I didn’t like that part, but I agreed. There is also a fund-​raising requirement. If you don’t want to participate, you could just give them the money (that was what I did). The last thing is that you are required to be on one committee. I thought, «wow, this is a lot to do for a 2 day a week class.» The reason I choose this school was because I have an older child who starts school a little earlier and this preschool was the closest one where I could still get her there on time. I decided to take on the extra requirements and signed her up.
Well, My daughter at first loved this school. I never got the warm and fuzzy feeling when I dropped her off, but I figured if she was happy, that was all that mattered. Little by little, she was less and less excited. She would tell me that she was pushed down or that someone hit her. This was becoming more and more frequent. There were clearly a couple of kids in the class that were trouble makers. When volunteering, I could see some roughness going on. The teachers didn’t have a lot of control over the physical behavior. After my daughter complained more and more, I felt very uncomfortable dropping her off. The last straw was when she told me that a girl hit her in the face. She talked about it randomly throughout the next two days, so I knew it wasn’t a story. When the next school day came, she said she didn’t want to go back. I explained to the teacher what was going on. I decided to let her stay home for the next school day to see if she would get the desire to go back. The desire never came. I explained to the teacher that since she is only 3 and the school year was not too far away from being over, that I would let her discontinue. I didn’t want her to be afraid of school later in life. I even paid for the next month, so it’s not like I owed money.
There were other things that I didn’t like too, such as my child being labeled as «so quiet.» That drove me crazy because it seemed they were implying that something was wrong. She just isn’t an aggressive kid, so they viewed it as a negative. ???
Well, the thing that really turned me off of this place is that the person who runs it called me 2 weeks after I pulled her out and told me that maybe my child didn’t want to go back to school because the teachers had a hard time getting her to do the assessment testing. I said «what kind of testing?» She explained that she would be tested on numbers. Now, I have volunteered a total of 5 times at this point and this whole 2 day class is 90% free play with some story and snack time, so I really don’t understand what she was saying about being tested on numbers. There was no mention of any tests coming up. She said «well, I talked to the teacher and the aide and they both said that your daughter didn’t want to get tested.» Now, my daughter has no behavioral issues. She is actually enjoyable to be around. She is laid back and is very uncomfortable if she feels she is in any kind of trouble. To me, I pulled her out in a civilized manor. I didn’t feel I needed a phone call 2 weeks later to let me know that it was my daughters fault as to why she wouldn’t want to return. After this lady implied that, I was so glad to be out of there.
Oh, I’m forgetting the best part, when I registered, they lost all of our registration paperwork, check, birth certificate and physical forms. That should have been my sign to stay away. I really ignored my intuition. This was my screw up as a parent by enrolling my daughter. I feel guilty for putting her through that at such a young age.

The Cooperative Nursery School is exactly what we needed! The teachers are incredibly nurturing and absolutely love working with children. The preschool is play based but they do a good job of letting you know what academic areas are being addressed through all of the playing that they do. My daughter learns so much! I know that she is safe and cared for while she is there. They are willing to work with you on potty training if your child isn’t quite ready by age 3. They also have classes for moms and tots and a once a week class for two year olds. I can’t recommend this school enough! We love it!!!