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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2/6/18  2:22 pm
Commenter: Meredith Le Grand, Montessori School of McLean

Elimination of Certified Preschool Exemption
 

I am concerned that the proposal includes the elimination of the Certified Preschool Exemption.  My school was under this exemption for many years as it is fully accredited by the American Montessori Society and AdvancED.  We had to add licensure when we added an aftercare program, and maintained both Certified status for the morning program and licensure for the afternoon.  This was cumbersome, and we let go of the certification, and licensed all programs.  This in itself is a concern because our school has to meet very rigorous standards, and licensure sometimes prevents us from conducting our programs in an optimal Montessori way.  If we could go back to Certified Preschool status, we would do so.  I would actually advocate for the opposite of this elimination - to allow a fully accredited school and ALL of its programs to be Certified and, therefore, exempt from licensure.  An accredited school should still have the ability to choose the exempt from licensure route.  I am pleased to see that the ratio for balanced mixed age groupings is still listed as 1:14.

CommentID: 63413