Dr. Gary Scott is a Ninkumpoop! (LBCC cancels Parent Participation Preschool)

I can't stop thinking about this tragedy since posting about getting up at an insane hour to register my preschooler. I thought I was over it. But it's hard to get closure since Dr. Gary Scott, Dean of the department, won't return my emails. That's after he gave me his card and the serious glad-hand following the April LBCC Board of Trustee's meeting.

To fill y'all in on what I'm upset about, here's the shortest, in-a-nutshell I can muster: for 50+ years LBCC Child Development Center has offered the most wonderful co-op opportunity. I'm not exagerating that timeline. My 80 year old Great Aunt Patsy told me she was sad because it was such a wonderful resource for her and her 3 children (who are all 50-60 y.o)! And, my wonderful Grandma Vivian was once an instructor in these courses -- way back in 1940-something! This program allowed moms or dads, via a City College course, to work 1 morning a week in their child's preschool classroom, attend a wonderful parenting lecture (how else are we going to get generally fit parents to take the art of parenting to the next level???) and then their child attended 3 other mornings without them (while the other parents worked in the class). All of this for the cost of the course units and a measely $20 materials fee.

For many parents this allowed their family to afford this high quality program. This co-op preschool was responsible for taking parenting to the next level for many Long Beach families. This program exposed us to non-violent parenting and the wonderful concepts of Magda Gerber and RIE.

With the least amount of warning, the out-of-touch administrators --ahhem, like Gary Scott-- killed this program in one fell swoop. Now, some parents might argue, "We can do the 2-day a week preschool, where we have to work both days." But that only works for a small minority. For those of us who juggle work and parenting and need a more continuous schedule for our darlings, this change was equivolent to cancellation.

After posting about getting up in the middle of the night to register my preschooler in the Fall 2008 full day program, I started thinking about how easy these schmucks are getting off. Sure April Juarez, Dept. Chair, had to dodge figurative tomatoes as she double-talked and split hairs explaining the cancellation to one group of 35 parents in March. But then April and Gary made themselves scarce and virtually escaped the wrath. I mean parents -okay, moms- were in tears considering the financial and lifelong impact the Fall 2008 changes would wreak on our families and community. To see what parents had to say first hand, check out the e-petition some of the LAC Campus (campus on Carson) parents started.

Anyhow, maybe because I'm an eternal optimist, I'm not giving up hope that the co-op program can be revived. And I'm sure as hell not going to let this program go without atleast publicly exposing the folley. I'm juggling a 1 year old and an almost 3 year old on this Memorial Day afternoon, so stay posted for my plan (fyi, it won't be a full page ad in the LA Times, but even a little-read blog will be healing for me!).