Dear Menlo Park City Council,
It is truly unique when you find a place that continues to give to their community year after year. The Menlo Atherton Coopertive Preschool is a place that has created positive change for so many families in Menlo Park, Atherton, Palo Alto, Redwood City, Woodside, Portola Valley, Lost Altos, San Carlos, and Redwood Shores, Foster City, and Mountain View. As a leader in early childhood development, this preschool not only provides healthy positive early childhood education, it provides families the tools they need to create positive family development and growth.
Once a Coop family, you’re are a coop family for life. You are part of a strong community that is always ready to give to their community and schools. I have always been able to rely on other coop families when I am in need and I have always been able to team up with other coop families to give to our communities and schools.
I’m a Menlo Park Resident and have three children ages 10, 12, 15. I have always volunteered in my children’s schools- whether it be Home Room Parent to Science Fair, to Gardening. More recently, I have had the opportunity to volunteer a great deal at my son’s high school at Tide Academy in East Menlo Park. Because they are a new and small public high school, volunteering has been so needed and so much appreciated. Now I am a part of their Tide Education Foundation Board. We also volunteer with ning the Menlo Park Community and are active in Menlo Park events and activities.
The Menlo Atherton Cooperative Preschool has been one of the most positive influences on my families life. Because of the Coop, my kids are strong, expressive, caring, nature oriented, community oriented leaders. I see it everyday. A year ago, one of the members of my son’s basketball team accidentally nocked over the other teams players. My son was the only one from his team to go over and see it the other player was okay and ask how he could help. In another example, my 10 year old daughter recently stood up by writing a letter for some boys in her class who were being teased and unfairly reprimanded.
The Coop is a place where parents live to be a part of the community. Some of my life long friends whom I trust and rely on are from the Coop. I know that if our family were ever in need, The coop would jump into action and be there to support us.
The coop has also taught us to be better parents. We are less anxious, more loving, more open to allowing our children to grow and explore. We are less concerned about competing in this highly toxic competitive education space but more interested in raising positive confident loving people that will do amazing things in world.
The Coop a pillar of our Menlo Park Community and a leader in community cooperation. In addition, it makes Nealon Park a lively living place. We request that City Council approve a long term lease of 10 years or more with the current lease terms. The Coop school is a non-profit parent-run school with only one full-time and two part-time employees. Two of the three employees are Menlo Park residents. Approx 75% of the children at the school are Menlo Park residents.
If the Co-op were required to pay “market rate” for this space, our non-profit parent-run cooperative model would not work. Tuition would have to skyrocket, making the model untenable for most families. We are asking for a 10-year lease extension to align with the lease terms of the Little House, the other nonprofit housed inside Nealon Park.
The school has operated in Menlo Park for nearly 75 years, which means several generations of MP residents have attended the Co-op. Including many 3rd generation Co-op kids this year. The Co-op has been located within Nealon Park since 1961. The current structure was built by and for the Co-op. There are tiles on the wall with handprints of children who have now returned as parents with their own kids. This is a historic structure, and the beloved home of our school.
The current lease terms were extremely favorable ($1/yr) because the Co-op was instrumental in helping to build and fund the structure, AND because the Co-op provides a valuable service to the community.
Parent education has frequently been made open to the public. Parent education is research-backed and frequently features authors, Stanford researchers, etc.
The Co-op has historically prided itself on operating independently without taking any resources from the City. The Co-op does not cost Menlo Park any money while adding tremendous value to the community as a whole.
Co-op parents become key community leaders - serving on the boards of local nonprofits, school PTOs / foundations, coaching local sports teams, etc. The Co-op has been the incubator for parent volunteers for decades, and its impact to the community has been vast.
The Co-op has been a vital source of community building for nearly 75 years. Being a parent of young children can be very isolating; the bonds established at our school last decades. We have meal trains for people with new babies, babysit each other’s kids, step up to help during crises. This is a vibrant community that keeps people connected to Menlo Park.
Thank you for your consideration and time.
Warmly,
Sarita Motipara
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