DC Cooperative Play Program

[Anonymous]

We are considering having our daughter start in one of the DC Cooperative Play Program groups (2.5-4 yo group). Probably the Friendship/Turtle Park location or Chevy Chase Rec Center location, but we could consider another location if we get good feedback about other sites. (I know proximity is important, but we aren't in any of these exact neighborhoods so several locations are within a similar distance range for us.)

Is anyone participating in one of these groups this year and can you tell me anything about your facilitator, group vibe, etc? Prior discussions on this forum seem mixed so I thought I'd ask before we sign up.

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

I’ve heard good things about the Turtle Park location. The co-op play program quality and organization seems to really depend on the facilitator and facilities at each location. We tried the Chevy Chase co-op play program this fall when my daughter was 21 months old. We did not stick with it bc of many issues, including that the city hadn’t begun background checks for all adults volunteering until two weeks into the program starting, one of the facilitators was on their phone a lot of the time, the other facilitator was defensive about anything parents brought up or asked about, and there were only 4 other kids which meant parents had to do extra coop days. In addition the playground at the rec center is in bad shape with gravel all over , and plywood around a broken slide and it felt unsafe. It’s also designed for bigger kids. The city does not appear to do anything about it. I assume because the whole rec center is going to be replaced in the near future. It was disappointing because we were really looking forward to it for the part-time, coop, and play based approach. We ended up enrolling in AllSaints pre-k on Chevy chase circle for half days, two days a week and are happy we ended up there.