Being a parent is the most important and difficult job that you will ever do in your life!  It is a job a person is never fully prepared for, nor can it be successfully accomplished alone.  Parents need support.  Children need interaction with other children and adults.  The Manito Parent Teacher Cooperative preschool (Co-op) is a place that satisfies both of these needs.

What is a parent co-operative preschool?
The Manitor Preschool cooperative program is established as an Adult Continuing Education Class of the Community Colleges of Spokane Institute for Extended Learning.  The purpose of the Co-op is for parents to join with a Facilitator to enhance the parenting experience by furthering personal growth and parenting skills, providing parental support, and to enhance childhood development and self-esteem through a variety of learning experiences.

As a member of the Manito parent co-op, you enroll as a community college student taking a non-graded Parent Education class.  The classes are 3-4 credits per quarter.  The number of college credits that a co-op has is what gets the state higher education vocational funds to pay the Facilitator’s contract.  Being affiliated with the college allows the co-op to purchase liability and child accident insurance at a much reduced rate as well as tap into the educational resources at the college .