Enduring preschool time for grownups

Preschool made a big impact on Doreen Marchione of Kirkland. She made lifelong friends and launched a political career.

Her sons were the students. Like other parents at Kirkland Cooperative Preschool, Marchione was an active participant. That was 35 years ago.

Both the school and Marchione are still going strong. She's the incoming president at the Kirkland Performance Center.

Kirkland Cooperative still serves 45 to 50 children every school year, from age 2-½ to kindergarten. One of the oldest Eastside co-ops, the school celebrates its 60th anniversary today with an open house for alumni families.

The party will be at Lake Washington United Methodist Church. There will be a cakewalk, face painting, family-friendly games and food, said teacher Pam Fenton.

The Kirkland Co-op was founded in 1947 by Helen Kirk and a few Finn Hill/Juanita/Kenmore neighbors. The school started in Kirk's remodeled chicken coop.

The founding parents hired a teacher and, like the parents today, worked at the school. (It was patterned after the national nonprofit model launched in 1916 by professors' wives at the University of Chicago.)

In the Northwest, co-ops operate under the auspices of an adult-education program. When founded, Kirkland Cooperative was part of the Seattle School District.

It eventually fell under the jurisdiction of the Lake Washington School District and now is with Lake Washington Technical College.

Parents attend a parent-education class through the college. The preschool is the lab.

It was the parenting class 20 years ago that impressed Joan McBride, Kirkland deputy mayor.

"I went in as rookie parent and came out a bona fide, careful and thoughtful parent," McBride said.

Both McBride and Marchione would recognize today's school equipment, said teacher Fenton.

"We still use records from the 1950s or 1960s and play them on a record player," she said. "We're a no-tech preschool. We don't have any battery-operated toys."

Once only mothers shared school responsibilities. Now both parents participate.

But children and parents haven't changed. Parents still learn their noisy 3-year-old behaves exactly like other noisy 3-year-olds.

"Kids still play with cars and truck and dolls and mud," Fenton said. "We let our children do what kids need to do, which is play, get messy, have fun and get comfortable with other adults."

One of the most important things about a co-op preschool, she said, is that families form a community.

Marchione can attest to that.

When her sons attended, she car pooled with Karen Marchioro, who suggested Marchione join the League of Women Voters. She did.

Marchione eventually became mayor of Redmond and recently retired as the executive director of Hopelink. Marchioro later served as head of the Washington State Democratic Party.

"You make lifelong friends in preschool," Fenton said. "My kids came here. Seven of us parents still get together every six weeks, even though our kids are now 29 years old."

Sherry Grindeland: 206-515-5633 or sgrindeland@seattletimes.com