Triangle Cooperative Preschool

I attended Triangle in the 1980's as a student so when it came time to send my oldest to preschool I really only had one place in mind. We attended weekly summer meetups in local parks leading up to the first year of school, so we got to know a lot of the families and kiddos. I immediately felt i had found a community of parents that were like minded and caring. As a trained educator myself I feel strongly about play based education for children and I'm so happy that Triangle has held on to this practice through the years between my attendance and my sons. We are excited to be starting our second year and look forward to sending our twins to Triangle when they are old enough as well!

We absolutely love Triangle. If you are interested in the Co-op model, Triangle is really a great place to start your kid's school journey. Abby, the teacher, is amazing and caring. I love that it is play based and has remained steadfast in that philosophy; it's been a joy to be with the kids in the classroom and watch them grow over the course of the year! I also appreciate the kids are always going outside (the playground is 10/10). My three year old has grown tremendously since October, he is so much more confident and adventurous. I can't say enough great things, the community is an added bonus. An Ann Arbor gem!

This preschool is the first one that I got in contact with here in the US. I love the co-op concept where me as a parent can be involved in the daily activities of my kid, and the kid of others. At the same time I have also been active on the board and this gives even more involvement in what is going on and how things are ran. The concept of learning by playing is something that I treasure and I feel that this is very important at the young age. My kid was born during the covid pandemic and had little to no social interactions with others until attending the preschool. And seeing how he has grown in this department is heart warming. Totally recommend this place for everyone. Play while we are young!

Our year at Triangle was met with disappointment after disappointment. At the open house we were warmly greeted and we were excited by the Triangle community. My wife served as vice president then president, before being asked to step down by teacher Susan, who did not have the board's approval to do so. The volunteer job which required a tremendous amount of work, ultimately showed underlying deficiencies in the structure of the school. The board is made up of parents, so the board changes every year and nobody is around long enough to have a grasp on what’s going on. My wife brought in a retired early childhood and preschool expert who volunteered her time to better Triangle. Teacher Susan was very dismissive of the expert’s proposed ideas. My wife’s goals of fixing the budget and improving the school’s teaching and learning was met with continual hostility. We realized that Triangle’s unstructured play-based curriculum meant that it’s essentially just a playgroup, as there are no objectives or progress-monitoring, but our daughter liked the teachers and students, so we decided to let her finish out the year before finding a better fit elsewhere. With just two months left in the school year, we got a call informing us that our family was being removed from the school. We asked why and the current president could only say that the teachers felt that my wife wasn’t being cordial enough and it created an unsafe environment for the kids. We asked for examples or details but she could not provide any. There were no prior discussions or meetings with the teachers, the board, or other parents about this topic, so it was very unexpected. In the coming days, we found out that a parent had talked to teacher Susan, which resulted in the board being manipulated into removing both our family and the vice president’s family from the school immediately. We were stuck suddenly having to tell our daughter that she couldn’t go to school anymore. Just after the family removals, the president and another board member stepped down, so Triangle will be installing their fourth President this school year. Two additional families withdrew immediately and more declined to come back next year. Ultimately, we received and official apology, and a statement saying that the vote to remove our family was not official, but the damage had been done and the school lost a lot of families. It's such a surprise considering Triangle markets itself for having a sense of community. I kept putting off this review because I genuinely want Triangle to succeed, but at the same time, I don’t want other families to fall into the same trap of disappointment which has consumed our year.

We are so pleased with our experience at Triangle Preschool. Our daughter loves her teacher (so do we!) and she's always excited to get up and go to school. The warm, sensitive environment feels like an extension of home - it's a great "first school" experience. There is a focus on play, exploring art and science and nature, and forging social connections and friendships. The Triangle community is a joy to be apart of; we can't imagine a better school for our daughter.