As a cooperative preschool, RCNS depends on the involvement of its parents. Not only do parents get a chance to participate in day-to-day classroom activities, but we also serve in administrative roles and help in fundraising efforts to support the school.
Parent Cooperative Preschools International says it this way: “Parents gain insight into child behavior by observing other children. They observe how other parents and the professional teachers handle various situations and gain greater understanding and enjoyment of their own children through active participation in their education. They have the opportunity to share their experiences and expertise with others while working together in a cooperative setting.”And there’s much more. As two RCNS parents recently wrote on a local site, “Parents get to know all the children in the classroom deeply. We develop a sense of shared responsibility to each others’ children, and our children learn that they are nurtured by a wide variety of adults.”Parents set school policies regarding everything from snacks to class size, and parent input is valued in every aspect of the school. Our cooperative nursery school allows parents the opportunity to directly influence how the school impacts their children. The end result is a nurturing, caring preschool environment, where both children and parents feel valued.”
To provide a quality nursery school program for our children, parents have the following responsibilities to RCNS:
- Classroom co-oping on a rotating basis: Parents take turns being in the classroom as teacher’s assistant for the full school day, and bringing a favorite fresh fruit or vegetable to share for snack.
- Saturday housekeeping, once per family each year
- An administrative job, to substantively contribute to the running of our school
- Participation in the Yellow Balloon Fair
More information on parent responsibilities and the cooperative experience may be found in our 2012-2013 Parent Handbook.
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*Parents of children who are enrolled in the Parent/Child class have only the following responsibilities:
- Co-oping on a rotating basis: Parents take turns bringing a favorite fresh fruit or vegetable to share at snack time, and helping with setup and cleanup.
- Saturday housekeeping, once per family each year
- Participation in the Yellow Balloon Fair
Tuesday Parent/Child class parents may elect to undertake an administrative job for the school upon request, in accordance with their own strengths and interests and the needs of our cooperative school, and would be released from Saturday housekeeping responsibility in thanks for this contribution. For example, a parent interested in the workings of the school could be the parent representative to the board on behalf of the P/C 2s class. Please contact the parent who serves as Adminstrative Jobs Coordinator or school director Kim Mahoney.
