Parent Participation
Pied Piper Preschool is a co-op that has been run by parents for over 70 years. There's no better way to participate in your child's learning and growth, and parent involvement is critical to the ongoing success of our school. For participating families, it's an affordable and rewarding way to support the development of our children in the most critical stage of their life.
Parents are required to contribute their time and effort to make for an amazing experience for all of the enrolled children. These responsibilities include:
- Co-op in the Classroom [modified for Covid safety requirements]: Parents help out in the classroom on a rotating basis.
- Family Job or Board Position: Every family holds a committee job to help our school run smoothly, the time investment for which will vary and may be performed from home, over the weekend, at the school, etc.
- Monthly Meetings: One parent rep from each family is required to attend monthly parent only meetings and a school year kickoff orientation; we do wine and food! Meetings during this time have been held by zoom on the first Tuesday of the month in September, October, November, January, March, April and May. Two absences are allowed each school year.
- Fundraising: Families will need to earn 6 credits of fundraising. Examples: join a committee to organize an event, work a booth for the annual carnival, donate an item for the annual dinner auction, bring a topping for our ice cream social, donate clothes/funds to the school via thredUP, sign up and earn money for the school through eScrip, etc.
- Maintenance: Contribute 8 hours of your time (total) during the school year to support the upkeep of our school - raking leaves, gardening, general cleanup, yard work, etc. Maintenance days are held on the first Saturday of every month from 9am to 1pm.
Co-op substitutes, Fundraising and Maintenance Buyouts are available and requiring additional fees. We are fortunate to have a Substitute Coordinator that handles the logistics so that families in need of a substitute only have to make a phone call and it's handled. Additionally, we offer 6 weeks maternity co-op leave, during which three co-op days are covered for no extra fee. Lastly, full or partial co-op buyouts are available for a limited number of families each year. If you want to join and help our school be the best place it can be for our children, we’ll do our best to make it work for you!
If you have questions about membership and participation, feel free to reach out to us at hello@piedpiperpreschool.com.
"I love the emotional and physical bonds that Pied Piper Preschool creates between the parents, children, and their teachers. The trade-off of our time and effort into making the school a special place is well worth it, and it was an amazing experience for our child that came at a much lower financial cost than that of normal preschools." Quinn Wageman, Annie and Olive’s father, 2014-18.