Overview

In order to keep our tuition affordable, the school relies on our member families to keep the school running. As each family is contributing their time, they also gain invaluable hands-on experience in play-based learning, attend free child development seminars and learn how to operate a school under a cooperative model. Below are the family participation requirements for members of Laurel Hill.

Workday

One 3 hour shift per week.
Each family commits to do one workday (3 hour shift) per week at the school where they work alongside the teachers and other parents leading activities and supervising the children. Your family will be assigned a specific day of the week for the course of the school year (for example, every Tuesday morning). Although you are always responsible for that day, families are generally very flexible with one another in swapping workdays in a given week if something comes up and you need to switch days. For many members, workdays are the most fun and valuable part of the co-op experience. 

Parent Education

Approximately 3 parenting seminars per semester.
Laurel Hill provides a number of free parenting seminars on topics ranging from play-based philosophy to child development to how to talk to your child about race and racism. Each family attends approximately three parent education seminars per semester. These are usually held in the evenings, although some opportunities will be made available during the day.

Committees, Work Parties, Fundraising Events

Each member family will serve on a committee and pitch in on work parties and fundraising events.
Each family is assigned to a committee for the year, for example, the Beautification committee, Auction committee or Parent Education committee. These committees keep the school running and each family can generally expect to spend on average about six hours per semester on committee work.

In addition to the committee work each family helps out at one to two work parties (like painting the school or helping maintain the yard) or fundraising events (like pancake breakfast or the auction) a semester. These are generally on the weekends, although some opportunities are for evenings or weekdays. The time commitment for each of the work parties and fundraising events is generally two to three hours.

Business Meetings

Business meetings are held on the third Tuesday of each month.
One caregiver from each family attends the monthly evening business meeting. This meeting is a chance for the committees to meet, for the Board and Director to share information about the operation of the school and for the membership to vote on any relevant matters.

Single Caregiver Families

Reduced obligations for single caregiver families.
Recognizing that time is more limited in single caregiver families, single parents or caregivers are only required to complete a portion of the work hours and attend a portion of the business and parent education meetings. If you are a single caregiver and would like to discuss the member obligations and how to make it work for your family, please reach out to the Director (sabrina@laurelhill.org) or the DEI Chair (dei@laurelhill.org).