Co-op Commitment: Parent Jobs and Co-oping Hours
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West Philadelphia Cooperative Preschool is a working co-op. Our only paid staff are teachers and a part-time coordinator. That means that parents work together to keep the school running. Every family is asked to commit to an average of 2 hours/week to the school, which includes the parent job as well as co-oping hours. A parent job is a role your family agrees to perform for the duration of an academic year (including summer) and has a list of routine duties which define the job. Parent jobs can be anything from “Go-Getter/Snack Parent” who buys snacks each week, “Laundry Parent” washes towels and rags weekly, to “Lead Parent” who oversees all school operations, “Treasurer” manages finances and billing, etc.
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Co-oping hours
Co-oping hours are floating hours which every family must complete per term by performing a variety of school-related tasks. The number of co-oping hours required by each family depends on the intensity of the parent job, where more time-intensive parent jobs require fewer co-oping hours, and less time-intensive parent jobs require more co-oping hours. (Details on co-oping hours below).
Required hours per family, per term (parent job + co-oping hours combined):
Families run and operate WPCS cooperatively. Over the school year, assuming 25 families are volunteering at $15/hr, parents provide a sweat equity value of nearly $30,000! Do not underestimate the importance of your contribution to the functioning of the school.
Required hours per family, per term (parent job + co-oping hours combined):
- Fall: 31 hrs per family over 15 weeks
- Spring: 48 hrs per family over 23 weeks
- Summer: 1 hour per every week enrolled, up to 11 hours
Families run and operate WPCS cooperatively. Over the school year, assuming 25 families are volunteering at $15/hr, parents provide a sweat equity value of nearly $30,000! Do not underestimate the importance of your contribution to the functioning of the school.
Parent Jobs
Here is a list of all the parent jobs that currently exist at school
NOT CURRENTLY ACTIVE JOBS
- Lead Parent- oversees all school operation
- Secretary- takes notes at all the meetings
- Personnel Coordinator- suppors staff, works in an HR capacity
- Treasurer- manages finances, budgeting, billing
- Membership Coordinator- outreach, open houses, enrollment, manages the school roster
- Co-oping Coordinator- makes sure all families are placed in parent jobs and creates opportunities for parents to complete co-oping hours
- Assistant Personnel Coordinator- helps personell parent
- Assistant Treasurer- helps treasurer
- Assistant Membership Coordinator
- Payroll Processor
- Indoor and Outdoor Maintenance
- Snack Parent / Go-Getter- buys snacks weekly, get’s teachers supplies when needed
- Laundry/Entry Caretaker- washed rags, towels and dress up when necessary
- Field Trip Coordinator- plans field trips
- Sub-Finder/ Meeting Childcare organizer
- Marketing/ Fundraiser
- Assistant Sub-Finder
- School Day Support (SDS)- works at school for a two hour shift once a week (ideally, the shift is the same each week)
- Licensing and Moving Research Coordiantor- working to investigate how to formally license and potentially move
NOT CURRENTLY ACTIVE JOBS
- Grant-writer/Newsletter/Alumni Relations
- Technical Support
Co-oping tasks
These are examples of tasks that could count as co-oping at school. Unless otherwise noted, parents receive credit for the actual number of hours worked.Co-oping can be done on campus or off campus. It can involve joining a committee or coming to school and doing specific tasks like:
Opt-out Policy
When a family feels that they don't have the time to commit to co-oping hours, they can choose to buy out a portion of those hours at $15/hr. This is called opting out. If you do not opt-out at the beginning of the semester, and do not complete your co-oping hours, those families are expected to pay $20/hr. Exceptions to this policy will be made on a case by case basis in cases of family hardship, health problems, or other circumstances that makes a family unable to complete cooping hours.
Every family is expected to be present and working at the school at least a little bit for that good old-fashioned co-op feel, so no family is permitted to opt-out of all their hours, except for the exceptions listed above.
- Cleaning: basic organizing, and maintenance tasks.
- Serving on recurring and ad-hoc committees: including but not limited to: Budget/Finance Hiring, Marketing, Diversity, et al. Parents earn 3 co-oping hours per committee served.
- Schoolwide Workdays: variety of larger tasks like painting, occurring every fall and spring
- Playdate Hosting: when Membership Coordinator cannot host a playdate due to schedule restrictions, other parents can receive up to 2 co-oping hours for hosting a playdate.
- Chaperoning Field Trips - according to current policies requiring certifications.
- Parent-Led Activities - time spent leading activities during school hours.
- Meeting Childcare - providing childcare for Town Hall and other Committee Meetings.
- Last-Minute Subbing for teachers - Parents can choose to be paid hourly as a sub, or to receive co-oping hours for their time.
- Covering teacher breaks between 2 and 3 pm: for teachers working a full school day and staying on for aftercare- they get a one hour break between 2 and 3 pm.
Opt-out Policy
When a family feels that they don't have the time to commit to co-oping hours, they can choose to buy out a portion of those hours at $15/hr. This is called opting out. If you do not opt-out at the beginning of the semester, and do not complete your co-oping hours, those families are expected to pay $20/hr. Exceptions to this policy will be made on a case by case basis in cases of family hardship, health problems, or other circumstances that makes a family unable to complete cooping hours.
Every family is expected to be present and working at the school at least a little bit for that good old-fashioned co-op feel, so no family is permitted to opt-out of all their hours, except for the exceptions listed above.