Co-op Options

Suburban Nursery School is proud to offer co-oping options that make our cooperative preschool accessible to families who want to be involved in their child’s classroom and early childhood education, regardless of their work or life responsibilities. Please direct any questions to our director, Betsy Meltzer

Types of Co-oping Responsibilities: 

Regular Co-oper: You must arrive 15 minutes before school starts to assist with set-up and learn about the day’s activities.  You will be asked to stay about 15 minutes after dismissal to get the classroom ready for the next day. A co-oping parent should expect to be at school from 9:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Emergency Co-oper or “E” Co-oper: You must be available and report to school to co-op for a scheduled family who had an emergency/illness that morning and cannot co-op. If all scheduled families arrive that morning, the E co-op parent is excused. If you are needed to stay as the “E” co-oper, the family that you cover for is responsible for repaying the morning by taking one of your scheduled regular co-op days.

Our Co-op Options: 

We offer two co-oping options to fit the needs of our families and which tuition is based:

Fixed Co-op Option: If you choose Fixed, you can choose to co-op one or two days per month, plus an additional day as the “E” co-oper (see explanation above). Preference for days will be considered.

Flexible Co-op Option: If you choose Flex, you will co-op 2-3 days per month, plus an additional day as the “E” co-oper (see explanation above). While we will do our very best to honor preferences for particular days of the week, the Flexible Co-op Option is meant for families who are available to co-op any day of the week.

*In order to balance the co-op schedule, there may be a limited number of each co-op option per classroom. Priority is given by the order in which tuition agreements are received with deposits.

In addition to co-oping in the classroom, each SNS family has the following responsibilities:

  • Parent Meetings*: At least one parent from each family is required to attend all parent meetings. (approximately 3-4 meetings per year)
  • Snack: Parents may be requested to bring snack for the class periodically throughout the year.
  • Set Up/Pack Up Days*: One parent is required to attend and participate in set-up and pack-up at the beginning and end of the school year respectively.
  • Truck Touch*: One parent from each family is required to be available to help with our annual fundraising event.
  • Committee or Service: Each family is required to help with the work of one of the SNS operating committees. Committees include: Board positions, Membership, Administrative, Housekeeping, Hospitality, Fundraising, Communications, and Science and Art.

*In the event parents are unable to attend one of these days prior arrangements must be made or a fine will be imposed.

Further details about co-oping obligations for our families can be found in our
Co-oping Agreement.