Parent Involvement

The success of a co-op preschool depends on parental involvement.

The six main responsibilities of parents involve tuition, parent-helping, preschool family jobs, fundraising, community hours, and general membership meetings.

Tuition

Parents are expected to pay the monthly tuition, which is due by the first day of each month, and considered past due by the tenth. An annual insurance payment is collected in early September that covers insurance premiums for the year. The tuition amounts are determined the previous spring when the budget is planned for the following year. Monthly tuition rates are based on a sliding scale contingent upon a family’s income level relative to the median household income for a family of four in Portland. For the 2023-24 school year, those two tuition levels are $190 or $285 a month for the 2 Day Class, $285 or $428 a month for the 3 Day Class, and $475 or $713 a month for the 5 Day Class. For more information on our sliding scale system, please visit  our tuition page.

Parent-Helping

Each school day two to three parents or other caregivers help in the classroom.  The parent-helpers arrive early by 9am to help set up the classroom, assist in supervising the children throughout the class time, and then stay after class to clean up. Parent-helping duties are equally shared among the families, which works out to be approximately once every three weeks for the 2 Day Class, once every two weeks for the 3 Day Class, and once every week for the 5 Day Class.  Parents and any other caregivers (grandparents, nannies, etc) who want to help in the classroom are required to attend a parent-helper training session in early September to become familiar with the classroom routine, location of supplies, etc.

Preschool FAMILY Jobs

Each family in the preschool has a family job that they perform to help keep Mt Tabor Preschool running smoothly. Each family is assigned one job, which can include board positions such as secretary and treasurer, as well as non-board positions such as event coordinators. Each member family will be provided a description of their assigned job and then can work with the Vice President/Jobs Coordinator to better undertand what the job entails.  Families can choose an available board position, or can let the board know about their strengths and availability for the Jobs Coordinator to better assign family jobs. 

Fundraising

Fundraising is a necessary part of parental involvement in Mt Tabor Preschool. Our fundraising activities in the past few years have included the sale of Chinook Books in the fall and an auction in the spring. The dollars raised through these activities help us to keep our tuition rates relatively low.

Community Hours

In addition to their job assignment, each family is required to contribute a minimum of 3 hours of service per year to one or more of the following committees or areas: fundraising/auction, deep cleaning, gardening, outdoor/classroom (e.g. cleaning fridge as needed), recruitment/open house, event set-up/clean-up, changing the Dramatic Play Area, errands and/or odds and ends as requested by Teacher Amy. These community hours provide another opportunity for parent involvement and help ensure that work is equally distributed amongst all Mt Tabor Preschool families.

General Membership Meetings

General membership meetings are held every month. The first General meeting in September will be an orientation meeting and both parents need to attend. Thereafter only one parent from each family is required to attend. The meetings are necessary to conduct preschool business and provide parent education.  Some months we have a family event instead of our general meeting – these family events are wonderful for building our community and giving us a chance to all have fun together.