The co-op
How the co-op works
Cork belongs to the families who run it, with three teachers who run the classroom. Four parts make up membership.
A duty morning
About every third week your family works one class morning beside the teachers. You do not need teaching experience; a teacher tells you what to do.
One family job
Each family takes a job for the year: snack, materials, the books, the newsletter, or the hall and garden.
A monthly meeting
One evening a month the families and teachers meet. The teachers explain how the classroom is going, and the families decide the co-op's business together.
Two work days
A Saturday in October and one in April, families come to repair, clean and plant around the hall.
Your morning
A duty morning, step by step
- 018:45 a.m.
Step 1: Arrive early
You arrive before the children, hang up your coat and talk with the teacher about the morning.
- 02Before class
Step 2: Set up
You help set out the materials for free play and the table for snack.
- 039:00 a.m.
Step 3: Join the room
You play beside the children and follow the teacher's lead. Say hello, kneel down and ask what they are making.
- 0410:10 a.m.
Step 4: Snack
The children serve themselves, and you pour water and sit with a few children.
- 0510:40 a.m.
Step 5: Outdoors
You go out with the group and stay beside a teacher while the children play.
- 0612:30 p.m.
Step 6: Clean up and talk
You help put the room back and tell the teacher what you noticed. Then you wave the children off at pickup.
Beside the teachers
What the parent on duty does, and doesn't
A parent on duty is a helper, not a substitute teacher. The teachers lead the room, keep the headcount and look after anything that needs first aid or personal care.
If a morning does not work out, tell a teacher. They would rather know ahead.
Sets out and clears snack
Reads or sings with a few children when a teacher asks
Stays beside a teacher, never alone with the group
Leaves first aid and personal care to the teachers
If life gets in the way
When a family cannot do a duty
Tell us early
A new baby, a change of shift or a long illness happens to every co-op family. Tell a teacher or a board member as soon as you know.
Swap with a family
The board keeps a list of families who can trade a morning. Most swaps are settled in a message or two.
Change your plan
A family can move to work-day duty for the term, with a job done outside class hours.
Ask a parent on duty
Come on a tour and talk with a member family about what the job is really like.