Description of Benefits & Requirements

Benefits

Parent Education Lending Library: The co-op has curated a collection of parenting and child-related books that can be borrowed. 

Children’s Book Lending Library: We maintain a lending library of children’s books that includes board books, picture books and sets that include audio-recordings of the book.

Play Kit Lending Library: We have a library of more than 20 take-home play kits that can be borrowed for play fun at your home. Magnet exploration, gear-building, I Spy Scavenger Hunt, Color Sorting, Square Exploration--to name just a few. The kits come with the materials and some play suggestions. 

Child Development/Parent Coaching Sessions: We offer opportunities for families to meet for 30-minute one-on-one sessions with a child development professional. Whether you have a specific concern, want to brainstorm strategies or need ideas or reassurance, these sessions offer supportive coaching and guidance. 

Tuition Discount: When members take on a greater share of the operations of the co-op, outsourcing some services becomes unnecessary. As such, the co-op is able to offer tuition discounts that correlate to each family’s service contribution commitment. 

Priority Enrollment for Classes/Programs: Serving on our Board of Directors offers one of the highest levels of priority for enrollment purposes. Thereafter, we enroll families based upon their level of membership with non-participating members having the lowest priority and Level 3 Participating members having higher priority. 

Requirements

Co-op Welcome & Orientation Meeting: This meeting is mandatory for all Participating member-families and is held in the evening (see annual calendar for specific date/time). This meeting lays the foundation for building the school year’s community of support. It provides an opportunity for families to socialize and get to know one another, in addition to orienting members with the fundamentals of the co-op--structure, operations, standards of conduct, events, etc. 

Annual Business Meeting: As a non-profit corporation, Bright Beginnings is required to hold an annual business meeting where Board Officers for the following year are elected and any bylaw changes are approved by the membership. This meeting is mandatory for all Participating member-families and is held in the evening (see annual calendar for specific date/time). 

Work Party: Upkeep, maintenance, and new projects all happen at Work Parties. These 4-hour work days are an opportunity for the co-op community to come together for the care and keeping of the spaces our children and families use. After a good day’s work on any number of projects (maybe painting a classroom or maybe building a zipline), families can stick around for some food, beverage, and socializing with one another. 

Class- and Program-Specific Requirements: There are varying requirements that may be unique to each class. These may include scheduled meetings, snack rotation, arrival/departure times, etc.

*Minimum Annual Service-Unit Contribution: The co-op utilizes a service-unit to quantify participation. Service unit value of a job or task is assigned based upon a combination of 1) estimated time it will take, 2) anticipated complexity/level of difficulty and 3) priority/urgency/importance. Service-units not completed are billed out each trimester at $30 per incomplete unit. 

Service-Unit Contribution

As a co-op, we need the talents, experience, time, and financial contributions of our families, coupled with paid, professional staff to ensure the smooth operation of the co-op and to enhance each family’s experience. The service unit program helps us all stay accountable and quantify each member’s participation. Members can fulfill their service units responsibility through year-long roles or by completing ad-hoc tasks. Please note, the service unit responsibilities are minimums - over the course of the year it is likely that you will fulfill more than these values while contributing to the operations of the co-op. Our school can not function without the participation and contribution of our member families.

YEAR-LONG ROLES

Year-long role positions* (Board Position and Classroom Assisting) have regular values assigned to the positions. While members in these roles will likely exceed their annual service-unit responsibility, the commitment is for the duration of the entire school year. Discontinuing these roles can occur only through member-resignation or special board approval.

●  Board President may receive up to 60 service units, or 15 units per quarter based on a 12-month service (July-June).

●  All other Board Positions may receive up to 13 service units per quarter, based on a 12-month service (July-June). This leaves room for ad-hoc service unit opportunities, such as events, maintenance tasks, fundraising and even classroom assisting.

●  Classroom Assistants may receive up to 5 units per month to members who serve as a classroom-assistant. Classroom assistants can expect to work an average of 1-3 times per month (approximately 18 times over the duration of the school year), provide one snack for the class per month and be on-call 1-2 times per month. Program coordinators will still ask for working restrictions each month, but will assign all slots. In a nine-month school year, classroom assistants can earn 45 service units and have room for ad-hoc opportunities.

AD-HOC INDIVIDUAL TASKS

Ad-hoc service unit opportunities are offered throughout the year. These service units are earned upon completion of the requested task. The service-unit value is based upon a combination of things:

●  estimated time to complete the task

●  expertise/skill/special tools required (1-2 extra service units)

●  any sense of urgency (1-2 extra service units)

Service unit requests may come from ANY member, but typically are requested by Board Members and Staff. Below is a list of possible service units you may expect for the 2022-2023 school year.