A Cooperative Means Community

At LNS, parents participate in and help shape the magic of their child’s first school experience.

In keeping with the school's philosophy of cooperative education, parents are involved in all aspects of the school: policymaking, helping in the classroom, maintaining the school's facilities, fundraising, providing feedback to the staff, attending social events and by serving either on the board of directors, which meets once a month, or on a standing committee.

Most directly, by helping in the classroom, parents become part of the teaching team and have the opportunity to pay close attention to children’s play. A cooperative school establishes a strong sense of community among families because of the relationships that develop through parent involvement. Knowledge of children’s classroom experience coupled with regular communication with teachers offers parents a more complete understanding of their child’s development and the classroom curriculum.

If you have any questions about your ability to participate in our school, please contact us. We'd be happy to discuss it with you!

Common Questions

Here are some common questions that might arise when considering a co-op:

• Is a co-op feasible if both parents work?
  It certainly can be! The parent-help schedule is developed well in advance in order to accommodate preferences for days and to allow working parents to arrange for time-off. With a little notice, it’s usually not hard to switch parent-help days if something comes up at the office.
  
  
• What if my child has younger siblings?
  LNS provides a parent liaison to help find child-care alternatives for younger siblings on your parent-help days. We also provide a database of LNS family sitters and a listing of LNS families who are interested in child-care “swap” days.
  
  
• What if I have more than one child at the school?
  An appropriate parent help schedule will be developed that enables you to participate in each child's classroom. Other requirements, such as committee work and maintenance work-day are the same for all families.