How the co-op works
Families run Spelt with the teachers
Spelt is a parent cooperative. The teachers plan and teach. Parents help in the classroom on a rotation, keep the school running through one family job and meet once a month in the evening.
A parent helper works beside a teacher and is not part of the teaching staff.
A family's share
What a family does
A duty morning on a rotation
You help the teacher in the room on your family's turn, and the teacher tells you what the morning needs.
One family job
Each family takes one job for the year: the supply closet, the field trips, the garden, the newsletter or the library corner.
A monthly evening meeting
Families meet with the teachers one evening a month to plan the weeks ahead and decide things together.
Two work days
In the fall and in the spring, families spend a Saturday morning on the yard and the rooms.
Helper orientation
Before a first duty morning, a teacher walks you through the routines of the room.
A weekly note
The teachers write to families every week, and a notebook travels from one duty parent to the next.
Come and see the co-op at work
Tours are in the morning, while a class is meeting.