Parent Involvement at ALG

Parents and the professional staff work together to create ALG's special environment.

ALG has functioned as a cooperative program since 1993, and has been enriched by the talents and experience of parents, as well as by the greater sense of community that results from greater family involvement. Parents who contribute classroom or administrative time are charged a lower tuition.

Most parent involvement comes in the form of direct classroom participation. "Co-opers" spend one or two mornings a month at the school on a day when their child attends. Co-oping offers parents the unique opportunity to interact with their child and their child's peers in a comfortable environment free of everyday distractions. Cooping also allows children to learn from, and interact with, other parents.

Co-opers also fill administrative positions at the school, and along with the director, form the school's steering committee. All parents, including non co-opers, are expected to attend parent meetings, workshops, and parent-teacher conferences, and help out with clean up workdays at the school and our annual fundraising auction.

The cooperative system brings parents and children into a community centered around the children's early experiences out in the world. Parents gain valuable support and camraderie, and children benefit from forming relationships with many interested adults around them. Many families form lasting friendships, for both parents and children, during their time at ALG; one former parent wrote an article in the Christian Science Monitor about her experience.