
New & Current Members
This page is for new members seeking enrollment forms and other information as well as current members seeking renewal/change forms and other Co-op information.
Enrollment Packet
Please fill out these forms and return them to the office
Please download all of the enrollment forms from our Enrollment Forms Google Drive folder, fill them out, and return them to the office or email them to meghan@coopchild.org.
For the safety of our children, you will need a TB (tuberculosis) test, so please be sure to also read and follow the instructions in the "Obtaining a TB Test" document in the Co-op Information Google Drive folder.
Parent Membership Guide, New Parent Handbook, and Sick Policy
Please read these documents
All three of these documents, along with other useful information, are available in our Co-op Information Google Drive folder.
The Parent Membership Guide is designed to help introduce new parents to the Co-op. It expands on the parent volunteer role and techniques for working with children in the classroom. This document contains crucial information on parent responsibilities and many helpful tips, so please read it carefully!
The New Parent Handbook provides information on how the Co-op meets various state requirements for child care facilities.
The Co-op follows guidelines from Public Health of Seattle-King County on when to keep your child home. Please do your part to keep our community healthy and safe!
Background Check
Obtaining a Background Check
Because you will be working with children at the Co-op, you will need to get a background check through the MERIT web site. Note that our school is listed as “COOPERATIVE CHILDRENS CENTER” (all caps and no apostrophe), and you’ll need to sign up as a volunteer.
1. After logging into the MERIT site, click on the "Professional Record" tab.

2. Under the Early Care & Educational section click the "add Employment" button. Select the checkbox for "licensed childcare facility" then search for COOPERATIVE CHILDRENS CENTER and select it. It will then give you job titles to choose from and one of them is "Center Volunteer".

Parent Requirements
What do I need to do as a parent?
The Co-op provides quality care at a full range of hours and your involvement and support are crucial. Parent participation enables the Co-op to incorporate a wide variety of parent skills in each child’s day, as well as a family atmosphere. This structure also provides you as a parent a special opportunity to participate in your child’s world. As a parent at the Co-op, your responsibilities will include working as a staff member in your child’s classroom, attending parent meetings workshops on a semi monthly basis, business meetings and work parties, and other Co-op activities. You will be asked as part of your work in the classroom to wash snack dishes, read to or play with a group of children, accompany another parent or teacher on excursions, wipe down tables, mix paints – whatever is needed, when it is needed. Expect to work in the center 2 hours a week if your child is enrolled 4 or more days each week, 1.5 hours a week if they are enrolled 3 days each week, and 1 hour if they are enrolled 2 days each week. If you will miss your scheduled parent work hours, you must let the teacher know in advance (the Thursday before your shift) and you will need to trade hours with another parent to work your hours when you are unavailable (due to vacation, illness etc). A late fee will be charged for being late or failing to find another parent to take on your hours. In order to allow for adequate coverage of the work schedule and to protect the Co-op financially, you must give 30 days written notice if you are withdrawing from the Co-op. If this notice is not given, regardless of the reason for withdrawal, you will be liable for tuition fees and the missed work hours. Fees cannot be refunded after payment is made.
Tuition & Fees
Tuition is due by the 5th of each month, and may be paid automatically. Your tuition covers breakfast, two mid-day snacks, and the overall day-to-day needs for your child (excluding diapers). Our membership votes on our budget, and new tuition rates take effect every July.
Tuition Rates & Parent Hour Commitment
Classroom Name | Full-time | 4 days/ week | 3 days/ week | 2 days/ week |
---|---|---|---|---|
Sun Room
(1-2.5 yrs) | $2789/month
+2 hrs/wk | $2399/month
+2 hrs/wk | $2042/month
+1.5 hrs/wk | $1420/month
+1 hr/wk |
Star Room
(2-3.5 yrs) | $2630/month
+2 hrs/wk | $2254/month
+2 hrs/wk | $1924/month
+1.5 hrs/wk | $1336/month
+1 hr/wk |
Moon/ Comet Room
(3-5 yrs) | $2267/month
+2 hrs/wk | $1943/month
+2 hrs/wk | $1655/month
+1.5 hrs/wk | $1161/month
+1 hr/wk |
Drop In Rate
The full-day drop in rate for all classrooms is $120.
Drop in days are for families who are currently enrolled or who have been enrolled in the Co-op within the past 12 months.
Late Fees & Fines
Late Fine: (late for 5:30pm pick up) $5.00/minute
Late pick up charges will be added to your next month tuition statement.
Parents may also be charged a fine payable to the Co-op for repeatedly being late for parent hours
Late Tuition: 5% of balance if not paid by the 5th of the month
Exceptions must be approved by the director prior to the 5th of the month.
Missing Mandatory Meetings or Work Party: $50*
Check Returned by Bank: $20.00
*Each family can miss one mandatory meeting without a fine. Work parties are mandatory and will incur a fine if not arranged prior with the director.
Email Lists
Keeping Co-op emails out of your spam folder
The Co-op uses email lists communicate with the membership -- general news, school closures, curriculum plans, field trips and other announcements, etc. Each family will be added to the full Co-op list as well as a classroom-specific list for each classroom in which they have a child.
In their perpetual quest to make our lives easier, spam filters occasionally misbehave and hide emails from us that we want! This happens from time to time with Co-op emails, so if you use GMail, we recommend that you follow these instructions to set up a filter to prevent Co-op emails from going to your spam folder.
First, download the file that you'll need by clicking here. It will save a file called "coop-is-not-spam.filter" to your downloads folder. Next, open your Gmail settings:

Then go to the Filters & Blocked Addresses tab:

Then, click "Import filters" which will reveal a new section, click the "Choose File" button, choose the "coop-is-not-spam.filter" file you downloaded in the first step, and click "Open file"

You will see a single filter that tells GMail to not send any emails going through coopchild.org mailing lists to your spam folder. Click "Create filters" to complete the process:

You should now see your new filter:

And you're all done! You can close the window now and stop worrying about Co-op emails going to spam!