Parent Involvement

Prev. Image Next Image

Click image(s) to enlarge

Parent Participation

As a nonprofit organization, the CEC requires contributions of money and time from a variety of sources outside of program fees to sustain the service that it provides. First and foremost, we rely upon our population of parents, the chief adult beneficiaries of our service, to provide our basic foundation of support. It is the general consensus of a succession of Boards of Trustees that the mandatory requirement of Infant/Toddler and Preschool parents providing service to the organization results in benefits that include the following:

  • An increased awareness of and positive involvement in the program that contributes, in part, to insuring the success and continued quality of the program
  • Identification and utilization of skills of parents with specific talents which would otherwise be unobtainable or expensive to acquire
  • Increased satisfaction on the part of parents because of their involvement
  • A reduction in program costs and thus tuition rates
  • A strengthening of the community atmosphere of the program through a fostering of mutual knowledge and appreciation among CEC members

The ABC’s of Parent Participation Hours

A Sign-Up

Your best source for finding Parent Participation opportunities is the This Week bulletin that is distributed every Thursday (if you are not receiving the This Week either via e-mail or in your room mailbox, please contact the office). In the bulletin, you will be informed of what the opportunity is, how to volunteer and what type of hours the activity counts towards. Please know that for the more “popular” opportunities, a lottery system may be instituted so that every family has an equal chance of participating. You may also check with your room’s Lead Teachers and the CEC office for additional opportunities and/or information.

B Record

Each time you complete a Parent Participation activity, record the number of hours, date and type of activity on a Parent Participation Hours Recording Sheet which may be picked up and returned in the office.

C Return

Turn in your completed Parent Participation Hours Recording Sheet to the marked envelope on the office’s Parent Board. In May and June, we will let you know if you have any hours outstanding.

How Many Hours Are Needed?

Upon enrollment, each CEC family has agreed to volunteer at least 16 hours if enrolled part-time and 24 hours if full-time. The number of hours required is per family and not per child.

Families have the entire program year to complete their hours (unless your child’s last day in the program is prior to the end of the year). Please know, though, that your August tuition statement will show a charge for any outstanding hours (please see Frequently Asked Questions below) even though you have until the end of the program year to complete them.

What Counts as Hours?

Almost everything! Repairing books, doing laundry for the room, field trip driving, toy washing, envelope stuffing, helping with event set-up and clean-up, sewing and moving the CEC vans just to name a few. However, we do ask that a family’s total hours are divided amongst the following categories:

  • Work Day: 8 hours
  • Fund Development: 4 hours
  • Miscellaneous: 4 hours if part-time; 12 hours if full-time

How will you know what Parent Participation activity fulfills which category? Simple: we’ll tell you in advance! For example, laundry counts as a Miscellaneous activity while helping with an Annual Fund mailing counts as Fund Development. And sometimes, an activity can be more than one category–for example, assisting with clean-up for the Wine Tasting Benefit can count as either a Fund Development or Work Day activity–and we’ll let you know that, too.

How will you know how much time an activity earns? In general, however long it takes you to complete an activity is the number of hours earned. For example, if you help with a mailing project and it takes 2 hours to stuff and label 150 envelopes, then you would record your time on the Parent Participation Hours Recording Sheet as 2 hours. The only exception is laundry, which counts as ½ hour per load. For some special activities, such as moving vans or Board service, we will let you know if they fulfill all your hours for the year.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are families required to do hours? There are numerous benefits to both the program and families, including: a strengthening of the parent-child-Center relationship; increased involvement in the program which contributes, in part, to insuring its continued quality; and a strengthening of the community atmosphere.

What if hours aren’t completed? Any hours not completed will be billed at the following rates: $30.00 for Work Day; $25.00 for Fund Development; and $20.00 for Miscellaneous. A family may also choose to “buy out” of participation at the above rates.

What if my family enters after the program year begins or leaves prior to the end of the program year? Parent participation hours are pro-rated for either situation and you’ll be notified what amount of hours you will need to complete.

We realize that all this may be somewhat confusing and as such, we are more than happy to be of assistance– just stop by the office (or call or e-mail at cec@ceconline.org), and we’ll be more than happy to answer any questions!

Thank you, in advance, for your time and efforts – your involvement truly makes the CEC the special place it is for children, families and staff!

Prev. Image Next Image

Click image(s) to enlarge

Parent Participation

As a nonprofit organization, the CEC requires contributions of money and time from a variety of sources outside of program fees to sustain the service that it provides. First and foremost, we rely upon our population of parents, the chief adult beneficiaries of our service, to provide our basic foundation of support. It is the general consensus of a succession of Boards of Trustees that the mandatory requirement of Infant/Toddler and Preschool parents providing service to the organization results in benefits that include the following:

  • An increased awareness of and positive involvement in the program that contributes, in part, to insuring the success and continued quality of the program
  • Identification and utilization of skills of parents with specific talents which would otherwise be unobtainable or expensive to acquire
  • Increased satisfaction on the part of parents because of their involvement
  • A reduction in program costs and thus tuition rates
  • A strengthening of the community atmosphere of the program through a fostering of mutual knowledge and appreciation among CEC members

The ABC’s of Parent Participation Hours

A Sign-Up

Your best source for finding Parent Participation opportunities is the This Week bulletin that is distributed every Thursday (if you are not receiving the This Week either via e-mail or in your room mailbox, please contact the office). In the bulletin, you will be informed of what the opportunity is, how to volunteer and what type of hours the activity counts towards. Please know that for the more “popular” opportunities, a lottery system may be instituted so that every family has an equal chance of participating. You may also check with your room’s Lead Teachers and the CEC office for additional opportunities and/or information.

B Record

Each time you complete a Parent Participation activity, record the number of hours, date and type of activity on a Parent Participation Hours Recording Sheet which may be picked up and returned in the office.

C Return

Turn in your completed Parent Participation Hours Recording Sheet to the marked envelope on the office’s Parent Board. In May and June, we will let you know if you have any hours outstanding.

How Many Hours Are Needed?

Upon enrollment, each CEC family has agreed to volunteer at least 16 hours if enrolled part-time and 24 hours if full-time. The number of hours required is per family and not per child.

Families have the entire program year to complete their hours (unless your child’s last day in the program is prior to the end of the year). Please know, though, that your August tuition statement will show a charge for any outstanding hours (please see Frequently Asked Questions below) even though you have until the end of the program year to complete them.

What Counts as Hours?

Almost everything! Repairing books, doing laundry for the room, field trip driving, toy washing, envelope stuffing, helping with event set-up and clean-up, sewing and moving the CEC vans just to name a few. However, we do ask that a family’s total hours are divided amongst the following categories:

  • Work Day: 8 hours
  • Fund Development: 4 hours
  • Miscellaneous: 4 hours if part-time; 12 hours if full-time

How will you know what Parent Participation activity fulfills which category? Simple: we’ll tell you in advance! For example, laundry counts as a Miscellaneous activity while helping with an Annual Fund mailing counts as Fund Development. And sometimes, an activity can be more than one category–for example, assisting with clean-up for the Wine Tasting Benefit can count as either a Fund Development or Work Day activity–and we’ll let you know that, too.

How will you know how much time an activity earns? In general, however long it takes you to complete an activity is the number of hours earned. For example, if you help with a mailing project and it takes 2 hours to stuff and label 150 envelopes, then you would record your time on the Parent Participation Hours Recording Sheet as 2 hours. The only exception is laundry, which counts as ½ hour per load. For some special activities, such as moving vans or Board service, we will let you know if they fulfill all your hours for the year.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are families required to do hours? There are numerous benefits to both the program and families, including: a strengthening of the parent-child-Center relationship; increased involvement in the program which contributes, in part, to insuring its continued quality; and a strengthening of the community atmosphere.

What if hours aren’t completed? Any hours not completed will be billed at the following rates: $30.00 for Work Day; $25.00 for Fund Development; and $20.00 for Miscellaneous. A family may also choose to “buy out” of participation at the above rates.

What if my family enters after the program year begins or leaves prior to the end of the program year? Parent participation hours are pro-rated for either situation and you’ll be notified what amount of hours you will need to complete.

We realize that all this may be somewhat confusing and as such, we are more than happy to be of assistance– just stop by the office (or call or e-mail at cec@ceconline.org), and we’ll be more than happy to answer any questions!

Thank you, in advance, for your time and efforts – your involvement truly makes the CEC the special place it is for children, families and staff!