Portland Tillamook Co-op Preschool

A Cooperative Preschool

Tillamook is a private, non-profit parent’s cooperative in Portland OR. The school was founded by a group of parents in 1973.

Parental involvement is the foundation of our school’s success and is part of what makes the cooperative preschool experience so rewarding for both children and their families. We all work together, with the teacher, to make the school a supportive and challenging place for our children to grow.

Our parents administer the school through an elected board. Our teacher, Anette Horten, began teaching for us in 2002. She strongly believes in Tillamook's philosophy of providing an anti-bias environment and a play-based curriculum.

ComedySportz Evening for Preschool

Patrick Short and Ruth Jenkins, former preschool members, have graciously agreed to host a fundraising evening for us at their business ComedySportz. ComedySportz is improvisational comedy where two teams battle for laughs as they make up scenes, stories and songs on the spot. Best of all, once we meet a minimum number of tickets sold, the proceeds will be donated to Portland Tillamook Preschool! The show encourages audience participation, and is always “family friendly” i.e. no inappropriate language or references. This whole family event will be on Saturday, April 18, at 4:30pm. Put it on your calendar now!

Tickets for the show must be purchased from ComedySportz directly, either on their website www.portlandcomedy.com or telephone reservations 503.236.8888. You can buy your tickets anytime, $10 each, our show is already on their website! So we can track our progress, please buy your tickets well in advance. Invite friends and family, and we can sell out the show!

In conjunction with the ComedySportz evening, we will also have a raffle prior to the show. This has been very successful in past years, raising several hundred dollars. We will have the same opportunity this year, so we need to start thinking about raffle prizes. Do you have a business that can donate an item or service? Do you have a talent or skill to donate? Prizes have ranged from gift baskets with Movie Night or Family Game Night themes. We have also had home cooked dinners delivered to your door, cookie baskets, hand knitted purses, wine, jewelry, photography, and more. Please contact Megan if you have an idea for a raffle prize.

This is a great opportunity to generate some bonus income for the school. This year, we are designating all of the income from this event to go towards the expenses of building our new indoor climbing structure.

Open House / How to Apply for 2009-2010

The annual open house will be on Saturday, February 21, 2009 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Applications are due by that day, Saturday, February 21. The application is also available online on the Open House / How To Apply page.

Our lottery for open spaces will be held, and spaces will be filled based on birth year / gender categories and lottery draws. Letters of acceptance and letters of waiting list will be sent out by March 7th.

Tuition and fees

An application form and a non-refundable fee of $20 are required to reserve a spot in class. Please note that if you are on the waiting list, you only need to pay when offered a space in the school. Tuition and fees for the 2008-2009 school year is $86 per month for the two-day option and $120 per month for the three-day option. Tuition includes the cost of insurance. The tuition has not been approved for 2009-2010 and might not be the same as this year

This year, there is also a $15 “memory book” fee and a $5 emergency kit fee. A non-refundable start-up fee of $80 is due on May 1, for preparation salary and rent for two weeks in August, supplies and criminal background checks. Normally, there is a slight tuition increase from year to year, to be finalized by the board in April. A limited amount of financial aid is available. Further information and applications for financial aid are available upon request.

Location

The preschool is located in a facility rented from Laurelhurst Presbyterian Church at 935 NE 33rd St. (at Pacific St). We have no religious affiliation to this or any other church.