Since founded almost sixty years ago, Seattle Chinese School (SCS) has been a non-profit volunteer-based organization. From school board members, administration, weekly traffic/safety patrol to event planning and support staff, judges of scholastic contests, etc., all school operations are accomplished via parent volunteer service. The purpose of the Parent Service Agreement is to fairly distribute the work necessary for a successful school operation. It aims to involve all parents to contribute in providing a sound and enjoyable learning environment for all students and teachers. New processes and tools are in place to empower parents to decide and commit to when and how they will complete the volunteer service.

1. All registered families are required to volunteer a minimum of 10 hours per school year. Additionally, a US$200 service deposit must be paid at the time of registration with the tuition payment.
2. Towards the end of school year, families who have completed the minimum 10 hours service requirement will receive a $200 service deposit refund check from SCS Treasurer. The school will announce refund instructions to all eligible parents via a school-wide email.
3. If a student leaves school after the 4th week during the school year, his/or her parent is still required to fulfill the 10-hour service requirement in order to receive the $200 service deposit refund.
4. For those families who are not able to provide any volunteer service, a signature to authorize a forfeit of the service deposit is required at the time of registration.
5. Regarding the process of volunteer service scheduling and completion:

1) All families are responsible for job sign-up online via SignUp Genius, a safe and commonly used web-based tool for sign-up.
2) All time slots requiring volunteers will be available one week before the start of the next school year. Volunteer jobs and time slots are available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
3) During the sign-up window, parents can update or swap sign-ups via SignUp Genius.
4) Upon completion of the job, the volunteer supervisor will log the actual volunteer hours completed. If you have already completed the required 10 hours of service, you may not perform volunteer service on behalf of other parents to accumulate (their) hours. The school does not allow families who have fulfilled their service hours to accumulate volunteer hours for other families.
5) Parents can verify their completed volunteer hours by sending an inquiry to service@seattlechineseschool.org. If there is any dispute or question, parents are responsible for seeking clarification from the Parent Service Director.
6) If a family is not able to attend a work shift they have signed up for, the family is responsible for finding their own replacement and informing the job supervisor or Parent Service Director 7 days prior to the shift.
7) If a family fails to show up for a volunteer work shift without finding a replacement nor informing the job supervisor / Parent Service Director, two hours will be deducted from the accumulated service hours of that family.
8) If a family leaves early or arrives late for a volunteer work shift without informing the job supervisor, one hour will be deducted from the accumulated service hours of that family.
9) If a parent volunteer signs off before completing the actual service time, all hours served that day will be forfeited (for example, signing out at 11:50 but actually leaving at 11:00).

6. There shall be no banking or carryover of service hours completed.
7. If parents provide assistance in their child's class at the teacher's request, this time CANNOT be counted toward the school's 10-hour service requirement.
8. In the event of school cancellations, SCS reserves the right to reassign parents to other volunteer jobs or make other adjustments.
9. For more details about the volunteer jobs, responsibilities and number of service hours, please send your inquiries to service@seattlechineseschool.org.

This policy is approved by the School Board on June 10, 1997; with the first revision on July 29,2001; second revision on Oct 17, 2009; third revision on September 30, 2013; fourth revision on February 5, 2015; fifth revision on March 24, 2016; sixth revision on April 28, 2018; seventh revision on March 1, 2025.