Frequently Asked Questions About V Hours
How Central’s V Hours Program Works
Central’s annual Education fee helps purchase classroom materials and supplies for students. Central’s volunteer program a.k.a “V hours” enables parents of students in the toddler- middle school programs to reduce the annual education fee ($600) per child by exchanging their time and talents at the school and in the community at a rate of $20/ per V hour.
Some families choose to simply pay the fee, others prefer to exchange V hours for the entire fee and some do a combination of V hours and a reduced fee. What works for your family works for us!
Volunteer hours must be completed by the end of your child’s or children’s contracts for that year. Remaining hours will be billed at the end of your child’s contract period.
Did you know?
V hours for single parent families can be reduced by up to half. Please check with the frontdesk about eligibility.
Families are not required to provide V hours for the infant program. If your child transitions from the infant to the toddler classroom within the year, your V hour obligation will be prorated.
Middle school students can earn V hours for their family through their classroom volunteer program and during Central events!
Grandparents or other important family members can also earn V hours!
Community giving! Central is looking for more ways that we can give back to the wonderful Church Hill community that we all love so much. We ask families to consider donating 10% of their V hours to the Church Hill and East End community. Opportunities may include (but are not limited to) participating in a Friends of Jefferson Park Event, a community cleanup, or volunteering time at a local non-profit.
Families can earn V hours by attending a Parent Information Night (PIN) 1 hour per parent, two hours maximum.
How many V hours does my family need to have?
We’ll deduct your contributed hours and bill you the difference at $20 per hour. You are always welcome to bypass your yearly V hour commitment entirely by submitting a $600 check with your contract upon its renewal date (or the point at which you turn in your original contract).
What about V hours during the COVID years?
If your family accrued V hours from March 2020-2022 , your V hours will be applied to the Education Fee/ V hour balance for the 2022-2023 contract year. If you did not complete the required V hours during this time to eliminate the fee balance, you will receive a bill for the remaining Education fee at the end of your 2022-2023 contract.
How do you keep track of V hours?
We use Track It Forward to approve and keep track of who has how many V hours. Directions to sign up and/or log in are below!
How do I sign up for Track It Forward?
Access Track It Forward here:
https://www.trackitforward.com/site/central-montessori-school
Sign up, request access to Central’s volunteer list, and start logging hours right away. The system will send us an email, and if we find that you don’t already have an account (perhaps via another email address), we’ll get you approved.
How do I log in?
Download the Track it Forward app (http://www.trackitforward.com/content/track-and-log-volunteer-hours-mobile-app-iphone-or-android) or visit trackitforward.com and hit sign-in (or click this: http://www.trackitforward.com/user/login). If you forget which email you used to sign up or your password, follow their prompts.
How do we log hours?
1. Click on Log Hours after your initial log-in.
2. Select the number of hours you wish to log for a specific activity
3. Set the date on which the activity was performed/donated.
4. Choose from available activities * if you don’t see one that corresponds with the hours you’re trying to log, select Committee Work and describe in the notes.
5. Add monetary value if a dollar for dollar exchange
6. Add notes - Please add as many descriptive notes as possible! It’ll cut down on much guesswork on our end. Ex. “Laundry for Venessa’s class,” “Reading to the toddlers,” or “Anonymous donation of $6.3 million”
7. Submit!
What if my contribution is “dollar for dollar” and best represented in dollars and cents and not hours?
You will need to convert it to hours and select an hour value. You can round up! $10 = half hour, $20 = full hour, $30 = 1.5 hours, $40 = 2 hours, etc.
In other words, divide your total financial amount by 20, and you’ll get a number. Round that number up to the nearest 0.5 and that’s your hour amount.
How do I see how many V Hours I’ve logged?
Click on Log Hours after your initial log-in, and then Timesheet on the menu bar.
When are V hours approved?
We do our best to approve as quickly as we can, usually once or twice a week. Once we approve, you’ll see it on your record (via Timesheet or Charts). If we can’t approve it, we’ll get in touch. If we have to adjust an entry, we’ll leave a record for you in the Notes.
What type of notes should I add when submitting my hours?
Share the details! If you do Primary A’s laundry, please add “Primary A’s laundry” If you are purchasing things- add the item details and event or classroom to the note. If you participate in a community cleanup at Jefferson Park- put the date, event, etc…
What kinds of things don’t get approved?
* Laundry for multiple hours unless you note that you did more than one load for more than one class.
* Food contributions to potluck events such as Continent Day and Chili Cook-Off (unless you’re cooking and serving your delicious chili)
* Visiting your child during class (unless you’re doing a Classroom Reader hour).
* PIN for more than 2 hours, (setup and/or cleanup would be logged separately).
* Hanging around talking to Deanna in the office, although that would be cool.
* Not providing enough information (see above question)
* Please check with the front desk if you are unsure!
If I’m a PAC member, do I still need to log my hours?
Yes, please log your hours and/or donations!
My family spans multiple households, and we have an agreement with how we will split out V hours. How do we proceed?
It’ll be your responsibility to share the login (use a password you both can know) and make a note in the Notes field with the specific parent’s name. We won’t use that information for anything on our end, but if you’d like it there for your own record-keeping, that’s fine with us.
I am thoroughly confused and have more questions!
We are here to help! Contact Vhours@centralmontessorischool.com and the front desk at frontdesk.centralmontessori@gmail.com if you have further questions.
How Central’s V Hours Program Works
Central’s annual Education fee helps purchase classroom materials and supplies for students. Central’s volunteer program a.k.a “V hours” enables parents of students in the toddler- middle school programs to reduce the annual education fee ($600) per child by exchanging their time and talents at the school and in the community at a rate of $20/ per V hour.
Some families choose to simply pay the fee, others prefer to exchange V hours for the entire fee and some do a combination of V hours and a reduced fee. What works for your family works for us!
Volunteer hours must be completed by the end of your child’s or children’s contracts for that year. Remaining hours will be billed at the end of your child’s contract period.
Did you know?
V hours for single parent families can be reduced by up to half. Please check with the frontdesk about eligibility.
Families are not required to provide V hours for the infant program. If your child transitions from the infant to the toddler classroom within the year, your V hour obligation will be prorated.
Middle school students can earn V hours for their family through their classroom volunteer program and during Central events!
Grandparents or other important family members can also earn V hours!
Community giving! Central is looking for more ways that we can give back to the wonderful Church Hill community that we all love so much. We ask families to consider donating 10% of their V hours to the Church Hill and East End community. Opportunities may include (but are not limited to) participating in a Friends of Jefferson Park Event, a community cleanup, or volunteering time at a local non-profit.
Families can earn V hours by attending a Parent Information Night (PIN) 1 hour per parent, two hours maximum.
How many V hours does my family need to have?
- One child= One annual Education fee of $600 : 30 V hours are required to completely exchange V hours for the year (V hours are billed at a rate of $20/hour)
- Two children= Two annual Education fees of $600 per student: 60 V hours are required to completely exchange V hours for the two annual Education Fees (V hours are billed at a rate of $20/hour)
- Three children enrolled in the program (thank you!)= Two annual Education fees of $600: 60 V hours are required to completely exchange V hours for the two annual Education Fees. Central will not bill or require V hours for the youngest child while all three students attend. Bonus!
We’ll deduct your contributed hours and bill you the difference at $20 per hour. You are always welcome to bypass your yearly V hour commitment entirely by submitting a $600 check with your contract upon its renewal date (or the point at which you turn in your original contract).
What about V hours during the COVID years?
If your family accrued V hours from March 2020-2022 , your V hours will be applied to the Education Fee/ V hour balance for the 2022-2023 contract year. If you did not complete the required V hours during this time to eliminate the fee balance, you will receive a bill for the remaining Education fee at the end of your 2022-2023 contract.
How do you keep track of V hours?
We use Track It Forward to approve and keep track of who has how many V hours. Directions to sign up and/or log in are below!
How do I sign up for Track It Forward?
Access Track It Forward here:
https://www.trackitforward.com/site/central-montessori-school
Sign up, request access to Central’s volunteer list, and start logging hours right away. The system will send us an email, and if we find that you don’t already have an account (perhaps via another email address), we’ll get you approved.
How do I log in?
Download the Track it Forward app (http://www.trackitforward.com/content/track-and-log-volunteer-hours-mobile-app-iphone-or-android) or visit trackitforward.com and hit sign-in (or click this: http://www.trackitforward.com/user/login). If you forget which email you used to sign up or your password, follow their prompts.
How do we log hours?
1. Click on Log Hours after your initial log-in.
2. Select the number of hours you wish to log for a specific activity
3. Set the date on which the activity was performed/donated.
4. Choose from available activities * if you don’t see one that corresponds with the hours you’re trying to log, select Committee Work and describe in the notes.
5. Add monetary value if a dollar for dollar exchange
6. Add notes - Please add as many descriptive notes as possible! It’ll cut down on much guesswork on our end. Ex. “Laundry for Venessa’s class,” “Reading to the toddlers,” or “Anonymous donation of $6.3 million”
7. Submit!
What if my contribution is “dollar for dollar” and best represented in dollars and cents and not hours?
You will need to convert it to hours and select an hour value. You can round up! $10 = half hour, $20 = full hour, $30 = 1.5 hours, $40 = 2 hours, etc.
In other words, divide your total financial amount by 20, and you’ll get a number. Round that number up to the nearest 0.5 and that’s your hour amount.
How do I see how many V Hours I’ve logged?
Click on Log Hours after your initial log-in, and then Timesheet on the menu bar.
When are V hours approved?
We do our best to approve as quickly as we can, usually once or twice a week. Once we approve, you’ll see it on your record (via Timesheet or Charts). If we can’t approve it, we’ll get in touch. If we have to adjust an entry, we’ll leave a record for you in the Notes.
What type of notes should I add when submitting my hours?
Share the details! If you do Primary A’s laundry, please add “Primary A’s laundry” If you are purchasing things- add the item details and event or classroom to the note. If you participate in a community cleanup at Jefferson Park- put the date, event, etc…
What kinds of things don’t get approved?
* Laundry for multiple hours unless you note that you did more than one load for more than one class.
* Food contributions to potluck events such as Continent Day and Chili Cook-Off (unless you’re cooking and serving your delicious chili)
* Visiting your child during class (unless you’re doing a Classroom Reader hour).
* PIN for more than 2 hours, (setup and/or cleanup would be logged separately).
* Hanging around talking to Deanna in the office, although that would be cool.
* Not providing enough information (see above question)
* Please check with the front desk if you are unsure!
If I’m a PAC member, do I still need to log my hours?
Yes, please log your hours and/or donations!
My family spans multiple households, and we have an agreement with how we will split out V hours. How do we proceed?
It’ll be your responsibility to share the login (use a password you both can know) and make a note in the Notes field with the specific parent’s name. We won’t use that information for anything on our end, but if you’d like it there for your own record-keeping, that’s fine with us.
I am thoroughly confused and have more questions!
We are here to help! Contact Vhours@centralmontessorischool.com and the front desk at frontdesk.centralmontessori@gmail.com if you have further questions.
