Respect: We expect that everyone involved in Lilac Children’s Garden ("LCG" or "Lilac") will treat everyone else with respect. Every effort will be made to avert disrespectful or distracting behavior in class. If there are concerns, the teachers will discuss them with parents at the first opportunity.
Social Inclusion: We strive to create an inclusive and loving space in all of our classrooms at LCG. We realize that children are learning all the time, and we look at our time together as an opportunity to learn how to be inclusive in a group. Your help and cooperation is appreciated; if you or your children become aware of behaviors that are not inclusive, please let a teacher or board member know.
Communication: The teachers will work to keep you informed of classroom activities on a weekly basis. Please keep the teachers informed of any pertinent information they may need about your child during the year including absences.
Information about upcoming community events and community-wide notices will be sent by email.
In order to foster a greater sense of connection and community, we request that you communicate questions or concerns as follows:
LCG also hosts a Facebook Group (search: "Lilac Children’s Garden") to support the work and community of Lilac Children’s Garden. Your posts should relate to Waldorf education, Waldorf-inspired learning, LCG-specific events, announcements, and fundraisers, LCG class happenings, handwork, inner work, and children’s clothing and educational items members are giving away (not selling) to other members.
Parent Volunteering: We rely on parents for their active involvement in our classrooms and community, as well as the organization of our special events. All members of the community, except for those with a Board member or teacher, must volunteer to perform parent jobs.
Please let a board member know if you are interested in serving on our Board of Directors; it is one of the most rewarding parent jobs at Lilac!
Sign up for parent jobs will be on or before the first day of classes. In addition, families will share in the responsibility of cleaning the classrooms after each class by taking turns with other parents.
Willow families agree to share parent helping responsibilities during class time by taking turns with other parents. Grades teachers may request parent support during class time if needed, e.g., to support handwork projects, chaperone field trips, or assist as needed by the teacher.
Snow Days: In the event of a snow or other weather emergency, we will follow the Rochester City School District’s closures. If Lilac plans to close for snow or other emergency reasons this will be communicated to the community by email; teachers will also text the parents of the students in their classes.
Withdrawing from LCG: If your family decides to withdraw a child from the program, please provide written notice to the Board of Directors. If tuition has not been fully paid you will be responsible for four weeks of tuition past the notice date. If tuition has been fully paid refunds will be at the discretion of the Board.
If the teacher of your class feels that it is necessary for your child to be withdrawn from the class or the Lilac program, it would be acted upon through a confidential understanding between the parents, the teachers, and the Board of Directors.
General: We are currently a mask-optional program. Please stay home if your child is sick (i.e., temperature of 100.0º F or higher, chills, body aches, severe fatigue, headache, congestion or runny nose, sore throat not due to allergies, cough, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea). We will continue to ask you to attest that your child is free from symptoms at drop-off. If there is a sick member of your family, but your child has not yet exhibited symptoms of illness, please consider whether your child is just a day or two away from falling ill and is likely contagious and stay home. If you choose to have your child attend in this circumstance, please have your child wear a mask while indoors at Lilac. In addition if your child is getting over an illness and may still be contagious, please have your child mask while indoors at Lilac. It is also helpful to communicate with teachers if your child is experiencing seasonal allergies or has a lingering cough. Teachers will continue to use air purifiers in the classroom at their discretion. Please do not send children to Lilac until at least 24 hours after a fever has broken on its own, or 24 hours after a child has vomited. If your child has a highly contagious condition, such as lice, whooping cough, measles, influenza, or COVID, please let your child's teacher or a board member know so that we may inform other families who may have been exposed. We ask that any child with lice not come to Lilac until all nits are gone. We realize the delicate nature of these issues and will always strive for respect and confidentiality.
Safety/Security: Personal safety is an issue that our community takes very seriously. The Asbury First United Methodist Church building is locked at all times. LCG teachers, teaching assistants, and the LCG Board President will have security fobs to allow for entrance on Tuesday afternoons. Members will be provided with a passcode unique to LCG to allow for entrance on Tuesday afternoons. That said, there are other groups and tenants that share the space (e.g., a day care, the Finger Lakes Opera, art classes, an EPK program, etc.) and those groups have their own passcodes that allow them entrance on the days and at the times their groups meet in the building. Children are expected to remain with their teacher and their class during class time and may not be unattended in the halls.
Emergency Medical Care: For the purposes of these policies and consistent with the parent registration agreement, emergency first aid is defined as care that is necessary to stabilize an illness or injury (for example, stopping bleeding or cleaning a wound). Definitive Care is defined as care that is necessary for the complete resolution of an illness or injury (for example, suturing of a wound or setting of a broken bone).
If your child is injured or becomes ill while in class, the teacher or his/her designee will attempt to notify the parents as soon as possible. Per the parent agreement, emergency first aid may be given, even before the parents are notified, if the teacher deems it necessary.
If, in the teacher’s opinion, immediate medical attention is necessary, the child will be isolated from the other children and kept as comfortable as possible until they can be picked up by the parents or a designee.
If, in the teacher’s opinion, the child needs immediate medical attention, per the parent agreement, the family preferences for physician and medical facility will be honored only if time allows. If the situation is urgent the child will be taken to the closest appropriate medical facility, accompanied by the teacher or his/her designee, and given emergency first aid as determined by the medical staff there.
Definitive Care will not be given until the parents have decided that it should be given.
Parents accept full responsibility for any costs, including transportation costs that are incurred for emergency first aid under these circumstances.
Additionally, if, in the teacher's opinion, the child needs immediate hygiene assistance, per the parent agreement, teacher assistance may be provided.
EpiPen, Inhaler, or other Medical Device/Intervention: If a child requires an EpiPen, parents will ensure that the child brings one with them to each class. The parents will also ensure that they provide the child's teacher with instructions for when and how to use the EpiPen. If a child requires an inhaler, parents will ensure that the child brings one with them to each class. If a child is diabetic, parents will ensure that the child brings necessary snacks and/or glucose tablets with them to class and that they provide the teacher with instructions and guidelines for when to administer snacks and when to seek additional medical assistance and/or contact parents.
Parking: Please use ONLY the parking lot behind the church. Do not park in the spaces adjacent to the field which is bordered by Granger Place and East Avenue ("Granger Lawn") or on the driveways. Our community may enter the building using the main doors behind the church and the side entrance to the left of the main entrance. Teachers and members will have a pin code to enter the building that will operate only on Tuesday afternoons when our program is in session.
Sign-In and Sign-Out: You must sign your child in at drop-off and out at pick-up using the checklist your teacher provides. Your child's teacher will inform you whether drop-off and pick-up will be indoors (in the classroom or in Fellowship Hall) or outdoors. To keep everyone as healthy as possible, we also ask that you attest that your students and household are healthy when you bring your family to Lilac.
Upon arrival children will be asked to remove outdoor shoes if they are muddy, wet, or snowy, and to change into clean shoes for the duration of class.
Timeliness: Please be sure that your child arrives at class on time—children should be at the church by 12:55 so that classes can start promptly at 1:00. Also, please be sure you or a designated adult are there to pick up your child by 4:00 so that the teachers can begin cleaning up their classrooms. All children who stay after class to play on Granger Lawn or other outdoor spaces at Asbury must have a responsible designated adult in charge of them.
Strive for a Peaceful Arrival: Upon entering the building each week, we ask that you observe a quiet moment and encourage your children to take a breath and quiet themselves before entering class. Many of the teachers have a verse outside their door or a nature table to provide the children and parents with an opportunity for a moment's pause to help maintain a sense of peace and reverence before starting class. This helps to create a less over-stimulating start to the day.
Please don't linger in the hallways or carry on conversations in the hallways. We share Asbury with a day care and with an Early Pre-K program and the children enrolled in those programs are sometimes napping during our class time.
Children should also be reminded to walk, not run, in the hallways.
Stairwells and Elevator Usage: Please use the elevator or stairwells to get to the second floor and lower level of the building, avoiding entering the day care space on the entrance level. We do not have access to that space and the day care has expressly requested that we refrain from entering their hallway/space.
Attire: Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately. The teachers take the children outside often, so your children should have the appropriate outerwear for spending some time outdoors. For indoor play and work children should have a pair of indoor shoes or slippers with soles that can grip; our program incorporates a lot of movement! We also ask that you avoid commercial characters on children's clothing and bags, etc.
Class time at Lilac Children's Garden runs from 1 pm until 4 pm. The three hours your children spend with their teachers is filled with structured activities inspired by Waldorf education principles and guided by the needs of the individual students and the dynamics and needs of the class as a whole. In the grades (from about age 7 through about 14), parents and students can expect that time each Tuesday will be spent listening to stories, singing and playing instruments (recorders, kalimba, ukulele, or guitar, etc.), engaging in artistic work (painting, drawing, fabric arts, sculpture and modeling, etc.), engaging in movement (circle time games, folk dancing, clapping games, bean bag games, group games), and engaging in dramatic arts activities. Every year the students will put on a class play in May and all students are expected to play a role of some sort in this production. Parents should consider their children’s readiness and interest in these activities when they choose to enroll in our program.
Snack Time: Each class will have a 15-minute snack time whenever we are meeting for a full three-hour class time. Since this is a short period of time in our very full afternoon, we ask that the food you pack your students be more snack-like and less of a meal. The children will not have time to eat lunch at this time, but will have time to have a quick bite to refuel and chat with their classmates. Your students' teachers will keep you informed if there are allergens that you should avoid packing because of the risk of contact reactions for classmates.
Fire Drill(s): Asbury Church will notify families in advance of the day(s) we will be conducting mandatory fire drills.
Incident Reports for Class Room Injuries/Illness: Incident forms will be filled out by teachers and sent home with parents/guardians any time an accident or injury happens that requires the injured child to stop normal activity and/or receive first aid or medical attention. For example, a child becomes ill or receives an injury that requires first aid or medical treatment, a child receives a bump or blow to the head or other visible injury, an unusual or unexpected incident occurs that jeopardizes the safety of a child. In any of these situations teachers will fill out the incident report form to send home with the child's parent/guardian. The form must be signed by both the teacher and the receiving adult. A photographic copy of the form will be shared with the LCG Board of Directors. If follow up actions are necessary, the board will work with families to ensure needs are met.
Halloween: We ask that the students refrain from wearing costumes to class because costumes can be distracting and difficult to keep clean and intact. Additionally, costumes that are based on commercial characters, or which are scary, gory, or involve weapons are not appropriate for class time.
When class is over and you have signed your children out, feel free to stay to play on the large front lawn and open side yard at Asbury Church. The small lawn and garden directly in front of the church will be reserved for seasonal festivals and other official Lilac Gatherings ONLY.
Where to Play: When class is over and you have signed your children out, feel free to stay to play on the large front lawn and open side yard (the field bounded by Granger Place and East Avenue – "Granger Lawn") at Asbury Church, provided that the after-care program is not using the space. When the after-care program is using one of the outdoor spaces, we may use the other, unoccupied space. Respecting this division of space allows the after-care program to keep better track of the children in their care. There are few times when this is a consideration, so let's be mindful of sharing the spaces that are available to us.
Supervision of Children: This outdoor time is not official Lilac time, so please supervise your children and ensure that behavior and activities are safe and respectful.
Permitted/Restricted Activities: Children must refrain from stick play, climbing trees, or throwing snowballs.
Please do not allow your children to climb on the church structure's walls.
Please keep paved walkways clear so that others working on or visiting campus can freely access the walkways.
After-Program: Families are not to return to the building after 5.00 pm for any reason.
Dogs at Lilac: Dogs are not allowed on the premises or grounds of Asbury Church.
After-Lilac Giveaways: Please refrain from bringing items to give away during play time after classes. The Board will be organizing periodic giveaways.
Revised 2025