MD parents: You're going to want to do everything you can to keep your kid's spot
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Anonymous
I’m sure that, if you made up the tuition difference, you could be added to the priority. (So if you had been paying 25% and paid the rest of the 75% for the time you were out, the school would work with you.) More fundamentally, what do you propose they do? Any system is going to have people pissed if they can’t get a slot. Imagine the people who had been voluntarily paying in full while closed losing a spot to someone paying 25%. They’d rightly be pissed. This seems fair to parents and understandable from the center’s perspective of trying to stay in business. |
Anonymous
Some parents were paying full tuition while the school was closed. Others were paying less. It isn’t illegal or discriminatory to provide first access to people who had been paying in full. The school could have simply said everyone had to pay in full to save spots. As long as people who had been paying something are given a spot when a spot opens, the center’s plan to prioritize when there are limited spots is almost certainly legal. People paying were aware it was unclear when spots would be available and there was always a chance the center would never reopen. |
Anonymous
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I don’t see how the payment thing is illegal. Let’s say a preschool has a full day program, 5 days a week from 7-9am until 4-6pm. If the same preschool also has a M/W/F program from 9am - 11:30am and a T/TH program that is also half-days, the half-day kids pay less tuition.
If the preschool needs to reduce to 50% capacity, it makes sense to cancel half-day programs and continue full-day programs. Not just financially, but because families who use part time care likely have other options. It also reduces the total number of families and reduces exposure. My preschool is prioritizing essential personnel and siblings. A family with more than one kid in the program is more money, but it’s also fewer families and less exposure. |
Anonymous
For something to be illegal, it has to break a law. What law do you think is being broken, and why do you think it applies? There is no guarantee of daycare spots in this country. Many families couldn't afford to pay anything, anyway, and they do without. |
Anonymous
| I was wait listed from my current daycare for Fall. I’m not sure what to do. Apply to multiple?? |
Anonymous
It is BRIBERY to select clients by what monies they paid to reserve spots while services were NOT offered, so that they could get services in the future. This is very specific. Daycares have already been sued for refusing to reimburse tuition for services not rendered. They are going to get sued again if they try that little game. |
Anonymous
It is not bribery. It's charging for a service. The service is priority enrollment. It might suck, it might be unfair to people who wanted to pay but couldn't, but it's not illegal and it's definitely not bribery. |
Anonymous
What are they supposed to do- draw names? The state and CDC guidelines are boxing them in. We received a similar email about capacity, although ours has not been charging tuition while closed. I suspect the younger incoming classes will be axed to accommodate current students. How they will make enough money to stay open while collecting 50% of their normal tuition dues, I don’t know. |
Anonymous
DP. You do realize that using ALL CAPS doesn't actually make your point any more valid, right? That is not remotely bribery. It is payment for a good or service -- in this case payment for a spot when it became available. That's not bribery. Say a daycare had a spot before you wanted it or even before your kid was old enough to attend. Many parents paid for weeks or months to reserve the spot under these circumstances. That's not illegal. In other contexts, a company with a very sought after product can change extra (or require you to pay to join a special group) to gain first access to the sought after product. Not illegal. I really do love when we get broad, sweeping, authoritative legal pronouncements on DCUM from people who are obviously not lawyers. |
Anonymous
Okay, so CITE the LAW you would SUE under. |
Anonymous
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This is OP. I’m not a daycare owner; I’m simply a parent who received this guidance from the school and wanted to pass it along, because it’s the first I’d heard of this. I expect other schools will do the same because I frankly don’t know of any other way to prioritize families, when you’re in a position where you can’t accommodate everyone.
It absolutely sucks, but I honestly don’t know another way. |
Anonymous
| Our DC pre-k is considering doing a/b days (some kids come 2 days other come 3 days and switch the next week) to keep the numbers compliant. That sucks equally. |
Anonymous
Did they say this when school closed? That if you paid in full you would get priority when they reopen? If so it makes sense. If not there’s going to be a major situation. |
Anonymous
Yes, they said if you pay in full you will guarantee your spot. If you don’t pay, you only were guaranteed your spot for that month. They’ve been very transparent about their process. |
Anonymous
Wrong comparison. OP is talking about giving priority to families who paid more. It falls under bribery and extortion. It’s very clear. |