If your daycare or childcare provider closed due to coronavirus, are they still requiring you to pay

[Anonymous]

We have a before and after school program in McLean that closed March 15th through April 3rd. Opening again on April 6th, but will switching to all day care, 7:00 a.m. until 6:30 p.m., all of the school work with the kids will be completed daily, through the end of the school year. And a partial credit for the 3 weeks closed is being given for April.

[Anonymous]

Why wouldn’t they? Teachers need to be paid and you need a spot. Don’t be frugal and think it’s ok. You won’t have a spot when you need it. If I was a preschool I would keep track and not reenroll any parents that didn’t support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why wouldn’t they? Teachers need to be paid and you need a spot. Don’t be frugal and think it’s ok. You won’t have a spot when you need it. If I was a preschool I would keep track and not reenroll any parents that didn’t support.

Don't you think that it a business owner's responsibility to carry insurance to cover their loss? Why do you believe that a preschool is different than any other business? Should a restaurant charge you for a meal that they did not serve? Should an airline charge you for a flight that they canceled?

[Anonymous]

Our daycare director has been a pretty poor communicator about this. Initially she said that they’d be reopening in a week because they needed to keep paying the teachers. Then when some parents suggested on the listserv (and probably privately) that opening up was not safe and they’d be happy to pay for April even while the daycare was closed, the director sent a message with instructions for how to pay remotely and thanks to all who planned to do that.

Now, despite parents asking for further information in the form of some actual policies—e.g., what happens to your spot if you don’t pay for April, any plans for future months, whether there will be any sort of discount to the tuition while they’re closed—we’ve heard nothing. I know these decisions are difficult but we deserve some information and transparency. It’s frustrating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why wouldn’t they? Teachers need to be paid and you need a spot. Don’t be frugal and think it’s ok. You won’t have a spot when you need it. If I was a preschool I would keep track and not reenroll any parents that didn’t support.

Don't you think that it a business owner's responsibility to carry insurance to cover their loss? Why do you believe that a preschool is different than any other business? Should a restaurant charge you for a meal that they did not serve? Should an airline charge you for a flight that they canceled?

we usually have a beer down the street at the local bar every Saturday? Do we keep paying even though we aren’t going? Do we pay for gas we usually buy even though we aren’t driving to work? Do we pay restaurant workers for service even thought we aren’t getting it? No.

Maybe daycare is different, but it massively sucks to pay fees more expensive than my mortgage for services I am not getting. Day care workers can’t work from home so I am doing that job AND working. I would I’ve to get paid for not working too. It sucks. This situation is unfair to all of us. I don’t know the answers. Also, I am not a charity. I donate and volunteer too, but I am, not a charity, and my husband could be laid off at any moment. I’d rather save the money for my own family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why wouldn’t they? Teachers need to be paid and you need a spot. Don’t be frugal and think it’s ok. You won’t have a spot when you need it. If I was a preschool I would keep track and not reenroll any parents that didn’t support.

So even though I’m losing pay because my lack of childcare I should keep paying? My reduced income no longer even covers tuition. I’m supposed to go even further in the hole financially instead of a business taking out a small business loan, which by the way I have been reading is eligible for some forgiveness if the money is used to pay employees? C’mon. I pay taxes that are going toward these business loans and now I’m supposed to pay out every penny I’m earning and then some for the teachers to not work while I bust my butt trying to telework a few hours per day with young kids at home? I don’t mind still paying what we can to help them out. But this is not for to place the entirety of the business’s future on the backs of the families who attend, many of which are going through financial struggles themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our center has told us that we will not be required to pay if they close, but that we will still have to pay if we keep our kids at home and they remain open.

Fair.

[Anonymous]

For those of you that have decided not to continue to pay, because of loss of work or just because you don't feel you should pay for a service you are not receiving, what do you think will happen in the long run? I know every contract is different, but most daycares require 30 day notice if you choose to withdraw your child. And if you are in a contract with the daycare and it mentions that payments are expected even if the center is closed (typically this means snow days or power outages, but could apply to the current situation) do you think they'll sue you or continue sending invoices and ultimately send you to collections for lack of payment? I am not as concerned about losing a spot as I am about a lawsuit down the road.

[Anonymous]

It’s really tough. If it were the difference between them going under and not, we’d pay. However, we need an understanding of why we’re being charged full tuition when we are not receiving the services we are paying for. Videos are great but don’t replace our kids being in school.

We plan to send a letter to the school asking for an explanation. If they can give us one that provides some transparency that’s fine. But when another location of our center is discounting tuition by 50% and ours isn’t, we start to ask questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why wouldn’t they? Teachers need to be paid and you need a spot. Don’t be frugal and think it’s ok. You won’t have a spot when you need it. If I was a preschool I would keep track and not reenroll any parents that didn’t support.

Don't you think that it a business owner's responsibility to carry insurance to cover their loss? Why do you believe that a preschool is different than any other business? Should a restaurant charge you for a meal that they did not serve? Should an airline charge you for a flight that they canceled?

we usually have a beer down the street at the local bar every Saturday? Do we keep paying even though we aren’t going? Do we pay for gas we usually buy even though we aren’t driving to work? Do we pay restaurant workers for service even thought we aren’t getting it? No.

Maybe daycare is different, but it massively sucks to pay fees more expensive than my mortgage for services I am not getting. Day care workers can’t work from home so I am doing that job AND working. I would I’ve to get paid for not working too. It sucks. This situation is unfair to all of us. I don’t know the answers. Also, I am not a charity. I donate and volunteer too, but I am, not a charity, and my husband could be laid off at any moment. I’d rather save the money for my own family.

Sure. So just don’t say your support the teachers again because your words have no meaning. It’s adversity like this that lets people know if you care. Nobody said support and sacrifice don’t go hand in hand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why wouldn’t they? Teachers need to be paid and you need a spot. Don’t be frugal and think it’s ok. You won’t have a spot when you need it. If I was a preschool I would keep track and not reenroll any parents that didn’t support.

Don't you think that it a business owner's responsibility to carry insurance to cover their loss? Why do you believe that a preschool is different than any other business? Should a restaurant charge you for a meal that they did not serve? Should an airline charge you for a flight that they canceled?

we usually have a beer down the street at the local bar every Saturday? Do we keep paying even though we aren’t going? Do we pay for gas we usually buy even though we aren’t driving to work? Do we pay restaurant workers for service even thought we aren’t getting it? No.

Maybe daycare is different, but it massively sucks to pay fees more expensive than my mortgage for services I am not getting. Day care workers can’t work from home so I am doing that job AND working. I would I’ve to get paid for not working too. It sucks. This situation is unfair to all of us. I don’t know the answers. Also, I am not a charity. I donate and volunteer too, but I am, not a charity, and my husband could be laid off at any moment. I’d rather save the money for my own family.

Sure. So just don’t say your support the teachers again because your words have no meaning. It’s adversity like this that lets people know if you care. Nobody said support and sacrifice don’t go hand in hand.

Parents still deserve an explanation as to why the school’s insurance policy or cash reserves mean they need the full tuition during this time to be able to pay everyone.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, the daycare workers may actually make more on the "enhanced" unemployment payments in effect for the next 3 months.

It's the normal state unemployment + the $600 from the Fed. So it's likely $1000+ per week in unemployment payment if you are in the DC area. Plus, the $1200 stimulus if you're under $75K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those of you that have decided not to continue to pay, because of loss of work or just because you don't feel you should pay for a service you are not receiving, what do you think will happen in the long run? I know every contract is different, but most daycares require 30 day notice if you choose to withdraw your child. And if you are in a contract with the daycare and it mentions that payments are expected even if the center is closed (typically this means snow days or power outages, but could apply to the current situation) do you think they'll sue you or continue sending invoices and ultimately send you to collections for lack of payment? I am not as concerned about losing a spot as I am about a lawsuit down the road.

I paid for April because I still have a full paycheck. But I’m about to be taking a pay cut. So I put in my one month notice to withdraw as of May. And we’re losing our deposit because we didn’t meet certain attendance requirements. Between the month and a half of payment for closed daycare (mid-March through April) and our deposits, we’re looking at close to 8k that is essentially a donation to helping them out. I explained to our director that we’re facing income loss ourselves. I hope we will be welcomed back (assuming they can reopen in a few months) because I’ve been honest about our ability to pay only until this point and didn’t nitpick over the past few weeks of closure. But if my family is turned away because we financially could not keep paying, then I don’t want to return anyway. We’re not just a checkbook to keep them running. We are a real family with our own financial issues thanks to this pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why wouldn’t they? Teachers need to be paid and you need a spot. Don’t be frugal and think it’s ok. You won’t have a spot when you need it. If I was a preschool I would keep track and not reenroll any parents that didn’t support.

Don't you think that it a business owner's responsibility to carry insurance to cover their loss? Why do you believe that a preschool is different than any other business? Should a restaurant charge you for a meal that they did not serve? Should an airline charge you for a flight that they canceled?

we usually have a beer down the street at the local bar every Saturday? Do we keep paying even though we aren’t going? Do we pay for gas we usually buy even though we aren’t driving to work? Do we pay restaurant workers for service even thought we aren’t getting it? No.

Maybe daycare is different, but it massively sucks to pay fees more expensive than my mortgage for services I am not getting. Day care workers can’t work from home so I am doing that job AND working. I would I’ve to get paid for not working too. It sucks. This situation is unfair to all of us. I don’t know the answers. Also, I am not a charity. I donate and volunteer too, but I am, not a charity, and my husband could be laid off at any moment. I’d rather save the money for my own family.

Sure. So just don’t say your support the teachers again because your words have no meaning. It’s adversity like this that lets people know if you care. Nobody said support and sacrifice don’t go hand in hand.

I love and support my best friend, but I’m not emptying my family’s savings account to send her thousands a month if she gets laid off during this. I would try to help to the extent I could with sending some grocery gift cards and such. But I would expect she would file for unemployment, which is like 1k/week right now. I think some people have a really weird idea of what “supporting” teachers is supposed to look like.

[Anonymous]

Ours required us to pay through March, but not in April. Employees are on unemployment, which has gotten a lot more generous, but the daycare is continuing to pay benefits. We are donating to the daycare (a nonprofit) to help pay for admin staff and benefits, but that is entirely voluntary.