Temporary Availability for Infant Daycare at Merritt Academy

[Anonymous]

We are anticipating that our child will attend Merritt Academy in February or March of 2016 and have a space reserved. Enrollment at Merritt Academy begins in September and we must unfortunately pay for the space, even before our child is born.

We understand that there is a long wait list for the infant room at Merritt Academy and would like to extend an opportunity to a family in need of daycare.

If you are interested in temporary enrollment in the Merritt Academy infant room from September 2015 through February, 2016, please reply to this thread. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

That is insane. I've never heard of school-calendar enrollment for infants. You should keep looking elsewhere as I doubt someone is going to want to send infant to daycare for only 6 months and then switch out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That is insane. I've never heard of school-calendar enrollment for infants. You should keep looking elsewhere as I doubt someone is going to want to send infant to daycare for only 6 months and then switch out.

If you have an infant or toddler program that is attached to a popular preschool program, then it's common that they only have spaces in September. There's a backlog, because the Preschooler's can't move up to PreK until the PreK's go to Kindergarten, and so the 2's can't move up to Preschool, and the toddlers can't move up to 2s . . . . It trickles down to no spaces in the infant rooms except in the fall.

OP might be able to find someone who would really prefer to have their infant in a program near work, but who is on a waiting list there.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the support - we are hoping someone could use the temporary placement.

[Anonymous]

You are saying you have a spot correct? But you can't use it because your child is not born yet? It is insane that Merritt even allows this! You would this the school would at least reach out for you to kids on the waitlist if they are allowing this to even occur. Never heard of such a thing.

[Anonymous]

You need to pay and reserve the spot. The family you fill it with could easily decide to stay and you will be out of luck.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Our space is reserved and we are paying now. The school has agreed to allow us to "sublease" a space to another child until our child is ready to attend.

[Anonymous]

As a former director at a (different) infant program, I've never had someone pay for this long without using it, but I know how it happens. If I call to offer a space to someone for September, and they don't take it, that space will be filled by the next person on the waiting list. So if a parent absolutely wanted our space at our center, and didn't want to chance it, they'd pay for a month or two.

At our center, if they didn't want to pay, they would have declined the space, and stayed exactly where they were on the waitlist for the next opening. I couldn't have ensured there would be space in Feb/March nor could I ensure that hey would be the first to get offered that space, because by then a sibling might have had a baby born, or someone higher up on the waitlist (like a parent who worked for a client that had priority) might have needed childcare then.

But we did enrollment throughout the year, as children moved up to each new classroom. If a school only does move ups in September, then that's what they do.

And I wouldn't have called a parent who hadn't had the baby yet to offer an opening. Of course, by February or March I also wouldn't have had that Sept space any more, becuase it would have been filled and that baby wouldn't have been old enough to move on to toddlers. So that family might not have gotten into our center. At least she got into Merritt!

OP, advertise on your neighborhood listserve. Advertise through word of mouth, tell everyone and their brother this space exists, I bet you could get it filled for a few months, anyway. Anything helps. And, yes, that infant would have to leave after OP's baby starts. But the family might be in between au pairs, or know they are moving out of the area and not want to enter into a contract with a nanny or another center, so this space could be perfect. Or whatever. Plenty of people look for temporary openings.

[Anonymous]

Or someone's nanny is pregnant and would take maternity leave for 3 months, this would be a great choice for them! The possibilities are endless, you jsut need people to know it's out there, so advertise, OP! and tell everyone you know and have them tell their friends....

[Anonymous]

Advertise at the Foreign Service Institute. They have plenty of families that come in for six month language courses before they're off to their next course. Foreign Service Institute isn't terribly far from Merritt (compared to, say, a center in MD).

[Anonymous]

At $1,800 a month you probably won't get many takers. Perhaps you could offer a steep discount.

[Anonymous]

OP here - That's not a bad idea. I suppose the price could be negotiable if anyone is interested.

[Anonymous]

I would go ahead and pass on the spot. You can't make someone else leave once they start paying for it anyway.

You really can't say what is going to happen this far in advance. It is possible that you will not go back to work on the schedule you anticipate right now, you might feel that center care is not the way to go for your baby and maybe need a nanny, etc. Paying so many months up front will suck away resources you could use later down the line for other preferred care options.

[Anonymous]

Also, if they got down to you on the wait list, it makes you wonder how much of a wait list there really is and why so many people pass. Most wait lists have enough families that they should have been able to find a family that at most would be paying for a 2 to 3 months of spot holding vs. 6 to 7 months. Should make you wonder.

[Anonymous]

We're also at Merritt and yes this is how it works. They have no trouble filling all the spots so if parents want one and know they will have to potentially pay for a few months before child comes (or is old enough) they often do. We got on the list when I was 12 weeks preggo and there ended up being 65 people on the list for 24 spots. DD's class wasn't 100% full until December.

OP I would check with Merritt I don't think they actually allow this for their spots. Also many people end up waitlisted with multiple children and will not take one spot if they won't get the second. We did have a lot of spots open up this spring through due to Exxon sending a lot of people back to Texas.

DD is now entering K3 and we absolutely love it (as does she). It was only $1650 when we started, $1800 is a hard pill to swallow but the children are very well cared for and thrive.

OP I think you'll either need to pay for YOUR spot or pass it off to someone who can use it now, or doesn't mind paying for it now. There is always a waitlist at Merritt, it's a highly sought after daycare/preschool. We were lucky with our timing in having DD but we were willing to pay for our spot if needed (even moreso after her being there now for 3 years).