What is your school/daycare doing since closure for COVID-19?

[Anonymous]

We are at Franklin Montessori in Gaithersburg.  Even though all families had paid tuition through May, our school decided to furlough teachers in late March (after the school rightly closed in mid-March). Franklin later, after significant pressure from parents who were upset that the school had decided to not pay teachers AND maintain its stance of providing no tuition breaks, offered only to families who asked for a refund a "credit" for two months tuition to be applied against future tuition.  Franklin is still charging full tuition despite not being open: some monthly payers were able to use the credit to offset the last two tuition payments of this school year, while annual and semester payers must return to Franklin for the 2020-21 school year if they want to use the credit.  The only families who will receive a refund in lieu of the credit are the families whose children will be in first grade for the 2020-21 school year and thus will be ineligible to attend Franklin. 

After receiving PPP funding in early May, Franklin has returned to paying teachers. Franklin is offering distance learning in the form of 30-minute Zoom sessions on MWF; 15-minute Zoom sessions on TR; and one 15-minute, one-on-one session per child per week.  As I mentioned above, Franklin is charging full!?! tuition for this distance learning program, regardless of whether a child participates.

Recently Franklin received permission from the State of Maryland to open for in-person care for children of families of essential workers. Families in the infant/toddler program can send their children from 8:30am-3:30pm. Families in the primary learning program have two options: Half Day (A): 8:30am - 11:30am or Half Day (B): 1:00pm - 4:00pm.  Franklin is charging full tuition to families who are eligible for and decide for their children to attend this program.  Franklin is continuing to charge full tuition to the families of workers who are not deemed essential whose children can only participate in the distance learning program mentioned above.

Numerous families have written to Franklin's leadership to request more information and many families, some of whom have written and called Franklin multiple times since March, have not received any communication.  There has been at least two group communications to Franklin from a large number of parents that Franklin has answered only with form emails that have not addressed the parents' concerns. 

Are your schools taking such a minimal approach to distance learning and/or a strong approach to tuition?

Any recommendations the parents can take for next steps?  (media attention/legal action?)

[Anonymous]

Many places are paying 50% of tuition for no services at all. For anyone.

[Anonymous]

That's awful. Why would they take advantage of families like that?

[Anonymous]

We paid tuition through the end of the school year and our preschool continued to pay its teachers. The kids are too young for any sort of distant learning. The schools has been offering 30min zoom meetings with the kids' classes. But that's pretty much it. DH and I are neither essential nor Phase 1 workers, so I don't think that the preschool will reopening for us any time soon.

I am not sure what legal action you have in mind, OP. The only concerning part in your message was about taking the tuition and not paying the teachers. But it looks like that has been addressed. I hear that you are frustrated. We are, too. But I am not sure what you want to hear. The situation sucks. For everyone. For the children. The parents. The teachers. The schools. I feel like everyone is trying to figure out the next steps as we learn more. There is a huge amount of uncertainty in the process. The only way to get certainty right now, is to pull your child from school and to commit to nanny/SAM for 2020-2021.

[Anonymous]

This sounds outrageous to me.

There's one main thing I want to point out, since there regularly seems to misunderstandings based on people not actually reading the relevant executive orders.

First, daycares allowed to open as EPCC centers can serve essential personnel **as as well anyone else working during phase 1.** This includes people teleworking during phase 1, as well as families that just have one parent who qualifies as a worker.

The school absolutely can provide services to a broad set of their customers. I suspect most of their customers meet qualifications described above to use EPCC centers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We paid tuition through the end of the school year and our preschool continued to pay its teachers. The kids are too young for any sort of distant learning. The schools has been offering 30min zoom meetings with the kids' classes. But that's pretty much it. DH and I are neither essential nor Phase 1 workers, so I don't think that the preschool will reopening for us any time soon.

I am not sure what legal action you have in mind, OP. The only concerning part in your message was about taking the tuition and not paying the teachers. But it looks like that has been addressed. I hear that you are frustrated. We are, too. But I am not sure what you want to hear. The situation sucks. For everyone. For the children. The parents. The teachers. The schools. I feel like everyone is trying to figure out the next steps as we learn more. There is a huge amount of uncertainty in the process. The only way to get certainty right now, is to pull your child from school and to commit to nanny/SAM for 2020-2021.

Looks like the school double dipped - having the money to pay teachers, but furloughing teachers, then receiving PPP?

What am I missing?

[Anonymous]

I'm a Franklin parent in DC, and requested (and received) a tuition discount. Are the schools operated by separate entities?

[Anonymous]

I think most private pre-schools are in a similar boat...?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a Franklin parent in DC, and requested (and received) a tuition discount. Are the schools operated by separate entities?

Really!? No, they are both operated by Metro Montessori. Interestingly enough, also found out the Metro owners own Zava Zone in Rockville.

Guess we know where all the money went...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think most private pre-schools are in a similar boat...?

Many are offering 50% tuition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think most private pre-schools are in a similar boat...?

Not at all. We are at Georgetown Hill and they have offered parents a lot of options since April. One thing I like is that they always provide an option to withdraw with no penalty.
For April, we were given the option to pay in full (with no tuition increase for next calendar year), pay in half (distance learning) or withdraw with no penalty. For May, we paid $500 for distance learning or withdraw with no penalty. I thought they options they gave were reasonable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many places are paying 50% of tuition for no services at all. For anyone.

We’re paying full tuition for no services. It’s basically a home center though and we’re still getting paid, so doing what we can do daycare workers are paid too.

[Anonymous]

Franklin parent here. Most parents had no issue with paying full tuition as long as teachers and staff were being paid. What seems to have set off a lot of parents was that Franklin furloughed (stopped paying) teachers and staff in late March yet offered no refunds. Franklin began paying teachers and staff only after receiving PPP during the first half of May. So, Franklin hasn't used tuition money to pay teachers and staff since the furlough. Yet only after sustained pressure from parents did Franklin grudgingly offer a 20% "credit" that, for annual and semi-annual payers, requires that their children return to Franklin for the 2020-21 school year in order to avail themselves of the credit.

Throughout, Franklin's communication has been spotty and unclear. Many parents have emailed and called multiple times yet received no response from the school. Franklin's initial school-wide communications highlighted its 60-day notice policy for withdrawal. More recent school-wide communications have been purposefully vague about tuition refunds/credits and whether and how staff and teachers are being paid.

Regardless of the legal merits of Franklin's tuition and furlough policies, their approach, posture, and communication has been terrible. Like an earlier posted noted, the likelihood of seeing any refund for this school year is small, but my family and many others will vote with our feet and not return to Franklin next school year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We paid tuition through the end of the school year and our preschool continued to pay its teachers. The kids are too young for any sort of distant learning. The schools has been offering 30min zoom meetings with the kids' classes. But that's pretty much it. DH and I are neither essential nor Phase 1 workers, so I don't think that the preschool will reopening for us any time soon.

I am not sure what legal action you have in mind, OP. The only concerning part in your message was about taking the tuition and not paying the teachers. But it looks like that has been addressed. I hear that you are frustrated. We are, too. But I am not sure what you want to hear. The situation sucks. For everyone. For the children. The parents. The teachers. The schools. I feel like everyone is trying to figure out the next steps as we learn more. There is a huge amount of uncertainty in the process. The only way to get certainty right now, is to pull your child from school and to commit to nanny/SAM for 2020-2021.

Looks like the school double dipped - having the money to pay teachers, but furloughing teachers, then receiving PPP?

What am I missing?

This is what is sounds like to me. I’d be upset - very upset - and you are not getting any in person services. Zoom sessions, while nice, do not provide childcare which is what you are paying for. Also, my toddler 70 percent of the time is not interested in zoom sessions and we don’t force it.

Our daycare is not charging tuition during this time and we still get zoom sessions. Teachers are getting paid from the PPP loans.

[Anonymous]

We are at a Montessori, but not in the DC area. They laid teachers off so they could get unemployment in March when they closed. Nobody has paid any tuition since March. The church where they rent the space has been kind about not requiring rent payments during the closure.

That being said, we aren't receiving any distance learning. We didn't even receive worksheets or one zoom session. Parents have organized their own zoom get togethers, but no teachers have participated, which is understandable as they have their own families and have been laid off.

The school did organize a drive by say hello to your teachers event and they all came to waive at the kids, which was appreciated.