Reply to Skipping the waitlist and getting a spot?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I guess I don’t understand the point of the waitlist if they aren’t going to go in order.  They take money for the waitlist with the assumption if a spot opens up they will contact you in the order you applied.  To not do so seems wrong and shady.[/quote]

I'm sure the waitlist is the first place daycare centers with open spots go to, and waitlist families have a shot at those spots, in their order of priority date, before they are annouced to the general public. If spots get offered to the general public right now, it means there were not enough families in the waitlist willing or able to take (or reserve) those spots right away.
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I used to direct a center that had a waitlist - and our infant waitlist was LONG and it took forever to get in (like you had to go on when 3 months pregnant, and you might get an offer when you were in your 2nd month of maternity leave but maybe not until your child was 6 months old - LONG.  I was religious about going down the list in order of going on the waitlist (we had a few clients who had first priority, but on their priority list I was also rigid about using their going on list dates).  EXCEPT if someone told me they wanted a space in March, and the space I was filling was for November, I would skip that person who wanted February and move on to those who wanted  Oct, Nov and Dec and early January.  Because some of those who had wanted October were still looking for November, and someone who wanted Dec  or first week of January might pay to hold a space (might not, but it wouldn't hurt to call).  someone whose baby wouldn't need childcare until February would NOT hold a space from November.  So I wouldn't bother calling them, which means I might skip them this time, but in a few months when I'm filling a January/Feb spot I would call them.

See how that works?  I wasn't shady, but some people had 6 months of maternity leave, some had 6 weeks, etc....

ALSO - I do know that many directors are shady and/or really unorganized and just call the person who has been calling them the most recently.  That's unethical, I think.  Except if you have limited time in your day to make those calls, and parents don't bother to call you back unless they need care, and you have 40 people on your waitlist, and in 15 minutes you need to go run breaks or step into a classroom because yet another teacher called out sick or is leaving early, sometimes you just need to GET THE SPOT FILLED because every moment the space isn't filled, we are losing money, because we pay our staff whether the room is full or not.

So once your baby is born, call the centers, tell them the baby was born, name, date of birth, and tell them when you are looking for care - like the exact date (might have changed since you went on list).  Then once a month call them and just 'check in'.  Nicely, don't be annoying, but do make them know you are still very interested in the center. [/quote]

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