Reply to Daycare Closing for 3 weeks

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My daycare typically closes for 2 weeks due to Christmas/NYE and it is written in our service agreement as a paid holiday and I've accepted it for years. Now due to COVID they notified us this week that they'll be closing for an additional week. I think that this is unreasonable and would likely lead to additional community spread because many families will need to find people outside of their household to help with childcare since this closing was unplanned. Unfortunately, that is what I will have to do. 
Does anyone know of any specific guidance regarding payments during daycare closures due to COVID? Earlier in the pandemic, Maryland made it illegal up until June, but I'm not sure where things stand now.[/quote]

Can you link to where MD made it illegal?

There’s nothing wrong for them closing or taking a longer break. Since no children are sick and it is not the providers that are sick then it is not a community spread risk.

The only time you were not allowed to look for different childcare/ daycare  is if your daycare closes because of exposure and you’re in quarantine.

[/quote]

I will look for references (on my phone right now), but essentially at the start of the pandemic, childcare was only available to first responders. Facilities actually had to apply to operate, families of first responders provided proof, and the state subsidized it. So because the state was paying facilities directly, they could not charge families.

Unfortunately, many facilities that were closed continued to charge families, which was illegal so some places framed it as charging a percentage to save your spot or support teachers that were laid off, even though the state gave out operational grants. Mine continued to charge for 2 weeks and when they reopened I asked them to credit my account for earlier payments, which they did. But I dont think they made this know to everyone and definitely not to the families that chose not to return.
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Yeah our daycare continues to charge families to hold spots.  Initially they said we didn’t have to because they reopened for essential workers but they got fewer kids then they were expecting I guess and went back to saying if you didn’t pay, you wouldn’t have a spot to come back to.  I don’t think I was aware it was illegal and continued to pay, in part to support the teachers, but then half of them were laid off anyway.[/quote]

You’re talking about two different things here. Charging families when the entire daycare is closed seems to be questionable. But charging to hold a spot because you don’t wanna come in the business is open is perfectly legitimate.[/quote]

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