Reply to Email announcing April closure ask for full April tuition

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Reply to "Email announcing April closure ask for full April tuition"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This just rubs me the wrong way so much.  We're at a community nursery school that sees itself as some kind of local treasure (it's been around for a long time; low turnover; hard to get it in).  It is not cheap and it's in a UMC area.  How can they ask for full payment when there's no service?? [b]You contract for the academic year when you go here. [/b] I'm tempted to burn all bridges and say we're not paying but then there's the camp issue if we go back (we're doing camp there also )and have prepaid that as well.  So much money down the drain.  [/quote]

Here is the problem.  You signed a contract that said you were accepting for the full year and you were committed to paying for the full year.  There was no clause in there that said that tuition was guaranteed that the facility would remain open.  There are any number of events that can close a facility down.  There are any number of very contagious or dangerous infections or illnesses that if one child or one staff member brought it into the school, the school would have to be closed.  There could be an accident like a truck running into the building that would close the school.  In this day and age, it isn't that unlikely that a school could have a shooting.  And on and on.  There are any number of things that can close your school down and there is no clause in the contract that they will suspend or refund any part of the tuition for a school closure.  In this case, the school closure is completely beyond their control.  They can't repair damage and reopen the school.

So, regardless of whether or not it would be nice for them to refund you the money, they are under no legal obligation to refund tuition.  On the contrary, one of the reasons that people like us pay tuition to schools is that we trust them to secure good staff and to maintain good programs.  Part of hiring and maintaining good staff is to treat them right and that means paying the teachers.  If they don't guarantee pay, then the good teachers will bail, which will devalue the care and education that children get there, which will in turn lower the desirability of the school.

Sorry that this happened, but unexpected school closings is one of the things that you need to consider before you sign the contract that says you are committed to the full year with no exit clause.[/quote]

The contract is for me to pay tuition in exchange for them providing preschool.  They are not providing preschool so they are not holding up thier end of the bargain.  Our preschool contract does not say anything about pandemics; it just says that it follows OPM for inclement weather.  And the federal government is not shut down so they should be open anyway.[/quote]

Yes, but the contract also says essentially that you have committed to paying for the year.  It does not say that in the event of school closure that you will be relieved of the obligation to pay tuition.  It says that you agree to pay tuition for the school year.  Unless there is a specific clause that says that in the event that school is closed you will not be required to pay, then you are on the hook for the duration of the contract.  My kids have been in schools for 8 years and I've seen a number of those contracts and also seen a number of situations where parents keep trying to argue they are owed money back.  The schools that guarantee teacher pay in the event of school closure never give money back to the parents.  I work at at government facility that was closed during the furlough last year.  The daycare was closed for an entire month and people tried to use the same arguments you are using and the school did not give refunds.  I have a friend whose children were in a school where the nearby water supply was tested and found tainted (Legionnaires).  The school was shut down for 2 weeks and the entire facility was cleaned, the plumbing had to be completely flushed.  And they had to have two tests 1 week apart that were both negative for any infectious agents.  So the school was shut down for 2 weeks.  The teachers were paid, no refunds were given.  I read in the news last year about a small private school where a drunk driver ran into the building (fortunately when the school was not open) and the school closed.  I had a friend who lived in that part of the country and I asked and she had friends whose children were there and she inquired and was told that no one was given a refund (the parent that was asked said that no one asked and no one got a refund, but it was third hand, so I can't say if it was true or not).

The point is when a school closes, if they guarantee salaries for the teachers, very few of them give refunds of tuition.  You can ask, but don't be surprised when you don't get one.  You may think you have a case, but it isn't very standard practice.[/quote]

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