Our daycare has been closed for 9 days this year for weather. When they close, teachers don't get paid yet we still pay full tuition. Would you ask where that money goes?
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No. That is super annoying though. 9 days is a bit much. Our daycare doesn't close unless hell freezes over.
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Depends. How do you know the teacher's were paid? I wouldn't talk to the director about it, if I thought that it would get the teacher in trouble for talking to a parent. Like they were telling on the center. Make sense?
But I do think that is totally crap they didn't pay the teachers.
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That's really interesting. How do you know the teachers wouldn't get paid? If so I might ask the teachers (if they told you) about where that $$ goes. That just doesn't seem right to me.
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I probably wouldn't, but DH surely would. I think it's a valid question if the teachers aren't being paid.
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Its very odd to me that the teachers dont get paid, thats where I assumed that money would go. I'd never ask though I'd love to know.
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The money goes to lots of other things besides teachers. Rent/mortgage for example is the first thing that comes to my mind and that has to be paid regardless of circumstances.
That said, what does your contract with them say regarding closings like this?
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Oh jeez, parents at my center asked and it caused an absolute sh*tstorm.
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Woah - absolutely!! I can understand still having to pay - childcare workers need a steady income too! Buuut... if they're not getting paid either... that definitely sucks and you should absolutely be able to know *what* you're paying for.
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@pui: I can understand that, but they choose how much to charge based on paying for all of that AND paying the teachers. So now the center is getting quite a bit of extra money by collecting all the money from all the parents for 9 days AND not having to pay the teachers for 9 days.
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I would. Our teachers get paid on breaks and get health insurance. I feel like our daycare makes parents aware of that so they know where the money is going.
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@pui: that's exactly what I was thinking too. They still have to pay employee benefits, rent/mortgage, building maintenance, administration, workers comp and unemployment benefits, etc.
I wouldn't ask.
ETA: I think it's BS they (or any business) doesn't pay an employee when it's the business's decision to close - not the fault of the employee.
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@swurlygurl: What does your contract say regarding closings like this, if anything? Like does it stipulate that you would continue to pay even during an extended closure due to weather?
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@pui: I use an in-home, so if we can get to her she's open! If we choose to not take L to daycare because the roads are too bad from snow, that would technically be our choice so we would have to pay still.
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@mediagirl: I have been thinking about this too. I was chatting with a teacher a few weeks ago and learned they get paid hourly, have a certain amount of leave they can use to "cover" snow days, but once that leave is used up, they don't get paid. We have also had quite a few days this year (5+) when the school has been closed due to weather... yesterday being one of them. It does kind of irritate me that the school gets the money but the teachers don't! I guess they depend on regular tuition payments to pay the mortgage, etc., but it seems weird that they benefit from closures... and makes me wonder if that's why we've had so many.
ETA: I am not going to ask the school about it directly, but I may send a message to the PTO liason for my kid's classroom and ask her if it's something that's been discussed in PTO meetings (I'm unable to make them because I work the night they are held). I think the teachers should be paid since we are paying anyway.
@looch: were they asking in relation to closures or in general? was it the parents or administrators who were upset?
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@Smurfette: @kjpugs: we are friendly with the infant room teachers because one of them babysits for M. Also, the teachers we have run into all have big mouths.
Our daycare doesn't have a written contract or policy about these types of things.
@yoursilverlining: @pui: As for tuition, mortgage (the owners of the center own the building), insurance, etc. That should be covered by our weekly rate. The owners should not rely upon snow days to cover those things. 9 extra days of payments from over 80 children's parents is a LOT of money that they are pocketing if the teachers are not getting paid.
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@swurlygurl: Ah sorry I though you were the OP!
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@mediagirl: What does the contract say though? Does it stipulate that you would continue to pay even during an extended closure due to weather?
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@pui: "Our daycare doesn't have a written contract or policy about these types of things."
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I would never ask where the money goes, but I would ask if the school year gets extended after a certain number of unscheduled closings. Our preschool rarely closes since so many parents work (many of them as essential, like fire and police) so this isn't usually an issue. Also, most kids are NOT full time-- as little as 2 half days. So this past year they only closed 3 times (so far... knock on wood)... so if your child doesn't attend that day anyway, you wouldn't have been affected.
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@mediagirl: Ah sorry I didn't see that! My bad.
If you want to ask, I guess you're welcome to. I'm sure they'll have an answer.
Also, just curious, how bad is this weather? The only time I can remember school closings for that long around here was during the Ice Storm in 1998, and that had power out all over the province for over a month!
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@78h2o: basically what happened is that the daycare has a policy that it closes according to the public school system in town. But, there were several occasions this year where the daycare was closed and the public schools were delayed or not closed at all. This is because the teachers come from much further north and were affected by more severe weather than we were.
Lots of emails and petitions were fired around, and it was revealed that the teachers do not get paid on snow days. But, you know what, I don't get paid when I don't go to work either, so I am okay with the policy. Many of the other parents were not and were demanding a meeting with the principal and the superintendent responsible for the main school where the day care is affiliated.
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You can approach them and say you heard of a daycare (your friend's daycare in MD, or something) that doesn't pay teachers on snow days and wanted to make sure you understood how YOUR snow day money was being used. No teachers get called out, and you are just a curious/concerned parent, not a "tattler"
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