do YOU think this justifies a credit on tuition?

I’m on the fence. Not sure I agree with this.

Our school overbooked for the year. A whole classroom of pre-k with nowhere to put them. They had nowhere to put them when they accepted their tuition and still have nowhere to put them now. The solution so far has been to move the lower elementary class (5-7yr olds) into the main area (great room) that was commonly used for indoor play area on bad days, it’s the main walking area between all the class rooms, place for unruly children to be walked out of the room for some ‘thinking time’, etc. Now that area is cut up by objects. They put shelves in there to make ‘walls’.

Here’s the immediate negatives:

The rain day play area is gone
The after school area is gone
The drop off ability is gone – you can no longer walk your child inside to their class you have to walk around the building.

What they told us

Its temporary and will be returned. You won’t lose this area all year.
Sorry we over booked, but its better this way, we never told anyone no.
Its safe to walk around the building (mostly, well, we’ll work in it)

Construction to build 4 more rooms was supposed to begin Oct 1 and be done by end of Feb. It has not begun. They just put the fences up and I had to send a nasty email about safety since it was NOT a safe area at all! They have addressed the items (or so they say).

Well one mom is demanding a refund of tuition and credit on our remaining year. Her justification is as follows:

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Loss of use of the area we originally had. An actual benefit in San Antonio to have a sky lighted area indoors where’s cool and dry and now it’s gone. That feature is now gone. Loss of uses after hours has created a need for semi class environments, separation of children in rotating groups, less interactive social opportunities. This area, which was originally only slatted to be gone for a few months, has been and will be gone all year. As per a previous email, the walking path is unsafe and has not been remedied causing more inconvenience and concern. All of this is due to the school’s irresponsibility and poor planning. We researched and we are forced to plan accordingly with tuition by your contract, you should do the same. We deserve the school we are paying for, the features and options which we decided on.
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She wants me to hop on the band wagon and I’m eh about it. I mean I agree but refund/credit. I don’t know. What do you think?

Re: do YOU think this justifies a credit on tuition?

I would not necessarily want a refund. I would want them to find a better solution.

Many schools have trailer classrooms during construction. Although this may not be ideal, I think it would be a better solution. In my opinion, a preschool needs an open play area for bad weather days. That would bother me the most.

I don't see how it is a positive to accept all students and not turn students away. I have never heard of a policy like that before. All good schools have wait lists for a reason. Several of DS's classmates had to wait 1-2 years to get in. I put our name on a wait list 6 months PRIOR to when we moved.

I would check the child count restrictions. There are regulations for a reason. I don't think you can just accept X more students just because you had higher demand.

Message edited 11/5/2012 12:11:00 PM.

do YOU think this justifies a credit on tuition?

They hired 3 more people AND a new teacher for the new pre-k class. There are 24 students in AJ's class, one teacher, one assistant. Ages 3 to 5.

They can't do a trailer Our coding would make it very expensive. All buildings within 300 yards of the road must have slate exteriors (god knows why) and we can't build one in the back away from view due to the cost to get the stuff back there (so they said). Instead my kid and all the kids will live in a construction zone.

What's REALLY stupid is the infant room shares a wall with what WILL be a new room, so they are right next to the construction.

Can I just say? I can't WAIT for June. *sigh* this is sooo close to my house and used to be such a great idea. They've just made some serious mis-steps lately.

Honestly more and more of the parents feel our kids are no longer seen as children but as dollar signs. Its so expensive in my area that the only other choice is down the road for the same cost and its booked too. Otherwise you need to travel farther. So they are in a win-win situtation, parents pay the price.