Playgroup for 3y is asking for months tuition

amother

Mon, Apr 20 2020, 8:20 pm

I paid March because we had half a month, the morah sent a haggadah, it was erev pesach. Now they emailed and asked for April tuition including after care. But there's been zero communication and not even an email with coloring sheets to print out or something. They say they want to pay their teachers - I dont understand why. If my work stopped then so did theirs.

I want to email them back but don't know what to say.

amother

Bisque

Mon, Apr 20 2020, 8:23 pm

It’s a question for a rav. Ask yours and if she doesn’t agree you may need a mediator. There are many halachic teshuvas about this. Diff communities ruled differently.
It’s like you agreed to pay her for the year and she was forced to close against her will. You may still be obligated to pay her 1/3-1/2.

amother

Crimson

Mon, Apr 20 2020, 8:30 pm

Lakewood rabbonim came out and said that parents should pay between 1/3 and 1/4 of the agreed upon amount. Lakewood rabbonim said that the morahs are now home watching their own kids and they should pay for that advantage.

For the argument that it’s a year long contract the contract is based upon the morah working and if the morah isn’t working then the contract is null and void. If the morah became sick so it isn’t her fault that she can’t work is a mother still obligated to pay. It’s a two way contract and if one side defaults whether they were forced to or not then The contract is null and void.

Another point unemployment is paying someone if they lost their job an additional $600 a week if you lost your job because of corona or were affected by corona so let her have her employees go on unemployment they will make more money. The reason why day cares want to pay their teachers is because if they continue to pay even though they are closed the government will cover those expenses and pay up to $10 million dollars back to the employee so that’s why day cares are paying because they want to double dip and get money from both places.

solo

Mon, Apr 20 2020, 8:44 pm

Not the op. I’m in Brooklyn. My 3 yr olds playgroup is still cashing our checks. Her place wasn’t legal so she won’t get government assistance. SheS continuing the “curriculum” sending occasional whatsapp videos and zooming for an hr 3x a week. She emailed coloring pages... I know she’s just trying to earn the money she’s continuing to take from us but I wish she’d reimburse something. Like for lunch & supplies. My husbands pay has been reduced. But I feel so petty asking for a reduction

notshanarishona

Mon, Apr 20 2020, 9:04 pm

Why would you feel uncomfortable emailing?
It’s definitely a fair and expected response .
I would (1) ask a shayla and (2) try to come to some sort of compromise that you can afford .
A school is a little different as you as a consumer want the school to continue in business for many years to come but a playgroup or one and done service such as seminary is different and you have less of an achhrayus to keep them in business

mha3484

Thu, May 07 2020, 6:14 pm

I am still paying full tuition for my son in Nursery (4 year olds) which is part of the larger yeshiva that my other son goes to. I feel that the morahs are really working their hardest to make the best of this. They have two pre recorded audio lessons each day. They sent home all of the projects with detailed instructions, the preschool director makes a 30 minute video each week and sends it to the parents. They did frogs last week and today she left a table on her sidewalk with a tadpole and a froglet and a time to come see it with social distancing rules. My son was over the moon happy. Sure its not the same as a full school day but its not worth making an issue over.

amother

Oak

Thu, May 07 2020, 6:19 pm

March tuition check was cashed before corona. (There were 2 weeks of gan)
April Things were up in the air + pesach busyness so I didn’t mind that the check was cashed without addressing tuition and the lockdown
May check has now been cashed. So I guess she’s charging full tuition despite the lockdown! I wasn’t expecting that.
It’s a group of 25 kids 3/4 yr old) in a Flatbush basement playgroup. It’s in the Morahs house and she was providing lunch. 1 assistant. Tuition is 450/mo. It wasn’t legal so she won’t be receiving govt assistance.
Since lockdown she’s been providing some prerecorded videos. 4 hrs of zoom a week. Packets of craft materials that she leaves on her porch (I haven’t actually taken them cuz when am I doing crafts with my 3 yr old and he has very little interest in videos or zoom)
Our income remains mostly the same. We were struggling before corona. Our expenses have gone up (food+ entertainment) But on our tight budget we’re Really feeling it. Our Rav said we shouldn’t be dipping into savings to pay but didn’t give us specific guidelines regarding our obligation

amother

Oak

Wed, May 20 2020, 12:18 pm

So I finally plucked up the courage and called my daughters nursery Morah to ask her to pls not deposit our June tuition check.
She’s been providing some zoom classes and cashing our checks without any discussion about tuition.
I told her that we are struggling now. Our income has been reduced. Our Rav advised that we’re are not halachically obligated to pay full tuition. We’ve reached out to our other kids schools. And we’re hoping that she wouldn’t deposit our last tuition check.
She told me that her Rav said she should reduce tuition rates by $125/ mo. But she never said anything to us and continued to cash our check. Because the reduction is only for those in need (ppl who reach out to her.) $125 x the 3.5 months she will have been closed = roughly the amount of June’s tuition. I could do that. But she’s only offering me the $125.0 reduction for the months since I reached out to her(June)
She also said some other things that didn’t add up mathematically. Like her 10 month tuition fee is for 12 months. Even though she has a daycamp that she charges (1.5 x the yr round tuition) for.
I was feeling really uncomfortable so just repeated that I would really appreciate if she didn’t cash our last check and left it that.
But now I’m so unsure of myself. I really cant afford to pay her. But what if she can’t afford to miss her income. If not for corona I woulda paid the tuition and gone a bit more into debt.
Uch I’m so uncomfortable

amother

Brown

Wed, May 20 2020, 2:24 pm

My DH called my sons morah for May's tuition. Playgroup in her house, except she is legal so technically she should qualify for government assistance (which I don't think she applied for) she made a big deal out of that it's the right thing to pay in full and he should discuss with me and do the right thing. She said since we get a tax break we need to pay in full because we benefit from her. She said her daughter lives in a different city and paid in full even though she didn't have to. She also said it's a full year's tuition divided into monthly checks.

I was upset. I don't think she should get more than half (my work hours have been drastically cut down because I need to watch my kids so why should I pay her for doing nothing?)

But she didn't really leave room to argue.
Now she said she's going to be open in June.
I don't think it's safe to send so I really don't know what to do now.

It's $1,750 that I paid her and didn't get anything from.