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Wondering how people work their daycares around Teachers? Do you give them the summer off unpaid or request a holding fee? What about holidays such as Christmas and March break do you charge for those or not? Do providers charge a higher rate to get the holidays and summers off unpaid? Just curious if its worth it to just take teachers kids and what some of the providers experiences are with this. Thanks so much!
I actually ONLY take teacher's children. My husband is a teacher (awesome to have the same schedule!) and I budget accordingly to not charge them for summers off. I also do not charge for March Break & 2 weeks @ Christmas off. Last summer I offered 2 day care throughout the summer, but only had a regular attendance of an average of 2 children. I'm planning on taking this summer completely off and enjoying it:). To not charge for summers off is a huge draw for teachers (you can always charge them a higher daily rate to account for no pay in summer; it's your business!).
I just took on a teacher after saying I never would, but I LOVE this family. The parents are so sweet and respectful of my regulations, I couldn't say no.
I offered one of three options to them:
a) pay $5 extra per day, and take summers off
b) pay part time fees during the summer and keep the space open
c) take summers off but take their chances that the spot may be gone come Sept.
They chose $5 per day. I will have an open space all summer, which I kind of like, as it's a lighter load for the nicest part of our year :)
I have had two teacher families one kept her kid in full time for the full year and the other one pays full fees except for summer which they pay 3 days a week.
Glad this question was asked, as I was wondering about it recently!
I don't offer anything special to teachers as for me, it is nto worth taking a hit to my income even though I would have a lighter load. It comes down to what you can afford in the end. If you can afford to have less kids and less income in the summer, then you can offer summers off or only part-time. Personally, the teacher family I had, I required to pay full-time throughout the year and use what they wanted. I knew I could fill the spot with a non-teacher family and have that income. However, I know other providers who love to have lighter summers or summers off and can manage without the income, so they love teachers kids. You just have to make sure you can manage whatever you decide to offer.
i have had a few teachers over the years, I treat them the same as all the rest during the school year(allowing one full week vacation with no pay) all the other weeks they are due full payment! during the summer, I have never charged them due to the fact I have no trouble filling their childs spot with a school aged child who needs care. (never losing income) once though, the No Charge during summer, did bite me in the butt, I had a set of parents who were both teachers, not inform me they had chosen to go to alternate care until about 2 weeks before the school year resumed leaving me high and dry come september. My advice? always have them pay a holding fee of 2 weeks to one months pay that you can credit when they return, insuring you are not left standing in the cold, if they decide to leave care. ;)
Wow you're lucky to have not had them overlap:). Mine usually need care beyond school year and leading up to set up classrooms etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by kidlove
i have one teacher family. they pay me 50% regular fees to hold their spot over the summer. they usually send their kids 1-2x a week to get errands done and keep kids accostumed to daycare routine. this works out for me because in lieu of them not coming this allows me to watch my b/a sa full time in the summer so im not losing any $$. if i wasnt able to arrange something like this i wouldnt hesitate to charge full time fees. my teacher family knows i have a waiting list right now so they are happy to pay to hold their spot!