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Hi, Can someone explain to me what is Regular care and Teacher Care?
And do you renew your contracts in December and/or August? Why?
BTW, before I posted my questions, I tried to use Search and Advanced Search to search for similar topics, like the Regular & teacher care. The search options, couldn't find any related topics. :< Pls show me how to do it. Thx!
Regular care is 5 days a week all year long (minus holidays etc)
teacher care = no or pt care over the summer, no care over March break or x-mas holidays.
Regular care is all year round. Teacher care is when a teacher who earns treble what you do wants to pull their child out of your care over school holidays, to save themselves money but expects you to hold the space for them to return to come September.Quote:
Originally Posted by Love&care
I know that sounds harsh and cynical but it's the only profession who who expects our business to lose income due to their chosen profession. Some state they don't get paid over summer and the extended closures, but in reality, they do - their annual salary might be divided up and paid Sept to June or their school board might bank some of it and pay during summer just like everyone else's when they are on leave. They claim their money is pro-rated but it isn't. If it was, their annual salary would be divided by the weeks they work and they would actually only get approx 75% of their annual salary. They get 100%.
I don't accept school board employees unless they fully understand that this is a year round day home and they will pay for their space year round. They are welcome to attend but just like anyone else, they pay for the days reserved not their attendance. Some come every day. Some reduced their days over summer depending on what plans they have in place. To avoid teachers coming in Sept and then handing in notice in June, I've now started calling the deposit an enrolment fee. This is credited to their final week of care only if they have been here for over 12 months. If they depart the day care sooner, then the enrolment fee is forfeited.
Some providers here like to take a couple of teachers children because household children count in the ratios here when they are on site. If they have school age children themselves, they will take a teachers child just because they know that they aren't over ratios during school breaks. Some teachers see this and have the expectation that all day homes offer this type of placement. Or that the provider's who do, will offer it to unlimited people. I think some of the expectation might come from that.
If you do decide to take a teachers child on the school board schedule, make sure your contracts are really really clear. i.e. there is no option for this child to come on school closure days including storm days, parent teacher interview days (you know they need care even though your child is home), teacher union conferences etc. Also, if you need this to be shared with your own children, be clear that they cannot come until a time your child will have left he premises and must be picked up before your child gets home. Most provinces which count provider's children don't allow any overlap even for a few mins.
The searching on here sucks. It's because people call their thread things which aren't useful like "I don't know what to do".
You can renew your contracts once a year and you decide whenQuote:
Originally Posted by Love&care
I don't have expiring contracts. Not even for teacher's children. When someone comes here, they sign a contract that is based on a master contract but edited to reflect the individual agreement.
If I've agreed to an early drop off, reduced days for higher fee, anything at all that relates to the agreement, it is documented within the contract before signing.
My son is contract lawyer so I been lucky to have his input for my contracts.
If you have an annual contract, the issue is, there is an expiry date. This means when that date comes, either party can walk away, without obligation to the other side. Why would you set yourself up so that a client can just defer signing new contract and then allow first one to expire and you find yourself with space to fill and no notice period?
In this business, it makes no sense to have renewable contracts. You are providing care until such a time that it no longer suits your needs or until it no longer suits their needs. If and when that situation arises, then you just need clear policy about how to end the contract i.e. termination conditions.
My client's sign contract if they want to come. It details who the contract between, what child the contract for, what hours of care are being offered, what days of care being offered, fees, and any special conditions. For a teacher, I don't offer special conditions but if I did accept teacher schedule, this is where I would document that care was not available during school closure days (or what the arrangement is).
I strongly advice against annual contracts unless your province requires you do that. The expectation is that a new client will be here long term unless they move, change jobs, etc, so why not issue a long term contract that just explains the termination process? If your reason for annual contract is merely fee increases or policy changes, just have a contractual clause stating that fees and policy change at times and you will notify any changes in writing # days before the change.
Exactly like any other service - We had e-mail recently from Netflix that just say fees are going up next month to to their rate. That all required. If someone not want to pay that extra dollar, then it the responsibility of that customer to terminate contract in the agreed way.