What the ????

For some reason, although it is four a.m., I cannot sleep so I am doing a double post. This one is more of the venting variety so please bear with me!

As most everyone who reads this blog knows, Jonathan is in daycare. Before he was born, I laboriously chose a child care center where, I hoped, he could stay through preschool and until he started kindergarten. But for a few glitches along the way, I have been completely happy with my choice, although I have recently considered looking around at other preschool programs just to see what else is available.

All that was true until yesterday when I picked Jonathan up at school. They have little mailboxes in each classroom where you pick you your child's stuff at the end of the day--care sheets, artwork, announcements, etc. Yesterday in Jonathan's mailbox was a simple typed letter from the school director wherein it was announced that, starting April 1, 2008, they would require tuition paid in monthly installments due on the first of each month. Accompanying this letter was a list of tuition rates for 2008 which, like every year since we started at the center, have gone up, this time to the tune of $8.00 a week.

I was floored. I know it's not PC to talk about money, but I am going to be honest with everyone here and tell you that we do not have $836 a month just to throw out in a lump sum starting April 1. I know it is the same amount of money as paying it in weekly installments but since we each get two paychecks a month, it is at least manageable. I almost started crying. I wanted to go and talk to the director who, shockingly, was not there. I called Bryan and then my mom to vent and I have been stewing about it ever since.

First, I think it is pretty crappy to announce this on a Friday afternoon via a slip of paper tucked into a mailbox. Second, I think the director should have been there to talk to myself and other parents for whom I am certain this is going to cause financial difficulties. And last, I just do not get why this change is being made except for, perhaps, accounting purposes. Overall, I am left with with feeling that the center is too corporate oriented such that it just may not be the right place for our family.

So, starting Monday, I am going to start looking for a new place. I do not want to overreact and say we are moving, but this is definitely motivating me to look around. There are a couple of places I have in mind that are particularly attractive as the have two no-pay weeks a year (where we go currently, you pay the same tuition every week regardless of school closure, vacations, etc). If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest and I'm going to try to go back to bed now ;)