Is it normal for a preschool to do this? re: attendence

hereonceagain · June 2011

My almost 3 yr old will be going to preschool. I found a great one but they have some policies that seem weird to me. And they said they strictly enforce the policies. Most pertain to attendance. The hours there are 7 am - 7 pm. But you have to complete a form stating the hours you attend. If you come more than 15 minutes past your scheduled time, you are charged $1 a minute, even though you are within their school hours. So I thought maybe I could just say she's there till 7 PM since it wouldn't cost me more. Nope. If you come earlier than your scheduled time, by more than 15 minutes, on more than 5 occasions, you are "breaking your contract and will be removed from the program".

Secondly attendance is mandatory. You can only miss if they are ill. But if they are ill more than 10 days within a year, you will be dismissed. Also, every single time you are out, you have to fill an absence report out with the reason, and they classify it as "excused" if you are ill or "unexcused" if not ill. Unexcused absences are not permitted therefore you will be expelled after 5 within the year.

Doesn't this seem crazy?!?! My child will be only 3! And when I get a day off work, I usually want to keep her with me at home. I historically do this about 20 days a year. I am thinking this program may receive some type of state funding when children attend which is why they are so crazy with it.

Does it seem normal at all?

April37 · June 2011

I have never heard of anything like this before... it's crazy IMO.

MomEads · June 2011

Other than the $1 per minute when you're more than 15 minutes late (which I have heard of before), the rest sounds ridiculous. If you are willing to pay to keep her there until 7pm, but want to pick her up earlier, then the preschool isn't losing anything. Also, the attendance policy is just WOW! I am just like you and like to keep DD home with me when I have off. Her preschool is very understanding of this and even encourage it! (IDK if it matters, but DD's school is a private school). Either way, the place sounds crazy and if it were my situation I would be looking elsewhere. Good luck!

jsugrin · June 2011

I think that's crazycakes. We do have a fee, I think it might also be dollar a minute after 15 minutes, but it's a small setting so it's more something that goes into effect if you are chronically late. The needing to have to lay out your hours and stick to that is a little strange but I can see where they want to avoid having parents sign up kids for 7-7 and then having staff for all those times then not having kids present. I mean, I know that school seems really expensive to us but it's a thin margin that they operate on so it would kill them to staff full staff for the entire day and not have kids there, kwim.

The sick days is simply rediculous but I would guess the gets some subsidy and only get paid if the kid is there so they want to make sure your kid is there. If that's the case then it's probably not as expensive for you.

Mama Jan · June 2011

The pick-up policy makes sense to me. They have to pay people to be there based on student/teacher ratios and your child's attendance effects their staffing.

The attendance thing.... sounds a little strict but I wouldn't call it crazy. It sounds to me like they take school (even preschool) seriously. Do they have a wait list? Perhaps they want to be fair to people who are waiting for a spot.

MrsBalletStar05 · June 2011

The no early drop-offs and late fees are completely normal. That is standard.

The missing school and "excused' absences and all that is weird and doesn't make much sense to me. BUT - I have heard of this is one time my older DS was going to a daycare and most of the parents had DHS subsidies. When they didn't come, the daycare did not get paid by DHS and therefor there was a policy that you had to attend X days a month. I asked about it (because I thought it was weird) and she said it didn't apply to me since I paid myself, and always paid even when he didn't go. MAYBE it is something like that...???

Rink08 · June 2011

DS1 went to a preschool that is part of a local private school. The offered hours were 8-12, 8-3, or 8-6 (3-6 was aftercare). If you were later than the drop off window, it was recorded but didn't affect anything. If your child needed to stay later than their scheduled time, you paid a set amount per day regardless of the amount of time. You could either buy a package ahead of time for x amount of days at a discounted price or you could pay at the end of the week.

The entire school has a 10 day unexcused absence policy. If the child missed more than that without a doctor's note, they could be held back due to attendance and could also be reported to their truancy dept. Days that had a dr.'s note were excused and did not affect attendance. Taking family vacations during the school year was frowned upon unless it included something educational. In that case you could fill out forms and have the teacher and dean "approve" the trip so that it did not affect the child's attendance record.

luvmagoldn · June 2011

Is this a true, stand alone pre-school or a day care that offers pre-school? The drop off and pick up thing sounds like day care to me.

As for excused absences, that's nutty for preschool. Is it a headstart program funded through the public school? If so that might makes sense but if it's private I don't get it.

Our pre-school is three hours with drop off at 8:45 and pick up at 11:45. That's it. No attendance policy per se but I would think twice about keeping your daughter home with you every day you are off. Part of pre-school is getting them ready for kindergarten and I think setting the expectation that you go to school on school days (unless you are sick) is important.

jlw2505 · July 2011

Not normal at all and honestly, sounds like they are just trying to make extra money off of parents that don't question them on it. I would never send my child to a school like that. Sorry but this is preschool. Both the daycare that I use (which starting at 2 /1 has a wonderful preschool program) and my older DD's PreK program which is through the school district, have you fill out a form listing the basic hours your child will be there but that information is used only so they can get a general idea of when they need staffing for the amount of kids expected at certain times/days. If you miss, you miss. You still pay for the day even if you miss and who cares the reason. After you are there for 6 months, you get a week free each year for vacation time. My kids are generally at school from around 7am-4:30pm but I can drop off/pick up anytime between 6:30 when they open and 6pm when they close with no extra charges or anything. I typically just give the staff a heads up if I will be outside my norm so they can plan ahead and have my child and make sure they have the right staffing coverage. The only time you pay is if you show up after closing time so when the center/school closes at 6pm, if you show up at 6:01pm, you are going to be charged for it. I know the PreK program charges $1 a min and I think the daycare does $15 for every 15 mins or something like that so if you show up at 6:10pm, you would be charged $15.

KL777 · July 2011

No, that is not normal. That is totally uneccessary! I would find a different preschool.

I pick up my DS whenever I want to (he's in PreK-3). As a courtesy, I'll typically let them know if DS will be out on certain days.

Absence policies typically start at the kindergarten level.

angelakh · July 2011

I think it depends on the school. DD is going to a school that is K3 - 5th grade. They have one set of policies for all students. They do make exceptions for some of the younger ones. Our school also has the 10 absences rule, but they also have a lengthy waiting list.

Amya · July 2011

My ds's preschool has two of the same rules---you are charged $1 a minute if you are late and you only get 10 absences a year. I can pick him up at anytime, though.

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