Dear Clarion, I am forwarding a email that I sent to Chancellor Dan Ritchie about the new Policy changes at the Fisher Early Learning Center. Many of the 200 plus families are part of the DU community. A forum to discus the policy changes is planned for Friday at 4 pm at the Fisher Center.
Hello sir,
I was told that you were involved in the resent policy making process with FELC. If this is so, then I feel that I need to express some of my thoughts on the subject. I have already written to Michele Coates.
Sorry that you have to endure another email expressing problems with the new FELC policies, but I guess it is part of the job for you whether you asked for it or not. My wife and I have been very happy with FELC since we enrolled our son there a year and a half ago. The new policies make it very difficult for us to stay with FELC.
My name is Ron Lusk and I have a 2 1/2 year old son at Fisher. The changes that Fisher has set have caused considerable stress in our family. Several of the changes that Fisher is planning may make it impossible for us to stay there. We have been very happy with the learning environment that has surrounded our son at Fisher. The changes make it very difficult for people who work a 9 to 5 job to pick up their child by 5pm. It is obvious that FELC is not going to try and meet the needs of the 9 to 5 working family or even tries to consult with the ones paying tuition in setting these policies. We live in SW Denver but I work only about 10 mins away from Fisher. Since I work till 6pm I always drop our son off at Fisher in the morning and my wife picks him up after her work. The 5 pm pick up time with a $10 charge for any minute afterwards and the threat to expel our child from Fisher on repeated violations seems uncaring at best toward working families. My wife has been timing herself lately to see how quick she can get to Fisher from work to pick up our son. She has become frustrated and depressed with the pressure to get there by 5. In calling around to other learning centers, since the policy announcement, we found that FELC wanted to close at 4 p.m. instead of the current 6 p.m. and somewhere along the way they settled on 5 p.m. I find this interesting because I am still unsure of whose needs FELC are trying to meet? The children? It would seem that the hours change was “bottom line” policy and spun to look education based. You can believe what you want, but the fact of this policy change is that it will save FELC money. Does FELC care if they lose families in the process? Yes and no. FELC does have 200 families on the waiting list.
These changes may very well suit the DU community, which the handbook suggests is a 60/40 split with the surrounding community. The 3 weeks closed may suit the DU community well also, but does little to assist working parents who have to hunt out alternative care for their children during these times because they still have to work. If I were employed as a teacher, the FELC policy would not be that difficult to live with, however, this is not the case in our family. I run a business that is open everyday of the year (all 365 days), 13 hours a day. Our working family does not have thef lexibility in vacation time, or work hours. Personally I have not had 3 weeks vacation in the last 15 years, but I may be the exception. I don’t recall that the handbook mentions that Fisher will give policy priorities to the DU community over the 40% community needs. I also don’t recall Fisher consulting their clients, us the parents, about any of these changes. Did they have to? Probably not. Would it have been good business, to do so? Yes, without doubt.
As far as the new mandates on which days our child can attend Fisher, there seem to be a few problems. As I look at the current schedule in my sons class room almost none of the children break down into the Monday, Wednesday, Friday or the Tuesday, Thursday option neatly. In fact, when I checked the current plans in my son’s classroom I found that 14 of the 20 children would have to change their plans. I know in our case our work schedules make it very difficult to work into this ridged scheduling. The poor individuals who choose the MWF or full week option loose out on all 10 Planning days since all planning days are Monday or Friday. These parents have the added stress of finding alternative care for these days. The 10 planning days along with the 3 weeks the school is closed makes it almost a constant struggle for working parents. The cheapest alternative is to do the Tuesday, Thursday plan and pay the $50 ‘dropin’ rate for an extra day and you will still be saving money over the 3 day plan. The 3 day and full week plan is a higher cost per day than the 2-day plan, which doesn’t have the constant interruptions of planning days. However, I learned in recent discussions, that there would not really be a ‘drop in’ rate since the new schedule provides for maximum attendance everyday. It seem unfair to penalize the MWF plan people with the inconsistencies of these missing days not to mention the financial penalty the MWF get that the TTH people don’t under the new policies.
So, all this is a mute discussion because we have been told that the policies are set “period”. No discussion. Like it or not. Or as we were told when we called about it “Sorry you feel that way.”
Am I being overly cynical here? Possibly. There seems to be many frameworks that FELC could have chosen to ensure the high care and educational standards that they have set for themselves without sacrificing the needs of the community it is trying to serve and still be financially viable, but have instead chosen a path of “bottomline” policies in an attempt to secure financial stability at the expense of many they serve. It just seems backwards to me that the ones paying the tuition are the ones least consulted on these policies. In the ‘realworld’ business is always trying to find ways to better serve customers and generating new customers without alienating the customers they have. FELC has their families over a barrel and no incentive to consult us…”and wehave 200 people on the waiting list.” For myself, I want to avoid “Doormat Philosophy” that will accept any policy an educational organization dictates in the name of the children without consulting the ones paying the tuition for these programs. One thing FELC will ensure with these policies is that they will get the families that ‘best serve their needs.’
Ron Lusk.
