Daycare Drama

Some of you are in the dark about the daycare drama.  I'll do my best to break it down and make it understandable.  I assure you - I did NOT pull the girls out of daycare because I was in any way unhappy with the services there.  I would not make that kind of decision so hastily as I know what kind of backlash this is going to have. 

From day 1 - we informed the daycare that we would ONLY be able to put the girls in school if we use a program called Care for Kids.  It's a state funded program that helps people pay for childcare.  We had previously been approved for the program but decided not to put the girls in daycare at the time.  This time - we were sure it's what we wanted to do.  We sat down with the director, worked out some numbers and filled out all of the paperwork.  We faxed the completed Parent-Provider form on August 2nd.  This is one full week before the girls started school. 

The girls started school on August 9th and at this point we were paying out of pocket because Care for Kids takes 30 - 45 days to process their information.  We were getting a huge discount and only paying $665 a week for all 3 of the girls.  5 weeks goes by (with many phone calls to the program to make sure they have all the paperwork and to make sure we get it processed because we're going broke!). 

Friday, Sept 10th - Pete calls Care for Kids.  They inform him that The Learning Experience doesn't qualify to accept any form of state aid for 10 years!  This started in 2006 and is in effect until 2016.  This means we don't get reimbursed from day one (which is how Care for Kids works) and we now have 30 days to find a new childcare facility or we lose our benefit.  WHAT?!?!? 

All Care for Kids could say was that if we wanted more info we'd have to call the Dept of Public Health.  Pete immediately found a new center that had 3 openings and figured the Learning Experience was a wash and there was no point in calling the DPH.  I on the other hand was too pissed off to let it go.  So I inquired.  What I was told was that the owners were convicted of vendor fraud and TLE isn't eligible for any form of state aid until 2016. 

After I calmed down and thought about it - I figured this must be a mistake because TLE is brand new to CT and they only came to CT this year!  So how can this be that they are on some form of probation from the state?  So I call the school and explain to the director what happened.  She said she would call the owner, Alyson, who would then call corporate and get to the bottom of it but she also assured me that yes it was more likely than not - a huge mistake.

A few hours goes by and I get a panicked phone call from Alyson's husband Edward.  He is talking so fast and trying to explain how this is all his fault and it has nothing to do with TLE and please don't be upset with the school or with Alyson and he's going to find a way to make this all right.  I'm still a bit in the dark but then he goes on to say 'Back in the day - my parents and I owned a business and got into some trouble and...'  Ahhh - I get it now.  So basically he signed the loan to TLE which makes him part owner which in turn now makes TLE unable to receive state funds. 

Simple mistake right?  HA!  I love the part how he says it has nothing to do with his wife or the school.  Here's the settlement agreement...and please note the names at the very top of the list!
http://www.ct.gov/ag/lib/ag/seniors/essex-meadowbrook_final_settlement_agreement.pdf

To be continued...