The following undersigned parents of JCUMC Preschool, PMO and Kindergarten students respectfully request that the School consider our petition below:

We understand that the School generally “follows” Fulton County for purposes of inclement weather closures, and that we accepted that policy upon enrollment. However, our acceptance of that policy was made with the expectation that the School and Preschool Board would act reasonably to make up (or refund) any excessive closures. So far this school year, the school has closed 7 days for weather-related events, and no makeups have been announced, no refunds offered.

In reality, the School is not a publicly-funded institution nor part of Fulton County Schools, and there are important distinctions between the two programs:

• JCUMC’s program is a paid program. Tuition is charged based upon days attended, curriculum depth, level and qualification of instructors, etc. We are making tuition payments with the reasonable expectation that we’ll receive value for them.
• August tuition, in particular, is charged to the families, and serves as an easy example of the parent view of this situation:
  • Using a 5-day Young Fives class as an example, each family in that class paid more than $100 for the 7 days of school held in August. So the School appears to value 7 days of 5-day tuition at more than $100. If the school feels that it is reasonable to charge separately for those 7 days in August, then we as parents feel that it is unreasonable for the school to close for 7 different days (regardless of the cause of closure) without adjusting tuition or making up the missed days.
• It is our understanding that our teachers are not paid on days the school is closed due to inclement weather. If that understanding is correct, then with no children in attendance using the facilities, and no teachers being paid for those days, the school’s daily operating cost for each day closed should be essentially zero - no different than, say, a Saturday that the church absorbs on a regular, ongoing basis. The parents who paid tuition for these missed days deserve an explanation of where our tuition money is going, if not to our teachers. Even if the teachers are being paid, the children did not attend school on those days.

In light of these facts, we respectfully request that the school consider one of the following options, or present us with a reasonable alternative:

• Make up the days missed by each class;
• Issue each affected family a refund for the tuition paid for their missed days; or
• Have the church issue to each affected family a donation statement, allowing us to write off the full amount of the tuition paid for which we received no value.