Why we are leaving our charter.

The names have been changed to the corresponding person's title (or role in our situation). If you are happen by this blog and are looking for more info on local San Diego homeschool charters, I will be happy to share more info with you, just drop me a comment with your e-mail address.

The thing that gets me the most is that they can't just admit they screwed up. Instead, they keep trying to find new ways to blame me. I have no respect for that at all. If they would simply offer an apology, I might not be leaving the school. Still, we are looking at hopefully switching to Dehesa, and we hear lots of positive things about that one. Wish us luck.

And, without further ado... The letter...

Dear Charter Director,

My name is Bonnie. My daughter, Marjorie, is five years old and has been attending your school at the South Bay location since last year when we enrolled her in EAK. I was excited to discover this charter, and we enjoyed checking out the books available and utilizing access to Enchanted Learning's website. We enjoyed using the Five in a Row curriculum and the Handwriting Without Tears program. However, we have unfortunately had ongoing communication problems with the school from the beginning. Most recently we have been struggling with an issue that I hope is an isolated incident within the program, but which has become a very challenging and upsetting ordeal for my family. I will provide a time line below, as I think that most clearly explains the whole, complicated situation.

~ April: At our monthly consultation with our Teacher, we asked about saving up our monthly funds to use over the Summer for two week-long day camp sessions with the Camp Fire USA organization. The Teacher was unsure about whether we could do that or not, so she had us ask the receptionist, who assured us we could. The Receptionist said I needed to get our form turned in before the month was over so that we could use April's money as well as May's and June's. I made a special trip down to the school on April 30^th just to assure that this had been done. When I filled out the form, I read it carefully and noted that all classes had to be completed by the end of the 06-07 school year. I asked The Receptionist about it and she assured me once again that it was not a problem and that the school year did not matter.

Being new to this, and having such a sure answer, I had no reason to question the information she gave me. However, if I had been told the correct information at that time, I would have been absolutely OK with not doing the summer program and instead choosing something to do during the Spring.

~ May-Early June: Camp Fire USA sent me an invoice for me to forward to GSDA, which I promptly did.

~ June: The beginning of our camp program is nearing and I have not yet received confirmation about our program. I made some calls, got hold of The Accountant who e-mailed me the form to take to Camp Fire for signatures.

~ Early July: It was not until the end of the week that I learned that GSDA was only willing to pay $120 out of the $180 total. I assumed it was just a simple mistake that could be figured out once the school reopened for the next year.

~ August: As soon as the Jamul office opened for the 07-08 school year, I called The Accountant to figure out what the problem was. This was the first I'd learned that the funds do not roll over from year to year. The Accountant told me she assumed Marjorie was enrolled year-round since we were asking the school to pay for summer classes which is why the total only came to $120 (at $60/month) instead of the actual total of $180. I explained to her the whole story and she told me she would see what she could do.

~ September 7: I called to check on the situation and was told there is nothing that can be done, GSDA will only pay for the $120. I called and left a message for The School Principal, leaving both my home phone number and my cell phone number. She called me at home, left a message saying she would call again Monday, but did not try my cell phone.

~ September 10: Called The Principal back, she was out of the office.

~ September 11: Called The Principal back, she was out of the office.

~ September 13: Called The Principal back, left a voice mail.

~ September 14: Called The Principal, left a written message. No response. I called again that afternoon and caught The Principal on the phone. Explained our whole situation to her, she admitted that they had made several mistakes and was “more than sure” that our camp would be paid for once she spoke to you, Director, and explained the situation. She told me to call her at approximately 2pm on the following Monday.

~ September 17: I called the school and spoke to The Principal. She told me she'd forgotten to mention it in her meeting that morning and she would call that minute and get directly back to me. No call back.

~ September 18: I called the school again, left a message for The Principal on her voice mail, referencing the situation. No response.

~ September 19: Our (very awesome) Teacher called me confused. She told me The Principal had told her I kept leaving her voice mails and she had no idea why. She assumed I had meant them to go to The Teacher. I explained to The Teacher that it was, indeed The Principal I was trying to get hold of. Awhile later The Principal finally called me back, claiming she had left me a voice mail on Monday, not 10 minutes after we had spoken (I later checked my voice mail to find no such message). She told me that the school would definitely not be paying more than $120, but that I can be assured they would pay that amount as soon as they were billed.

As you can see, I've done more than my share of footwork on this. I have asked all the correct questions (regarding the end date of classes, for example) and have done the best I could with the information I was provided. I assure you I am a very reasonable person and was very willing to work with GSDA from the beginning and I would have followed all the rules had I known them at the time, or been alerted to the mistake during the time after I turned the paper in on April 30, to the time camp began on July 2. Unfortunately, we are a low-income family and paying this extra $60 will result in a financial hardship for us. I am embittered at how this has ended – I had such high hopes for such an amazing program, but we have gained virtually nothing from it, while your school has earned money from the state the entire time Marjorie has been enrolled. I hope we can work together for a pleasant solution to both parties.

Thank you for your time,

Bonnie