April 10, 2020

March 30, 2020

Dear LEDP Families,

Hi LEDP Families- 

Hi LEDP friends- 

March 19, 2020

Dear LEDP Families,

This is a challenging and uncertain time as we navigate the impact of COVID-19 on our school, work, and family lives.  We have been thinking about all of you and your children.  In the midst of all this, we do feel very fortunate to be a part of the Lawrence and LEDP communities, and hope you feel the support we all can provide each other, even while remaining at home. 

We are writing to update you about LEDP and our invaluable LEDP teachers who are not salaried employees and are worried, as you all are, about what will happen during the Brookline school closure through early April.  As a reminder, LEDP is a non-profit childcare center.  We on the LEDP Parent Board believe it is crucial to continue paying our LEDP teachers and staff wages and health benefits during this three week closure. As you can appreciate, maintaining an income in this time of great uncertainty is critical to our teachers and so we believe that this is the right decision.  We have consulted with the other Brookline Extended Day programs throughout the Town and they are doing the same.  Unlike salaried employees or full-time teachers who may have access to PTO funds or other forms of support to help in emergencies such as this, LEDP teachers do not have this luxury. Since our date of return is not entirely clear, we also want to ensure that things run smoothly once we are back in school and try to return to some normalcy. Having an intact and fully paid workforce is essential to achieve this objective.  We realize that Public Schools of Brookline may be closed beyond the current proposed return date of April 6. The Parent Board and Directors are communicating regularly to make decisions and contingency plans for the staff and will keep you posted.  

With that said, we understand that families may be wondering how this LEDP closure will impact tuition payments already paid for March and future payments if the school closure extends beyond April 6.  As you may know, LEDP tuition charges are set such that families have stable monthly payments that collectively cover the expenses of the full school year. This is why we don’t ask families to pay more or less for long or short months, or less in months with school vacation weeks.  Regarding March, we will not be able to provide partial tuition refunds as these funds are committed to teacher salaries.  The only exception to this is for families who already receive income-based tuition assistance.  However, we are also aware of the financial implications COVID-19 may have on some families so if this is a hardship, please contact Mary Gardiner at mary_gardiner@psbma.org

We have decided that we cannot yet make decisions about tuition for April - June until we receive further information, such as guidance from the district regarding make-up days and, of course, the possibility of an extended Brookline School closure.  At this time, we do not plan to collect April tuition until we hear a confirmed date for schools to re-open. 

LEDP has worked for the last 40 years to set up a rainy-day fund meant to provide continuity of operations in the event of an emergency. We are fortunate that we have operated for so many years without needing to draw from this fund. In the event of an extended school closure, we will be forced to access the emergency fund to cover operational expenses to support LEDP leadership and teachers.  This fund provides us with a degree of security, and we are hoping that we will not need to layoff or make any difficult personnel decisions regarding our employees in the event of an extended closure.  We may look to all of you for additional support in the future to help us recover from potential losses. Your generosity will help to ensure that we can continue to provide the highest quality after-school programming for your children once this crisis is over.  

Our amazing Directors, Mary and Janet, are providing essential support and guidance to teachers throughout these challenges, and we are forever grateful. If  any of you are in need of childcare please reach out to Mary.  There may be some LEDP staff available to assist. 

As parents with kids in LEDP, we personally understand the challenge of the school closure upon working families. The experience frames how valuable LEDP is to us and to our children. 

In solidarity and with deep appreciation,

The LEDP Parent Board

Frederick Ruberg – Parent Board Co-President

Shella Dennery – Parent Board Co-President

Amanda Carillo

Cat Ham

Corey Harwell

Jennifer Havlicek

Mike Laub

Stef Gerken

Carolyn Mansfield

Nick Yoder

March 12, 2020

LEDP Director