A letter to the upcoming year morah

amother

↑ Brass ↓

Thu, Sep 05 2024, 1:27 pm

amother Linen wrote:

I don't understand the fuss. Doesn't every yeshiva and school charge a registration fee?

And for that matter my sons little league has registration fee. My daughters ballet has a registration fee. I'm pretty sure my daughters summer program in Israel has a registration fee.

I'd imagine 90% of playgroups charge registration fees.

There are multiple threads about school registration fees. Similar rant, different slant.

But pretty much every other registration fee comes off the tuition price. This goes for camps, clubs and more. It's literally schools and morahs that have their own rules.

Alternatively, it's used to secure a slot and is collected upon acceptance. This makes some sense, and is generally referred to as a deposit. But that's not what many morahs are doing either.

amother

Sand

Thu, Sep 05 2024, 1:31 pm

amother Brass wrote:

I'm impressed with this morah and wish I could say the same. My little ones wake up every day begging to go to morah. They're bored to tears and entertaining them while trying to work is impossible.

Lets see yesterday the bus did not come, I drove my son to school it took over an hour and I did not get back until almost 10:00
Today my son bus missed my stop(it went to the stop after)I drove my son to school and it also took over an hour-my daughters bus came a 1\2 late
I will see tomorrow if I get busing for my son.
I start on Monday because that is the date my daughters school starts Primary, I need the days before Primary starts to see if I get busing.

amother

↑ Cerise ↓

Thu, Sep 05 2024, 1:55 pm

amother Daphne wrote:

My school charges $550 registration per child and it doesn’t go off of tuition. It’s just another fee like the $500 building fund.
Not sure what costs $550 to mark off that my child is continuing up to the next grade!!!
No new info to put in…

Bh I don't pay $550 but I pay registration fee for every single one of my children going to school. Boy, girl, high school and elementary...
We also have a mandatory dinner fee per family...
This morah bashing has got to stop because all you will accomplish is that there won't be a morah for your kids to go to!!
And guess what? I once had to close my playgroup because there was not one sub to be found, I asked the mothers in my playgroup if anyone wanted to sub even for half the morning and nobody wanted to including the non working mothers!!!

For whoever is trying to cheshbon how much morah makes at the end, do your math right or don't bother!
(Working part time from 9-4??? Did you ever check how easy/hard it is to hire an assistant? Do you even know how much they charge?)

P.s: It doesn't apply to me I only charge $100 registration fee, charge much less that tuition mentioned above, I don't have an assistant and parents in my playgroup are thrilled with the service.
But it's really frustrating to read the constant morah bashing on Imamother!!
If you have to complain about your morah pick up the phone and call her up, don't post on imamother!

amother

↑ Linen

Thu, Sep 05 2024, 1:57 pm

amother Brass wrote:

Does yeshiva registration come off the tuition? This is the most expensive registration fee and the one paid most frequently. I don't think it does.

amother

Cinnamon ↓

Thu, Sep 05 2024, 2:26 pm

As a babysitter for 4 month - 2 yr old (different ages different yrs) I am really disturbed by how some of these Morahs are acting but please dont bash all of us, majority are not like them.

I dont do a registration fee as it isnt a done thing here but I wish I can, so many times the week before (or even a day or 2 before) we start, after I have turned down so many parents as I refuse to take more than the set amount of kids which I tell the parents when they inquire Parents suddenly cancel, they found someone closer or with different hours, I have lost alot of money from it, once I could only find someone 3 month later to take the spot, that is a 6th of my income gone for 3 months.

I have once changed the price during registration as I changed the age of registration to a younger age (everyone was looking for that age) so would have to take less children in, the 3 people it affected I told them, giving them the offer to back out, 2 were extra happy to have a smaller group and their child was still in the age range, the 3rd (who hadnt yet commited to me as she had signed up elsewhere and was trying to find someone to take her spot wasnt happy and prefered to send her child to a cheaper place with more children)

I charge a very small fee to cover insurance which usually I have to add to it I prefer to round down to a normal price and pay the difference and I charge a small 'stationary fee' for supplies like paper, ink, crayons, stickers which I adjust yearly according to age, I have also bought bouncers and chairs from that or my own money.

Please remeber not "ALL MORAHS" are bad, we are humans looking after your kids and living a life.

ETA we can never do it right. school here starts Sept 1st until end of June, private morahs do from Rosh chodesh Elul until Av.
This yr is the first time that Sept 1 was a few days before Elul, usually orahs start a good 2 weeks before and finish after. BUT all the parents complained that we started after schools even though our holidays during the yr is according to the school.
I would have loved to have started 4 days earlier and finish 2 months earlier but no you wouldnt be happy ever!

↑ notshanarishona ↓

Thu, Sep 05 2024, 2:45 pm

24 kids is a huge ratio and I would never sent to that size group for preschool but that doesn’t mean $650 a month isn’t cheap (again depending on the hours).
For someone to have space for that amount of kids, they are designing probably a 1/4 of their home for business. It means they have so many supplies that their basement is no longer available for their kids as a playroom. Just the utilities can be $500 a month. Insurance if they pay can be $1000 or more. Cleaning help every day (or turning into a shmatte and cleaning up after that size group ) is easily $100 a day.
$250 doesn’t cover the cost of a proper lunch every single day unless it’s plain sandwiches or noodles with ketchup
Drinks and cups as needed
Arts and crafts
Tables and chairs
Projects
Toys
Balls
I imagine just supplies cost at least $5-10 K a year.
I am not saying surprise rates are right, just that I would be very surprised if any morah is actually making $100k

amother

↑ Cinnamon

Thu, Sep 05 2024, 3:07 pm

amother Stone wrote:

Sorry but no. It is not the hardest job in the world. I would do it but don't have space. No yard, living room or play room. I love kids.

Everyone thinks they have it hardest. Rebbes, teachers, play group Morahs....

Every job is hard if you arent made out for it.

For me to be a class teacher, business manager or clothes designer it would be hard.
for me to be an office admin its fun and rewarding.
I felt so much better at the end of the morning when after my set hours, I would turn off my computer and not think of work until the next day.
I decided for various reasons to leave that job and become a morah/ babysitter. im lucky I have the ability to do it, if my sister would become a morah one no one would want to send to her, she isnt cut out to be a babysitter, and if she really pushes herself to be one it would be HARD!
But at the end of my morning im not walking away from the job, I have to spend time (which you arent calculating in my how much am I paying her an hour) to clean and sanitize the toys/tables, mop the floor, prepare which crafts will be done the next day, food prep for the next day for those who include food.
And then again just before I go to sleep whether its 11 pm or more like 1 am I have to mop the floor again as I live in the house and my kids have played on the floor and I need that floor clean so when you walk in at 8 am to give me your child they can crawl on a clean floor.

Everyone who works or is a sahm has it hard, dont put down other professions!

amother

↑ Cerise ↓

Thu, Sep 05 2024, 5:38 pm

amother Cinnamon wrote:

If you can't take a registration fee at least take a non refundable deposit so you don't lose too much if ppl change their mind at the last minute!
I used to not take registration fee for daycamp until one year multiple ppl didn't show up on first day and "forgot" to let me know!!

amother

Lightyellow ↓

Thu, Sep 05 2024, 6:02 pm

Morah here, didn't read through the whole thread. I charge a $100 registration fee. It takes me weeks, sometimes months to go through all the applications and process the information - and that's with my dh's help, otherwise I would need a secretary. There's the allergy and health info that often need a couple of phone calls to clarify, there are calls to previous morahs to make sure the child is a good fit (and that they pay tuition), mistakes on the application ect. There are endless calls from parents with "just one more question" And you can't imagine how many parents apply that are the wrong age or gender. ITS A LOT OF TIME AND TIME IS MONEY. I actually do not cash checks of the applicants that I don't end up taking.

amother

Myrtle

Thu, Sep 05 2024, 6:40 pm

amother Lightyellow wrote:

Um No one keeps the registration fee. Only colleges and seminaries/high schools charge an application fee! And if it’s taking you so long and it’s so hard I think you might be doing something wrong and it might be worth outsourcing it.

amother

↑ Brass ↓

Thu, Sep 05 2024, 7:35 pm

amother Cinnamon wrote:

Please remeber not "ALL MORAHS" are bad, we are humans looking after your kids and living a life.

ETA we can never do it right. school here starts Sept 1st until end of June, private morahs do from Rosh chodesh Elul until Av.
This yr is the first time that Sept 1 was a few days before Elul, usually orahs start a good 2 weeks before and finish after. BUT all the parents complained that we started after schools even though our holidays during the yr is according to the school.
I would have loved to have started 4 days earlier and finish 2 months earlier but no you wouldnt be happy ever!

You're 100% right and I don't think anyone here thinks all morahs are bad. It's more of a vent about the "system," which is just the unspoken rules under which morahs in our town operate. Please note, I speak for lkwd only. I don't know how it runs in other places, but here, pretty much all morahs follow these same rules:

-Registration fees of a minimum of $100 and up to $250 that does not come off tuition and is often collected in the summer even though:
-Registration starts Isru Chag Sukkos (we're talking seconds after havdalah) or even earlier
-The calendar allegedly follows the girls school of the morah's choice, but the morah then changes this at her whim
-Playgroup consistently starts at a later date than yeshivas and girls' schools even though a big chunk (likely majority) of the mothers are working mothers who aren't at liberty to just "make arrangements" for one or two kids during a regular work day or three.
-Half days can be given at random. This includes before YT, well before a 2yo needs to have off, the first and last days of school and lots more.
-The price jumps each year, also seemingly at random. Yes, we know prices on everything went up, but there's a fine line between charging a fair wage and taking advantage of desperate parents and not every morah knows how to walk that line.
-The price is sometimes not revealed until the summer, when the parent has almost no chance of getting her kid into an alternate playgroup

Again, this is not against any single morah. I love my kids' morahs and think they are amazing. But a lot of these "rules" really bother me. It's not just inconvenience. Some rules mean a significant loss of income for me that I can't afford and/or a monthly price I can't afford but have no way out of, and other rules mean signing a child up for morah literally 11 months before they will attend, when I have no way of knowing if they will be ready to advance to that age group.

Your schedule sounds amazing and you sound like a wonderful morah, so please don't take any offense here.

I just wish a single morah can explain even one of the above to me.

amother

↑ Trillium ↓

Thu, Sep 05 2024, 7:41 pm

amother Lightyellow wrote:

But you don't tell the parents about it a week before school starts. This seems more like a "hey! Let's add another fee so we can make more money!"

amother

↑ Lightyellow ↓

Thu, Sep 05 2024, 8:07 pm

amother Myrtle wrote:

My fee is clearly written on the application. Who decided that fees are only for high-school and college? It takes long because I care about the children in my group and want them to have a morah that's prepared to care for all their needs. I have considered outsourcing at one point, but that would cost alot more than the fee I'm charging and also, as an experienced morah, I'm better at getting a "feel" of the child and wouldn't want anything between the lines to be missed.

amother

↑ Lightyellow

Thu, Sep 05 2024, 8:16 pm

amother Cerise wrote:

I've never heard of processing fee for playgroup!!! What

Can't you accept the first 10, 20 phone calls? How many kids are you accepting altogether?

You can call it whatever you want. Supplies fee, registration fee... Do you live in Lakewood? I can get 100 people calling the day registration begins. And parents are unfortunately scrambling to find a group, to the point that they are often calling whomever they can even if it doesn't necessarily match their child's needs. The playgroup shortage in Lakewood is a HUGE issue. Anyone who wants to get filthy rich on supplies fees should please become a morah.