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Staff Anniversaries
Hailey Livingstone-11 Years
Bill Minter-16 Years
Denise O'Neill-2 Years
Congratulations to each of you. Thank you all for your years of teaching with us. We are so fortunate to have you on our team.
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Please mail in tuition payments to 1056 Mountain Road Suite 16 Stowe VT 05672 or log into our website and click the pay now tab and pay online through PayPal (a 3% CC processing fee is applied) .
Tuition payments are critical as we have not received any stabilization grant payments or SBA Loan funding from the state at this time, and are having full payrolls and all regular bills going out. It's crucial for your bills to be brought current and pay all past due amounts. Any additional amount you pay is greatly appreciated and can be counted in three ways:
*Towards your 50%
*As a donation
*Applied as a credit on your account
Please indicate what the payment is to be used for upon submission. Thank you in advance!
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We are still actively working on enrollment for this coming Fall. We are nearly full in all our programs and are getting many people calling in regards to spaces for all age groups. We have a very long wait list for several of our programs. At this time, unless you have informed us otherwise, we have kept you for your same days. The change in programs for most children will occur August 24th, so if you are adding or dropping days, that would be the start date. If you are not going to be returning, or are needing a change in your schedule please reach out to Nicole at [email protected] . It's very helpful for us to know of any changes you are planning, as it helps us accommodate everyone's request. Keep in mind if you are wanting to add days, some programs are full and may not be able to accommodate that request at this time. However, we do put current families on the top of the list for adding days.
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Public Preschool Registration
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We have sent out a very specific email in regards to how to enroll in the Act 166 Public Preschool Program. Please refer to that email with specifics for your families enrollment process. Nicole will also be sending out personal emails with guidance this week to each family. We do this to make sure our families know the process and can get enrolled in this program as soon as possible. It's best to enroll prior to the school year ending, as the pre-k coordinators are not working as much during the summer weeks to it's more challenging to get confirmation that you are ready to go for the start of the school year. You must be registered by September 1st to receive full funding. Your child must be 3 by September 1st to qualify, and they do not make exceptions.
Please email Nicole with any questions and also to let her know once you are registered so she can confirm you are all set with the school
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I hope that this finds you all staying healthy and doing well. Your children are missed so much, and we are greatly looking forward to the day we can welcome all of our families, staff and children back into our school. Until then, we hope you are all taking advantage of any remote learning opportunities that your child's teacher is passing along to you. We understand you are all so busy, and may not have the time to join into Zoom meetings, or may not desire the screen time for your children. We are certainly trying our hardest to accommodate all families and staff's abilities during this time. Even if you do not like the screen time, you could consider having your child listen, so they can hear the voices and stay connected through sound. Our goal is to help everyone stay connected during this time, all while providing some consistency and regularity for your children as well as some educational and fun experiences. Do not feel obligated to do all that is past onto you, they are merely suggestions and guidance to help you through this time. If you have any suggestions or ideas, please feel free to share them with your child's teacher or myself, and we are happy to try to accommodate. We love seeing photos and hearing stories about how families and children are coping during these times, so keep those coming. It always brightens our day. The drawings that come with checks in the mail always make us smile! The little things that keep us going are so special at this time.
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Apple Tree is still open for Essential Care families and children. We have been doing well here, while we miss or "normal" routine we have settled into a new routine with new groups of children. We have four teachers that work each day with the children, currently. If more families decide to enroll, we would need to reach out to other teachers and have then start back in. We are set up in two programs, the toddler one space and upstairs Preschool 3 classroom. We have infants and toddlers combined and preschool and school aged combined and it's working better than we anticipated.
Some new procedures we have in place:
*We are not allowing anyone who is not a staff member or currently attending family or child into our space
*Even our staff members who are not currently working in the building, do not have the code to the building and are not allowed in without notice. When they do come in, they are not allowed direct contact with children or staff
*When current families come to collect children's belongings, they are not allowed in the building, a staff member brings them their items.
*We require everyone to wash hands upon entering the building
*We have our cleaner sanitize and disinfect everything, door knobs, keypad code to enter the building, railings, gates, faucets, etc. More than we ever did before.
*The playgrounds are sanitized each evening by our cleaner
*We check temperatures daily, staff members included, no one with a temp over 100.4 is able to remain in our care on any given day
*No child is allowed to remain in our care on any given day if they are sick at all, no exceptions.
Some new procedures for families enrolled:
*Limit the parents in the hallway picking up their children to 2 at a time. If you come to the front door and you see two families, please wait outside in the lobby until one exits.
*Keep social distance from other children, families and our staff, 6 feet away
*Make sure you as parents or guardians are also washing your hands upon entering the building.
*Please do not enter your child's classroom, only the hallway for the preschool/school aged children, and the kitchen area in the toddler/infant program. This helps us limit the germs in the space where your children spend the majority of their day.
These are all precautions to help ensure the health and safety of our staff, families and any child in our care.
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Financial and Re-Enrollment Updates
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As you all know, we have asked families to pay 50% of your tuition during this time, and the state is paying the remaining 50%. We are still receiving public pre-k funds and state subsidy as well, so if you are enrolled in either of those two programs your statements still reflect that amount, and the state is paying 50% after those amounts are deducted. If you were unable to pay the 50% you were asked to unenroll at this time. We have been given guidance by the State that we must seek to enroll any spaces for anyone who has unenrolled. At first we did not think this would be happening, we doubted families would be seeking to enroll at this time, however we have been getting some inquiries and are required to offer them a space if we have one. We do have families asking to enroll, and it's required for us to list, on our invoices to the state, how many spaces we have tried to fill for anyone who has unenrolled. We do not want to jeopardize our main income source, nor do we want to fill any of your spaces, however our hands are tied. If your situation has improved or settled and you can now pay the full 50% that is ideal, and allows you to be guaranteed your space. As much as I do not want to let go of any of our current families and children, and wish nothing more than to welcome you all back, I am not sure how long I will be able to maintain you all on the top of my wait list without collecting your 50%.
Please reach out to Nicole at [email protected] and let her know if you wish to re-enroll so you do not give up your space.
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After School & Summer Camp
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Unfortunately the state decided to not financially support After School programs, therefore we had to make a completely different decision for those programs and staff. Without any income coming in for those programs, we simply had to reduce our income going out. We made the decision to lay off our substitute teachers and majority of our school aged teachers. We stopped asking any after school family for any tuition.
We are not charging any tuition to After School students at this time. We have asked if they are able to continue to pay, to please consider doing so. This helps us significantly. We have also asked that if they can afford to pay any amount as a donation, or leave the amount they pay as a credit to use this summer or fall After School, that too would be beneficial at this time. Any amount given is appreciated tremendously.
We are still enrolling for our Summer Camp Program as at this time we have not been given any guidance or regulations specifically speaking to Summer Camp Programs. It is our understanding that we must plan as if they are happening, that way we are prepared and set up to open, and hopefully we are able too. We would rather be prepared to open and told we can not, than the opposite. Please take a look at our
Summer Camp Offerings. Keep in mind children must have gone through Kindergarten to enroll into these programs.
Apple Tree Learning Centers is also enrolling for fall 2020 After School program. If your child was in our program this year, either in the actual After School Program, or our Preschool 4/5 program, we are currently accepting your enrollment. We do collect the first week's tuition as a deposit which is simply applied to the first week of the school year. Our rates are $120.00 for the week or $26.00 for the day. Please email Bill or Kendra at [email protected] or [email protected] or Nicole at [email protected] for more information. You can also reach Bill at 802-345-5728 or Nicole at 802-253-4321
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