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Commitment to Chug

I have my 5 year old daughter enrolled in a chug. My daughter is special needs, she has trouble understanding emotional communication.
The teacher of this chug wants a one year commitment (no contract, just verbal agreement) with a monthly payment. I feel that the teacher speaks very sharply to my daughter, and though I did not repeat this to the teacher, other mothers told me that they were surprised that my daughter wanted to return to the class. (My point being, it’s not just my biased opinion. All three other mothers made some sort of comment.) She also says having mothers there is distracting, but I feel that if she yells at her like that while I’m there- what will be when I am not watching her? My daughter does like the class so far (she’s only been twice) and I feel that this type of class is good for her, but I am concerned that if she keeps being spoken to sharply or is made to feel like she is doing something wrong, she will want to leave, and I don’t want to be stuck with a big bill when my child doesn’t want to go for what I see as the teacher’s shortcoming (not laziness or inconvenience from our side). What should I do? Would I be allowed to leave if she was speaking sharply to my daughter and for that reason my daughter didn’t want to return, even if we had a verbal agreement?

Thanks very much and hatzlacha rabbah.

Answer:

An agreement, even verbal, is binding: It is as though you are hiring the teacher for the time period of a year, and having done so you can’t back out – unless you bring somebody in your stead to ensure that the teacher won’t have any financial losses.

In this case, your concern is present from the outset, and therefore it is also something of a “deception” to enroll with a commitment for a year when you know there’s a chance you’ll be stopping before that time.

Therefore, you should tell the teacher that you’re happy to enroll, and you certainly hope you won’t be pulling out your daughter, but that this is not something that you are able to make a full commitment to.

Best wishes and good luck.

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