Epiphany Early Learning Preschool

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: I have not picked up these items, I did not tell her she could donate them to GoodwillI told her specifically that I had saved these in order for my son to have use of them when he entered a preschoolThere were hundreds of dollars worthy of carefully selected books, puppets, and Graff animals themed to go with a variety of learning materialsAnd she has accused me of bullying and refusing to have a conversation over what these meant to me and why I had meticulously kept the theme boxes and items for Rex's future preschoolI thought I had made that abundantly clear when she was taking themThere was a rainforest box, an Arctic box, a geography box with experiments and books and animals and songs, an oceanography box with several Toobs of appropriate animals for sensory play as well as books and finger plays, a Farm box with themes related to attachment and expanding circles of trust, communiity helpers box with multitude communities and figurines of varying ability and posters, building blocks, and emergency helpers materialsTo say she is done with this is insulting and contemptuousAnd to ignore my pleas and discard me as forgetful or ignorant is also insultingAnd to also say that she is willing to absorb these copious materials but not pay for them or to not have the energy to return them is also contemptuous.? Sincerely, [redacted] ***

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because: I have not picked up these items, I did not tell her she could donate them to GoodwillI told her specifically that I had saved these in order for my son to have use of them when he entered a preschoolThere were hundreds of dollars worthy of carefully selected books, puppets, and Graff animals themed to go with a variety of learning materialsAnd she has accused me of bullying and refusing to have a conversation over what these meant to me and why I had meticulously kept the theme boxes and items for Rex's future preschoolI thought I had made that abundantly clear when she was taking themThere was a rainforest box, an Arctic box, a geography box with experiments and books and animals and songs, an oceanography box with several Toobs of appropriate animals for sensory play as well as books and finger plays, a Farm box with themes related to attachment and expanding circles of trust, communiity helpers box with multitude communities and figurines of varying ability and posters, building blocks, and emergency helpers materialsTo say she is done with this is insulting and contemptuousAnd to ignore my pleas and discard me as forgetful or ignorant is also insultingAnd to also say that she is willing to absorb these copious materials but not pay for them or to not have the energy to return them is also contemptuous. Sincerely,*** ***

I am submitting my response regarding *** ***'s complaint on our organization.
I received an application for ***'s son on 1/27/On 3/15/she was notified by letter that her son was placed on the wait list, along with other applicants for whom we did not have a spot in our program
for the following school yearI had no verbal communication with *** during this time period and did not indicate that there might be a spot for her son in summer 2015.
Sometime later *** called my office, introduced herself, and told me that she used to have a school and had tremendous storage of all kinds of materials that she was interested in donatingShe described the materials to me and asked if I was interestedI said I was and we made an appointment to meet at her home where the items were storedShe graciously filled my car up, with many materials including some theme boxes, listening center and books on tape, a chicken incubator, as well as miscellaneous materials like craft paper, contact paper and other itemsThere were many items that *** said she wanted to hold on to for her son and wasn't ready to donateThose included theme boxes that were near and dear to her and she wanted her son to use them before she donated them to usShe also spoke of a light table and many translucent materials for the light table that she would like to donate but she couldn't find them in either of her storage units during our meeting*** told me that the only thing she wanted back were a few of the plastic tubs the materials came inWe then ended the meeting and I drove the materials to school to unload where me and my staff went through the materials, keeping many items and donating others to goodwill (like worn books, used puppets, and miscellaneous materials)The rest of the items were re-organized and put in our resource library and throughout our five classroomsA couple of days later I sent *** a heartfelt thank you for the donated materials and told her how much we appreciated them.
On 6/17/I received an email from *** letting me know that she was eagerly awaiting a spot for her son if one were to come up that summer or fallI wrote back on 6/25/and told her that nothing had opened up yet but that I would be in touch if it didNothing did open up that summer or that fallAs I was gearing up for enrollment for the 2016-school year and was going through the waiting list to determine who was still interested in being considered for a spot for the upcoming school year, I emailed *** asking if she'd like her son to be considered for a spot in 2016-I did not receive a response so assumed she was not interested and so removed him from our waiting list.
I was completely surprised and concerned to receive this email from *** on 9/18/2016.
Hi Julie,
I wanted to write and ask for my theme boxes backAs you know, I was very attached to, and saved them for, my son being able to utilize them at his preschool, which I had hoped would be EpiphanyI had asked you to return their boxes, and since you didn't, I am hoping you will be able to easily round them up, as these represent years' cumulative effort and time and materials to create
I am particularly interested in the rainforest, geography, community helpers, dinosaur, and farm boxes, but would like to take whatever I loaned Epiphany that is capital and not a finite resource
Thanks so much, and please let me know if I can pick these up by Wednesday.
Cordially,
***
I was immediately worried that we had experienced a huge miscommunication, wondering if all along *** had intended only to "loan" the materials to Epiphany Early LearningBut I definitely remembered her using the word "donate" and I sent her a heartfelt thank you note for her donationsAnd even in her email above from 9/18, where she says" I had asked you to return their boxes" indicates that she too had only expected the plastic containers back, not the contentI deeply apologized to *** for any role I might have had in this miscommunication in this email on 9/19/16:
Hi ***,
Oh my goodness, it looks like there has been a huge misunderstanding!
It was very clear to me when you generously gave me your items that you were donating them to EELP, not loaning themYou talked about needing to clear out your storage and wanting to give these items to someone who would use themI sent you a thank you note thanking you for your generous gifts as well.
I definitely do remember you asking for a couple of your containers back and that was an oversight on my partWe may still have some of them here but I'd also be happy to reimburse you for those containersThe materials however are no longer in a kit but rather are parts of other collections of materials in our classrooms (which we love!)We do have some items like the listening center and egg incubator that we can easily give back to you.
I certainly did understand that you had originally hoped to enroll your son in our program but I hadn't heard from you since June I sent you an email in February to check in and see if you were still interested in a spot before I made enrollment decisions in March but I didn't hear back.
I am deeply sorry if I misunderstood your donations as a "loan"I would be very happy to talk with you anytime about how to resolve this.
Thank you,
Julie
***'s responded saying that she was under the impression that I was going to find a place for her sonI responded saying that I was very sorry that she was under the impression that the donation of these materials guaranteed a spot for her son and asked her what felt like an appropriate and fair resolution to herShe suggested this:
Hi Julie,
I would propose that I get the light table and the materials for that backDid you also take the overhead transparency projector? If so, I would like that, too
Theme boxes are about $for basic itemsHow would you feel about simply buying them? I believe there were four, and they contained much more expensive and elaborate materials than Lakeshore or DSS theme boxes
Thanks,
***
I responded with this email:
When you donated materials to EELP in I made no assurances that I would have a spot for your sonAs I stated previously, I had no communication from you post June inquiring about the possibility of a spot, and when I reached out to you in February to determine if you wanted to be considered for a spot in 2016-I received no response
I let her know that she did not give us a light table or overhead projector and asked her if maybe she had us confused with another program she donated materials to. I told her that I could not give her $per box of (donated) materials but that I'd be happy to write her a check for $and give her back her listening center and related books on tape, mystery box and materials, and incubatorI would have given her back every bit of everything she donated if I could, but all of the items had been either distributed into our five classrooms or donated to GoodwillI gathered the items I could and told her I'd cut her a check for $to pay for the plastic bins she had asked me to returnI left the items for her in a neutral place, NOT in my office but rather in the Church office next door, where she is a parishionerI did this intentionally so that neither of us would be uncomfortable interacting with the otherShe came to pick up those materials and received the $check at her homeAt that point I kept receiving emails from her and I asked her to stop reaching out to me as I felt her behavior at that point had become bullying in natureAt that point I blocked her from sending any future emails to me.
I am sincerely sorry that things have come to this and I'm also just not able to put any more resources, personal or financial, into this situationI wish *** and her son the very best and I hope we can put this behind us.
Sincerely,
Julie
Julie B***, Director
Epiphany Early Learning
38th Avenue
Seattle WA
206-324-