COVID-19 Academy Update
Given the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, DPIE made the decision to stop taking paid enrollments for our summer programs until we have more information from Federal, State and County Health agencies regarding the safety of running courses during the summer.
At this time, we are still planning on running the Summer Academy, however, should that status change, we will do our best to adapt and adjust all of our affected programs to accommodate the situation and our students’ needs.
Summer Academy Alternative Plan
CURRENT ENROLLED STUDENTS – NO ACTION REQUIRED
At this time, we are inviting parents who desire to enroll their children in any of our programs this summer, to go online and put their students on the waitlist for the course or courses they are interested in. Adding your child to the waitlist will require you to enter all information as if you were enrolling them. You will not be asked to pay the enrollment fee at this time. All waitlist enrollments will be date and time stamped, thereby determining which order your child was added to the class.
All of us at DPIE are hoping for the best, but we are planning for the worst case scenario as we endeavor to create a teaching environment that is safe for students and teachers alike. We are working with the Dublin School District to determine if we can implement a distance learning format for our Summer Academy should it be determined that it is not safe to have students attend school. We want to assure you we are working in partnership with the school district to develop solutions and we anticipate it will be the end of April before we have significant information to share with you.
Please be patient and allow us to work through this process with the school district. While we are working out the best options for our enrolled Summer Academy students, we will not be issuing refunds or credits.
After School Academy
We are working closely with the school district, our vendors, and our instructors, to develop solutions for the interruption in learning our students are faced with and are not letting uncertainty deter us from action.
Right now, more than 200 of our students are receiving chess and yoga instruction via the video conferencing tool ZOOM. The feedback has been tremendously positive and we are endeavoring to transition additional DPIE courses to an online option. So far, we are offering the following courses online:
An email was sent out this week to all parents outlining the following options for enrolled students.
Transfer to an Online Course – If the course your child is enrolled in is not being offered online, you are welcome to transfer your child into one of the online courses being offered (listed above) for the rest of this Spring.
Pro-Rated Refund - If you want a refund to your credit card for a course that has already started, you have the option of receiving a pro-rated refund. As an example, if 3 of the 10 scheduled courses have already occurred, you will receive a 70% refund to your credit card. NOTE: If your child’s class did not start prior to the school shutdown, you will receive a 100% refund to your credit card.
100% Credit For Next Year – Instead of receiving a pro-rated refund, DPIE is able to provide you with a 100% credit of the enrollment fee on your DPIE account which you will be able to use to enroll any child in your family in next year’s After School Program.
Donation to Your Child’s School – As most of you know, DPIE donates proceeds from each of our After School sessions back to your child’s school. Since the spring program will not be able to be completed this year, there will not be available funds to donate back. So, if you wish, DPIE can treat the money we would have refunded to you as a “donation to your child’s school.” DPIE will generate a donation letter to you acknowledging your donation and will present the accumulated funds to your school along with the names of those parents who choose to donate their enrollment fees. This will be a tax deductible donation.
Thank you for your patience and flexibility as we work to provide viable alternatives during this challenging time. We look forward to providing continued enrichment programs for your children in the year ahead.
All the best to you and your families from everyone at DPIE.
Questions or Comments
We are here to help. Please contact us with questions or feedback.
Main Office
(925) 587-5610
Trudie Giordano
Executive Director
925 587 5615
trudie@dpie.org
Rich Boschetti
Academy Superintendent
(925) 587-5613
rich@dpie.org
Vickie Constantinides
Academy Program Manager
(925) 587-5611
vickie@dpie.org