Apr. 03, 2020
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Dear parents and guardians,
Thank you for your patience as we work through the fee refund process after COVID-19-related class cancellations. We are working as fast as we can to return funds paid for the period of March 16 - June 30, 2020. We understand many of our families have lost income and need access to these refunds.
Refunding fees for so many families has never been done before. While we finalize our processing and refund options, we and our business partners are also facing the same issues as many Canadians. The need for social distancing, self isolation and global transitioning to a work from home model means a longer response time for us and all of our partners.
There are several fee refunds we are working on. Some or all may apply to you:
Transportation and Noon Supervision fees
Fees for noon supervision and transportation paid for the service days between March 16 - June 30, 2020 will be refunded starting in May. Most of these fees were paid with credit or debit card via our fee management system. In these cases we plan to refund the original card that made the payment. This will take place over a few weeks in May.
For those who paid via other methods, we will be in touch in May to offer an alternative refund method.
School fees
Refunds for fees charged at the school level will take longer to process and refund due to the complexity of the work. Our finance team is working with principals to determine refunds based on goods and activities provided and fees paid by parents. It is expected that refunds will be provided to parents by June. Please refrain from contacting the school regarding refunds until this time. Further information will be shared by your school principal as soon as it becomes available.
All field trip fees (in Calgary, out of Calgary, out of Alberta, out of Canada)
The CBE continues to work diligently with tour operators, service providers and our insurer with regard to travel claims. The first steps are to work with the tour operators and service providers to determine what the refundable and non-refundable fees are for each trip. Once that has been determined then schools are compiling all of the data and documents necessary to submit an insurance claim. The CBE will then submit a claim on behalf of the parents for each trip.
Unfortunately, we expect this will take some months as our insurance providers are dealing with multiple claims from many school boards on the same issue. We are actively engaged with the insurance provider on your behalf to maximize your financial return from an insurance claim.
For trips with identified, refundable fees, we will be working to have those funds returned to families as quickly as possible.
Thank you
Thank you for your understanding as we work to return funds to you as quickly as we can. Families need access to any funds available during this crisis. We understand, and our team is dedicated to navigating this challenging new road and helping our families.
We will send another fees update near the end of April with more information and timelines. Thank you for your patience and support.
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