Tuition
Tuition payments are due before the 1st day of the month. You will be invoiced in the middle of the previous month. Your young person cannot attend unless you are current on tuition payments. You will be invoiced for the first and last month’s payments which are due at the time you enroll and are non-refundable. Payments are made online through our website.
Drop off and Pick up
Drop off is no earlier than 9:00am and pick up is no later than 3:00pm. Your young person must not be left on Harmony grounds without supervision. Please walk your young person into the Garden Classroom each morning and release them to a facilitator before you leave. Before you leave with your young person, please notify a staff person.
Your young person may be not be released to anyone except parents/guardians without
permission. Please give Harmony advance notice if other persons will pick up your young
person.
Items from Home
In general, items from home stay at home. The exception is emotional security items, such as blankets and stuffed animals, books or dolls. Please speak with the staff at Harmony if your young person requires those items to curb the anxiety about being separated from you.
Food
Please pack your young person a snack and a lunch, and a water bottle with a lid that shuts. Water bottles are carried outside to ensure the health of participants. Sharing food at Harmony is prohibited due to parental diet preferences and possible allergies. Do not bring in treats to share for birthdays or other occasions. When siblings each bring their own lunch, it reduces conflicts and increases individual autonomy.
Health
You will be notified if your young person becomes ill. Please be prepared to pick-up your young person or make arrangements to have your young person picked up within one hour of notification.
Your young person cannot attend Harmony if they have any illness that threatens the health of other participants. Please ensure that your young person is fever and symptom free for 24 hours before returning to Harmony after an illness.
Please inform Harmony within 24 hours or the next business day if your young person or any member of your immediate household has developed any reportable communicable disease, as defined by the State Board of Health, except for life threatening diseases such as COVID, which must be reported immediately.
Medication will be administered with permission from parents and advance notice.
See COVID guidelines below.
Clothing
Please encourage your youth to dress appropriately for painting and other potentially messy endeavors. In addition, please make sure that their attire matches the weather—boots for mud, coats for cold, hats and scarves, etc.
Snow Days
Snow days are determined by a number of factors, including the Philadelphia School District, the weather forecast, and whether the Arboretum and local streets have been plowed. Due to set expenses, regardless of snow days, Harmony does not offer refunds or make up days for snow days.
Behavioral Problem-Solving Process
Most commonplace behavioral issues are managed by the facilitators.
If a behavioral event or a pattern of behaviors requiring problem-solving action becomes a
concern to a facilitator, the facilitator will:
Communicate with co-facilitators, meeting to discuss the behavioral issue or event.
Meet with the young person to discuss what is happening. Listen to the young person. Be very clear about boundaries. Be very specific.
Communicate with parents about the issue. Ask them for advice.
If a behavioral event or pattern of behaviors requiring action becomes too disruptive or dangerous for facilitators and/or participants, the young person may be suspended or expelled from Harmony. The director will inform the family when such a decision has been made.
Collections policy
We know that sometimes it’s hard to stay on top of your bill payments. Your agreement with us, much like an electricity or gas account, is binding, and we trust that you will pay for your service as stipulated. If, however, you fail to do so without informing us of a change in situation and without responding to our attempts to contact you, we may have to proceed with collections activity.
Internal collections will commence on an account which remains overdue for 60 days, and when the family has not contacted us to inform of a change in their situation that may warrant special consideration. Such special arrangements are decided and dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
If an account remains unpaid for a period which we deem to be significant, Talking Stick will continue to make attempts to contact the family. Should the family not respond or fail to adequately explain the reason for the overdue amount, Talking Stick may conclude that restriction or suspension of services is appropriate.
If a Bill remains unpaid for over a year, the account may be listed with an external Collections Agency, we may attempt mediation, or seek other debt resolution solutions available to small businesses. We will send notification before seeking external resolution. Default Listings can have an impact on your credit rating and therefore your ability to secure credit from any source. As such we highly recommend that should you experience any trouble in paying your bill you contact us immediately.
If an amount owed is the subject of an unresolved complaint, no Credit Management or collections activity will be undertaken on that amount until the dispute is resolved. If that amount makes up only part of a total debt, the rest may still be subject to Credit Management action and the family will be notified as such.
