Consequences of adding new block to Active contract form

Anita Li

This is our first year using EMS.  Would like to know: has anyone had experience with adding a block ("Special Considerations") to a contract form that is already active/in use.

I'm hoping it will only affect contracts generated henceforth.  Has anyone done this?   Thank you.

Candace Chesler

We include the Special Considerations block in all of our contracts, I'm not sure if you can add this block to a contract already in use. If it's possible - we have used that block only occasionally - to include language for a specific student. The block is only visible to the parents if it contains text. I don't believe you can enter the special considerations text in bulk - it has to be entered on the individual contract under Special Contract Text 

Sarah Bienvenue

Hi Anita, once a contract has been viewed by any responsible signer, the form itself is locked. Your only option would be to build a new form and add it. 


thank you,

Sarah

Coco Parham

I am looking into adding the special consideration block for next year's contracts and have a couple of questions: 1) is special consideration considered an addendum to the contract the parent can initial before signing the contract? 2) Can anyone give me an example of how it is used for their school?

Suzan Moffett

Hi Coco,


We've used the special consideration block for a few years. As has been noted, you can't add it to a contract that has been used, but you can add it to newly created contracts. It is not a pop-up, but an addition to the contract text. We put it at the top of every contract we create to allow a place to put in special notes regarding that unique contract. The text can now be formatted, so you can style it to stand out if you want. We typically use it 1) for pro-rated tuition when someone joins mid-year, specifying the date the contract will start, 2) less than full-time Kindergarten, identifying the number of days the tuition is for (we overwrite the default full-time tuition with the specific day amount; we have 10 different possibilities), 3) anything specific that needs to be done as a condition of enrollment, like catch-up work, requirement to take ESL lessons during school at additional cost, etc. and 4) anything we forget to add once the contract is in use but need to include. One year we changed how we were charging for health insurance mid-way through the season and needed to specify something different than the contract language indicated and we were able to indicate that without creating brand new contracts for that year. Since it only shows up when we have input something into that unique contract's special consideration block, it is handy to have on all contracts. It is one of the best features of contracts, in my opinion!


~Suzan

Karla McNamee

We also use the special considerations on our contracts. We use it the most for international students who we are requiring to take additional English language courses over the summer.

I put the block on all of our contracts “just in case”. As Susan mentioned it is one of the best and most versatile features on contracts.

Coco Parham

Suzan,

Thank you for your example! Very helpful! We will be using the block with the parent initial block for 22-23. Does someone with no special considerations see the two blocks there?

Thanks again,

Coco