A Separated Family
Stories from the front
Not all stories are funny and entertaining. This one is about an unforeseen problem and a broken contract. This occurred at a top tier international school, at least it was, before this.
My good friends went to a job fair and found their perfect jobs. They had been working as expats for about 10 years. This couple was experienced.
My friends had a child who had a speech disorder. During the interview, they disclosed this to the school. They explained that if they were to accept the contract, their child would need to be enrolled and the school would need to help accommodate the learning plan. In fact, my friends even agreed to fund any additional onsite tutoring that might be required.
Contracts were issued. Plane tickets were purchased. A new adventure began.
Upon arriving in the country and at the school, my friends immediately jumped through the initial HR hoops. Then, on the second day of their new life, they engaged the admissions team to begin the enrollment of their child.
Silence.
After a few days they became more aggressive with the school. This is a tough thing to do as a new hire who is technically on probation for the first 90 days.
They were able to force a meeting with admissions. For this meeting the admissions team had included the principal, and this principal was not part of the division my friends had joined. In other words, this person was not in their chain of command.
The admissions team informed my friends that they would not enroll the child, and they had no solutions for childcare or other schools they could join (often schools have agreements and support enrollment for their teachers even though they compete).
At this point you are probably thinking that using the contract and agreement from the job fair would be enough to force the issue, but it was not.
After another two weeks of trying different solutions, my friends realized that they were not going to get any solutions. Keep in mind that everyday one of them had to watch the child at home. The school was paying two contracts, and each person could only work every other day. Neither person could do their job.
The couple contacted their recruitment agent, and the agent was furious. They shared the emails and other documents showing the agreement with the agent.
The agent called the head of school.
The head of school decided to support the principal by allowing both parents to leave without penalty and paying for their trip back to their home country. It was technically legal and within the details of the contract.
That’s not a happy ending.
People living overseas for a decade cannot just repatriate. That takes planning, a budget, and at least a year.
I thought about this situation many times over the last few years. I think if you have children there needs to be an additional step taken before arrival.
Once the contractual ink is dry, immediately inquire about enrollment. Push to start the process. Get the paperwork completed, and make sure nothing is left to chance.
Next, find parents who work at the school and start talking to them. Keep it casual but look into the pros and cons of having a child at the school.
These are things you often cannot do until you are hired. You can try, but it can be tough to get access to the right groups of people.
It is ok, after you have signed an agreement, to question that choice if you feel your child(children) will fall into some type of bad situation. If that happens, work with the school to break the contract.
Until your family settles, you can’t settle.
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Why is this SubStack called, Pancake on a Stick?
Pancake on a Stick is the single funniest story I have ever heard in my life. In about a year from now, the event will be reenacted and recorded. I named the SubStack after the story, because every time I think of the name, I smile and laugh. This helps with my writing and tone, and makes me always remember the most important things in life.
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Most social media is dead to me, but you can find me on LinkedIn and Youtube.
LinkedIn (A bastion of boredom but mostly on mission)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tdeprato/
Email
info@tonydeprato.com
My video series on Expat Recruitment is BORING but useful Listen or Watch and you can master this process.