"This year’s Children’s Day begins with protecting children’s rights." At 5 o’clock in the morning of June 1, lawyer Xie Yanping sent this short message in a circle of friends, followed by a "sad" emoji.
Xie Yanping is also a young mother. In order to get back the early education tuition for her two-year-old child, she stayed up all night with dozens of parents at the police station on May 31, communicating with investors and lawyers of early education institutions, and there was still no progress until 6 am on Children’s Day. The other party told the parents bluntly — — No money.
Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus. At present, the camp has stopped. The pictures in this article are all provided by the interviewees except for labeling.
The early education institution involved is Yizhuang Campus of Lerong Children’s Home, located in Ronghua Middle Road, Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone. On the eve of Children’s Day on June 1st, Beijing Tongyou Education Consulting Co., Ltd., which runs the campus, announced to employees that the company was dissolved due to financial difficulties and the campus stopped operating.
After the closure of Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus, more than 30 employees’ two-month wages were in arrears. What’s more, it is difficult for more than 500 parents to get back the tuition fees that have been paid in advance — — A total of more than six million yuan.
On June 6th, Lerong Children’s Home Headquarters informed parents that it was preparing to take over Yizhuang Campus, and relevant agreements had been drafted, but it still needed to negotiate with the original investors of the campus. On the 9th, The Paper reporter called Feng Jiatong, an investor in Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus, many times, but he didn’t answer the phone or send a message back. The staff of Lerong’s headquarters in Children’s Home said that the "Yizhuang Campus Handling Team" is handling related matters.
Employee: The investor announced the dissolution of the company on WeChat group, and the salary was not paid for two months.
Wu Fang (pseudonym) is a teacher at Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus, and has been employed for more than a year. She told The Paper that Yizhuang Campus was officially opened in August, 2020, and there are more than 500 students this year. Except for two nursery classes, most of them attend early education.
On April 24th, 2022, affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus stopped classes after receiving the notice. Wu Fang and more than 30 colleagues left the campus temporarily, and they agreed to the salary offered by the boss: 2320 yuan per person per month according to the minimum wage in Beijing during the suspension period.
Wu Fang remembers that on May 10, it was time to pay the salary in April. The boss Feng Jiatong asked everyone to wait. "She said that she had no money and was lending to the bank." On May 30th, the teachers reminded the school that it was time to pay, but Feng Jiatong didn’t respond.
"We call the boss’s mobile phone and don’t answer our calls." Wu Fang felt something was wrong. On the afternoon of May 30th, investor Feng Jiatong’s working group on WeChat suddenly issued a letter to all colleagues.
This letter is stamped with the seal of "Beijing Tongyou Education Consulting Co., Ltd.". The letter said that due to the epidemic and other factors, the company was heavily in debt and had no funds to continue its business. "Now I can only reluctantly inform you that Beijing Tongyou Education Consulting Co., Ltd. was dissolved in advance and was forced to stop operating."
"After seeing the notice of dissolution, we went to the school and the door was locked. We couldn’t get in." Wu Fang said that the company still owed 36 employees two months’ wages, plus two months’ payment of social security and housing accumulation fund, totaling more than 400,000 yuan.
According to several interviewed employees, at present, 36 employees of Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus have submitted arbitration applications to the Labor Dispute Arbitration Committee of Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone.
Some employees revealed that after the school issued the "dissolution notice", they asked everyone not to tell their parents, but some employees felt that they should inform their parents to defend their rights together. As a result, the news of the closure of Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus soon spread among parents.
Parents: the tuition fees for early education and childcare are not returned.
Ms. Yan remembers that in October 2021, she bought 60 early education classes for her two-year-old son. At that time, she transferred 16,200 yuan to the company account of the investor in Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus, but the company (school) did not issue an invoice.
After learning that the school was closed on May 30, Ms. Yan was anxious. About half of her son’s early education class, there should be more than 8 thousand yuan left now. Parents who got the news one after another formed a WeChat group, and everyone decided to report the case to the police.
On May 31, many parents came to Tianhua Road Police Station of Daxing Branch of Beijing Public Security Bureau to report to the police that "the boss ran away".
Screenshot of Mr. Yin’s payment record.
Mr. Yin, the parent, also rushed to the police station that day. He bought an early education class of 9999 yuan for his son in June 2021, and now there are still more than 4000 yuan left; Last year’s "Double Eleven", he took advantage of the preferential activities to buy a one-year nursery class for his children, and paid 72,000 yuan at a time. He originally planned to send his children to nursery classes in May this year, but he heard the news that the school was closed.
Two expense schedules stamped by Beijing Tongyou Education Consulting Co., Ltd. and signed by legal representative Feng Jiatong show that the amount left (not attending classes) by parents after paying tuition fees in advance is 6,106,084.79 yuan, including 1.69 million yuan for childcare and 4.41 million yuan for early education, involving 503 children who have paid tuition fees.
After receiving the report from parents, on May 31, the police of Tianhua Road Police Station informed the investor Feng Jiatong to go to the police station to explain the situation. Feng Jiatong and her attorney arrived at the police station that day.
"She has a lawyer, and so do we." Some parents quickly informed Xie Yanping to come over. Xie Yanping is a partner of a law firm in Beijing. In December 2021, she bought 8,600 yuan of early education classes for her children, and only attended two or three classes in Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus.
On the evening of May 31st, Xie Yanping arrived at Tianhua Road Police Station after finishing work.
Xie Yanping told The Paper that the police are coordinating at present.
On the same day, Xie Yanping and dozens of parents stayed up all night at the police station until the morning of Children’s Day. Parents’ face-to-face communication with Feng Jiatong and his lawyer has not made any substantial progress. "They just said that they have no money and can’t refund the fee."
Major shareholder: the company was forced to stop operating because it could not make ends meet, and it was in debt of more than 5 million.
Feng Jiatong, who has become the target of public criticism, is the major shareholder and legal representative of Beijing Tongyou Education Consulting Co., Ltd. According to industry and commerce information, the company was established in May 2019 with a registered capital of 1 million yuan.
Letter from the investor of Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus announcing the "dissolution" of employees.
After the closure of Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus was announced on May 30th, the employees and parents in the campus could not contact Feng Jiatong, and the news that "the boss ran away" began to spread.
On May 31, after receiving the alarm, the police at Tianhua Road Police Station called Feng Jiatong in front of parents: "If there are illegal crimes, we will crack down on them according to law. If it is only a business activity, it can be resolved through negotiation or litigation. " The police asked Feng Jiatong to come to the police station to explain the situation.
After arriving at Tianhua Road Police Station that afternoon, Feng Jiatong was once surrounded by a group of parents and asked her to give a statement.
On May 31st, investors in Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus were questioned by parents.
A video taken by parents shows that Feng Jiatong is wearing jeans, a black shirt and a black mask, standing in the center of the police station. Parents around keep a certain distance. "I just learned that some parents directly transferred the money to the principal … … I have to reconcile after I go back. " Feng Jiatong said.
In the face of parents’ questions about "what to do", Feng Jiatong said that "it is necessary to communicate with the headquarters". Is there any solution? Face-to-face communication with parents, Feng Jiatong did not give a solution.
What caused Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus, which was opened less than two years ago, to stop operating?
In "A Letter to All Colleagues", Feng Jiatong said that due to repeated epidemics, the school has been "on and off" for two years, and the company has been unable to make ends meet. After exhausting the paid-in registered capital of 1 million yuan, it has borrowed money everywhere and borrowed more than 5 million yuan from abroad. Today, "no funds have been borrowed for us to continue to operate".
In the letter announcing the closure of the campus, Feng Jiatong did not mention how to pay the wages owed to employees and how to deal with the tuition fees paid in advance by parents.
On June 9, in order to understand the situation, The Paper reporter called Feng Jiatong several times. Feng didn’t answer the phone and didn’t reply to the text messages.
In recent years, the phenomenon that off-campus training institutions "run away with money" and "it is difficult to refund fees" has occurred from time to time. In order to prevent similar problems, in October, 2021, the Ministry of Education, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the People’s Bank of China jointly issued the Notice on Strengthening the Supervision of Pre-payment of Off-campus Training Institutions, requiring that the pre-payment of training institutions in various places be managed by banks and a pre-payment risk deposit be established.
Is the prepayment of Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus after October 2021 included in the supervision channel of bank custody? It is still unknown.
Brand: The headquarters is going to take over the campus involved, and it is still being processed.
As an investor and franchisee, Feng Jiatong has been unable to run Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus due to financial difficulties. How should Beijing Lerong Education Consulting Co., Ltd., as a brand, deal with this matter?
On June 2nd, the related information made by Children’s Home headquarters of Lerong.
Founded in 2015, Beijing Lerong Education Consulting Co., Ltd. is 100% owned by Chongqing Xuehui Enterprise Management Consulting Co., Ltd. "Lerong Children’s Home" is its brand, which provides early education and other services for infants aged 0-6. According to its website, Lerong Children’s Home currently has nearly 50 centers in more than 20 key cities across the country.
After Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus ceased to operate, on June 4th, Beijing Lerong Education Consulting Co., Ltd. issued an Information Statement on Lerong Children’s Home (Yizhuang Campus) to parents. According to the "Description", Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus is an "independently operated campus" organized by Beijing Tongyou Education Consulting Co., Ltd. At present, Lerong Children’s Home Headquarters is communicating and negotiating with investors in Yizhuang Campus.
"I think the legal relationship between them (Lerong Children’s Home Headquarters and Yizhuang Campus) is a franchise relationship." Lawyer Xie Yanping, as a parent, believes that according to the Regulations on the Administration of Commercial Franchising, brand-holding enterprises should file their brands with the competent commercial authorities and perform corresponding obligations, such as guidance and supervision of franchising.
Xie Yanping thinks that the headquarters of Lerong should bear the corresponding responsibility for the suspension and subsequent disposal of Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus.
On June 4th, Beijing Lerong Education Consulting Co., Ltd. also issued the "Notes on Recent Progress of Lerong Yizhuang Campus and Preliminary Opinions on Later Solutions" to parents, saying that the company headquarters has set up an emergency working group to deal with the Yizhuang campus incident; Through docking with investors in Yizhuang Campus, a solution has been proposed — — The headquarters will provide parents with continuous curriculum services for the remaining class hours in the original venue, and some issues need further discussion.
The remaining amount of tuition fees (not attending classes) counted by the school.
On June 6th, according to the parents interviewed, Lerong Children’s Home Headquarters informed the parents of the "work progress": relevant agreements have been drafted, waiting for feedback from the original investors of Yizhuang Campus; Work such as subletting the site, finding out the employment of employees in the original campus and supplementary recruitment is also being carried out.
On the afternoon of June 9th, a reporter from The Paper called the customer service phone of Lerong Children’s Home to inquire about this matter. The staff later called back and said that the "Yizhuang Campus Processing Team" was dealing with matters related to Yizhuang Campus.
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