Another How do I handle this tutor thread

[Jean in Newcastle]

We are on tutor #2 for high school math and science. I absolutely love this tutor. He is very good at both subjects. He takes no nonsense from my son and is not snowed by his excess verbiage. Up until now he has been very professional, prompt and reliable. We've had to reschedule at times and it has never been any problem as long as I gave him advance notice.

 

My problem. A month ago, his schedule changed. He was no longer available in the morning and we switched to an evening session. I suspect that the change was due to him getting a 9 - 5 job of some kind but have not asked. Since then, he has not been as reliable. He almost came one week when I had already told him that my ds was going to be at camp. He e-mailed me to say that something had come up and he couldn't come after all. I was a bit surprised since the schedule change should have been on his calendar but since he's been so reliable in the past just chalked it up to being human. Since then he's been late once and then last week just simply did not show. I called and left a message that evening asking what had happened and have gotten no response at all.

 

I want to send him an e-mail. I want to cancel our tutoring sessions for the rest of this month because ds needs a break and I suspect the tutor might as well. I want to ask him if he wants to resume being ds's tutor in September. I also want to state my expectations regarding punctuality and reliability. I am way too busy to be monitoring the schedule of a man who is the same age as I am (ie. an adult). I don't want to be snarky though because if at all possible I really do want to retain this tutor. But at the same time, if I need to find a new one, September is coming up very quickly. Any suggestions on wording?

 

I was thinking of something like:

 

"I would like to cancel tutoring for the rest of August and resume sessions in September. Are you still available to tutor chemistry and geometry then? There have been a few issues lately with scheduling and I want to make sure that this is something that you want to do. If not, I need some time to look for a new tutor." (This alludes to my problem but doesn't really come out and say it though. I'm not sure if I do say something more direct how to say it.)

Edited August 13, 2012 by Jean in Newcastle

[Candid]

Since you like him and would like to keep using him. I would say this both is too direct and doesn't give enough information.

 

I'd tell him why you want to cancel the August sessions in regards to your daughter needing a break. I'd ask if he was available in September for the two subjects. I would not say anything about him wanting to do something or not. Instead tell him you would like to call him around X date and work out a schedule together.

 

If he is now working a full time job this will give him some time to consider on his own if he wants to keep tutoring. Since you aren't sure what is causing the problem it's possible that the problem is short term. If so and whatever the problem is it has any emotional baggage an email that is too short might push a good tutor to say, "No, I don't want to work with you when that is not really the case." So give him a bit of breathing room if possible.

 

Also, make the second part a call, because you'll get more information out of that. You'll be able to tell his level of enthusiasm for continuing much better.

 

If you want, solicit some names of other tutors in the meantime from your local contacts. If you feel, due to your local tutor market you must have someone lined up, then ask him to work a schedule with you now, but I'd call him in person to relate everything for the reason I note in my paragraph above.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Thanks, Candid.