Beaufort dad spent thousands on at-home preschool during coronavirus. Now, he’s suing

A Beaufort father is suing Beaufort Academy for a nearly $5,000 refund in preschool tuition costs after months of “distance education” for his four-year-old daughter, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

Lawyer Paul Murray, who is representing himself as the plaintiff, said Friday his civil suit is “a straight breach of contract, unjust enrichment case” over his daughter’s distance learning experience.

“We had an agreement, they have not been able to uphold their end, mainly because of the childcare issue,” Murray said. “Actually, they’re unable to facilitate lessons to four and five-year-olds through any medium, really.”

While private schools were not included in S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster’s March 15 order to close K-12 school buildings, he strongly encouraged them to follow suit.

Beaufort Academy closed buildings on March 16 and transitioned to distance learning for all students. According to the suit, Beaufort Academy’s pre-K learning was different from the work 1st through 12th-graders were given.

“Beaufort Academy proposed that Pre-Kindergarten teachers would email activities to the parents which BA ‘suggested’ parents work on with their children,” the suit reads.

According to the suit, Murray immediately emailed Beaufort Academy’s head of school, Dan Durbin to ask for a prorated tuition refund due to the modified learning.

“Plaintiff noted that ‘distance education’ may be feasible and an adequate substitute in the higher grade levels,” the suit reads. “However it was impossible at the pre-kindergarten level.”

Per the suit, Durbin told Murray on May 6 that he would not receive a refund.

On Friday, Durbin declined to comment on the suit until the school’s legal representative “has had time to study the summons.”

When asked about the preschool program’s distance learning practices, he said he would reach out to the head of preschool as he is “not involved in the daily supervision of curriculum and programming.:

According to the suit, Murray paid the entire year’s tuition - $9,320 - in May 2019. He’s now asking for a refund of between $4,766 - the cost of the full semester’s tuition -and $2,356.44, the cost of the 44 school days that the building has been closed, along with any legal costs.

Murray also asked for a $50 refund for two ticket’s to Beaufort Academy’s “father-daughter dance.” He said he would pay no more than $340 owed for the school’s after school service from February to March 12, which he has not been billed for, according to the suit.

“It’s not anything about Beaufort Academy, other than we just wanted a refund because they were forced to close their doors and they haven’t been able to provide services,” Murray said Friday. “Other than that, Beaufort Academy has been a great school and it certainly doesn’t change my opinion of them.”