A Brookfield dance studio has abruptly shut down, leaving parents and teachers wondering what is happening. TMJ4 News received multiple messages and emails from parents asking us to look into the situation. We found employees experiencing issues with their paychecks and parents questioning where the money they prepaid for classes has gone.
“The last paycheck that cleared was in September,” said Jade Mattner, program director at Brio Studios.
The new mom spoke with TMJ4 reporter Rebecca Klopf while holding her 12-day-old baby. But she says she's been living a nightmare while going through childbirth.
“You were in the hospital giving birth, and your rent check bounced?” asked Rebecca Klopf.
“We did not have the funds to pay rent,” Jade replied.
She says they had to put their rent on a credit card while she was in the hospital giving birth. Jade says she works for Brio, but the owners now only communicate with her through email. We have seen those emails, including one promising to pay back the issues with the paychecks.
“Beginning November 4th, I was promised $300 a day, and I haven’t seen a dime of it,” Jade said.
Jade wasn’t the only one. I spoke with two other employees who also didn’t want to go on camera, and they are experiencing the same issues with their paychecks. On top of that, we heard from parents who have paid thousands of dollars in advance for dance classes.
Watch: Dance studio closes, leaving workers and parents out thousands of dollars
“For teams, I paid $3,000. For the Nutcracker, all in with costumes, it was about $1,000,” said Brittany Arata, whose daughter dances in multiple classes at Brio.
“Are any of those things going to happen?” asked Rebecca.
“I don’t think so,” said Brittany.
Brittany showed us the email she received from the owners saying the studio was shutting down and that they are working to establish new ownership. I called the owners, Mandy and Jesse Winienik.
I asked Jesse Winienik about the employee paychecks, what was happening with the studio, and the money parents had put out. He told me he was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer last week and that he would think about all my questions and get back to me. I’m still waiting for that response.
In the meantime, Jade’s family has gone through most of their emergency savings while her paycheck remains in limbo.
“Now we are looking at the holidays, how are you going to make it through?” asked Rebecca.
“I don’t know how we are going to do it with Christmas when we can barely scrape by covering our own bills,” said Jade.
We did reach out to the state’s Department of Workforce Development about the paychecks, but we have not heard back.
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