In this economy, we understand the importance of every single dollar. For this reason, we are doing three new things for you, our valued patrons.

1. We will use a tuition system where you will pay for 44 weeks of lessons over a period of 11 months (August through June). This includes 39 weeks during the regular school year, plus 5 extra lessons to be used anytime during June/July of 2012). This averages out to 4 lessons per month (one per week), even though some months will actually have more or less than that. One advantage to this new system is that your child will be able to take 5 lessons over the summer and stay “in the zone.” There will be no music tuition drafted for the month of July 2012, but there will be a required music camp for those who wish to be on our performing teams.
2. Since there are no classes (only lessons) in summer, we will take whatever amount is being paid each month for CLASSES and divide that amount by the eleven months, then subtract that figure from the monthly tuition draft. This way, nobody will be paying for more classes than they actually get.
3. Since there are six Monday holidays during the school year, we have pre-determined that the Fridays directly following the missed Mondays will be the makeup nights (same times as the normal Monday schedule).
4. Another way of saying “ thank you” is that we are again allowing each family to pick any day between the 1st and 15th that they want their tuition to be charged. Once that date is chosen before the beginning of the school year, it cannot be changed.
5. We are holding a 45-minute workshop on Thursdays all year long at NO COST to you. We will use this as rehearsal time to get ready for the big spring musical. We may not need every student every week, so we will let you all know which scenes we will be working on a few weeks in advance so that you know when your child needs to be available.
6. By allowing all 3 of the Siren groups to have their own weekly classes, we can now more adequately prepare each group for competitions and concerts as well as any other outside community performances we may want to do. Having a weekly class for each group is the only way to absolutely ensure performances that are clean, polished, and exciting.

In exchange for these amendments, we ask that you each in turn adhere to the following POLICIES:

1. Every family MUST have a credit card or debit card number on file with us for tuition. Like last year, we use a “paperless” system, so we will not be accepting checks or cash. We will be using a computer system that will be pre-programmed to charge your card automatically each month on the day that you specify. This allows us to spend more time working on music and nurturing your children’s talents and less time chasing down tuition. We chose to be in the arts industry because we love the WORK, not because we want to deal with extraneous and disruptive tasks. This will simplify the process for everyone involved (even you!) and will alleviate past awkwardness with children having to be kept out of classes or lessons due to nonpayment of tuition, etc. It was a great change for all last year.
2. Each parent must agree to participate in private lessons for the entire 11-month school year (see above for scheduled weeks, and remember you get 5 over the summer too). If a student withdraws at any point from lessons, we will continue to charge that student for the remainder of the school year, however long that may be. There are several reasons for this policy: first, we all know the importance of teaching children to stick to something and honor their commitments. We cannot reinforce that concept if we allow students to drop out whenever they choose. We require that a student finish a school year and then he/she can decide whether to continue the following school year. In addition, because we are a business and this is our livelihood, we must have some measure of predictability when it comes to our accounts receivable, etc. We have fun, exciting, inspiring, funny, loving, talented, and engaging teachers on our staff, so there is absolutely no reason a family cannot commit to a full school year of lessons. This will also give us a chance to really see some growth in the students and for them to see the growth in themselves, because the better a student gets at something, the more they want to do it!! If you buy a gym membership and choose not to go, you still get charged. And you wouldn’t let your child drop out of their regular school, so think of this in a similar way.
3. Regarding classes (see above for private lessons), a student MAY opt to drop a class anytime before October 1, but we must receive written notification of the desire to drop whatever class it may be along with the reason for dropping (email is fine). From October 1 forward, we will assume that each student is committing to that class for the entire school year (excluding serious injury or other extreme cases) and will be charged for that class accordingly, similarly to the policy described above in the private lesson section. This will allow us to get a better idea who we are going to have in a certain class so that we can concentrate on reaching our goals as a TEAM and not have to constantly make changes to accommodate students who are suddenly “missing in action.”
4. The makeup policy for private lessons is fairly simple. Try not to miss private lessons!! If a student is really sick or injured and notifies us via EMAIL of the illness or injury, we will schedule a makeup for the lesson missed within 45 days of the absence. Also if your child’s teacher has to miss a lesson for any reason, obviously it will be made up as well. However, missing lessons for other extra-curricular activities, concerts, birthday parties, broke-up-with-my-boyfriend blues, etc. are not excused absences. If your child chooses to miss a lesson to do something different, it is his/her prerogative – we just don’t offer makeup lessons in these cases. Having said that, we have added this year a special concession to this long-time policy: we are allowing each student ONE (1) unexcused make-up lesson per semester. This means your child can go see Taylor Swift in October, for example, and get a makeup lesson and then can miss for a chorus concert in April and get another makeup. Beyond that, if we attempted to make up every lesson that every child misses for every reason they miss them, we would have to be there seven days a week and would not have time to spend with our own children or time to work on curriculum, shows, competitions, or anything else. So please understand that we understand and respect a child’s right to make these choices and don’t begrudge them that right – we only ask that you and they be accountable for those choices.
5. If a class is canceled, a makeup class will be offered. If anyone chooses not to attend that makeup class, they must understand no other makeup will be offered.
6. Students who show up for classes or lessons without the required books/supplies may be turned away. We want to encourage an atmosphere of responsibility and discipline for everyone, so even though we sometimes cut up and have a great time, it is up to each student to put all his/her needed items into some kind of book bag and bring it to each class and lesson as required. Among these items required will be a 3-ring binder with notebook paper, a book of manuscript (staff) paper, textbooks, assigned music/lyrics, and writing utensils. If you parents have any questions regarding where to get any of these items, feel free to write us and we will help. There may be other specific items required on an individual basis, but we will always let you know and give you ample notice in these cases.