Attendance
Attendance policies
Attendance Expectations:
Attendance is expected at both group and individual lessons.
Not attending group classes will affect your ability to continue in the program.
Attendance at rehearsals is mandatory to participate in concerts.
Please try to be punctual for lessons. Choose your lesson time wisely. If you try to come too quickly after school or work you will always be late. If you are a few minutes late, not only will you be short changed on your lesson time, but the next student will probably have their lesson start late too. Try to arrive a few minutes early, and have your instrument out and ready to go as soon as your lesson starts.
Suzuki Charter School students: If you are taking advantage of the convenience of having your lesson during the school day, you are responsible for your attendance at lessons. Parents are still expected to attend lessons, and to ensure that the student is punctual. You still need to inform your teacher and make arrangements for rescheduling if any school events such as field trips conflict with your lesson time. Do not assume that your teacher already knows about it.
Rescheduling Privileges:
Individual teachers are under no obligation to reschedule lessons that are missed by the student, but they may choose to do so, depending on their judgment in any specific situation.
For more information regarding the economics of rescheduling lessons, refer to this article:
Here are some examples of situations in which lessons may be rescheduled :
1) Serious emergencies and illness. Try to let your teacher know that you can’t make it as soon as you are aware of the situation.
2) Conflicts with other school and music activities such as concerts, field trips, etc. if you give a minimum of one week’s notice. (If you do not give at least a week’s notice, you will be charged for the lesson whether it can be rescheduled or not.)
Lessons missed without notifying the teacher will not be rescheduled.
Students with persistent recurring absences in either private lessons or group classes may be requested to withdraw from the program to make space for a student on the waiting list.
Lessons are not rescheduled to accommodate family holidays. If you choose to take a week or two in the winter and go to Hawaii or Mexico, etc., your teacher will be happy to prepare an extra practice or listening assignment to use while you are away, the same way that your school teacher may give you an extra homework assignment.
Temporarily trading lessons with another student is a good way of dealing with minor scheduling problems. Just let your teacher know what arrangements you have made so that they are prepared to teach the correct student!
If for any reason, your teacher cancels a lesson, it will be rescheduled to a mutually convenient time.
If lessons cannot be rescheduled immediately, they will be added to the end of the year. All outstanding lessons for the current year must be finished by the end of August. Lessons will not be carried forward into the next year.
Individual teachers are responsible for their studio schedules. The ESFRS administration trusts the teachers who participate in our program to keep accurate attendance records and track any outstanding lessons in an ethical and timely manner, following the above guidelines. Any issues regarding rescheduling or missed lessons will be dealt with between teachers and student families.
Withdrawals:
Registration in the program is a commitment to continue lessons until the summer break.
All fees are non-refundable after the first individual lesson is received by the student.
However, sometimes there are unavoidable circumstances which necessitate a withdrawal (moving due to job transfer, death or serious illness, etc.).
In such cases, a partial fee refund will be considered if notice is received in writing by the music director at suzukifluteandrecorder@gmail.com a minimum of one month in advance. In such cases, the balance of fees for unreceived individual lessons will be calculated (less a minimum of four lessons in lieu of one months notice, if necessary). Registration fees, beginner fees, and the portion of fees that cover group classes and concerts will not be included in any refunds.
This policy may be adjusted on a case-by-case basis in a meeting of the Music Director and Registrar as required.
All ESFRS policies adhere to the Suzuki Association of the Americas Code of Ethics