Hi Team,

It has been a while since we’ve had an email, thanks to Cotap we get things out pretty quickly, but there is a lot on the go, and I thought it better to summarize here.

  1. Fall Meeting
  2. Private School Opportunity
  3. Music Together Training
  4. Conway Renovation
  5. Weekly teacher homework “emails”
  6. Barn Away
  7. Registration Update

Fall Meeting

Our General Meeting is on Sunday, September 27th.  It will not be at Savera.  We’ll likely be having a pizza dinner at Conway, in the backyard (weather permitting).  We are facing a big rent increase at Conway, and have to be careful with our spending.  Time will be 6pm at the earliest, but I will let you know shortly.

Private School Opportunity

Last school year we developed a relationship with a private school in town that worked well for us, so we are pursuing more opportunities like this.  If you have not already indicated your interest (yes or no), please do so right away.

We will not commit you unless there are minimum numbers of students, and your time is used efficiently.

We will not know interest levels until mid-September, when the kids choose their instruments.  If you’ve indicated availability, we’ll ask you to remain available until we get this information.

As with all new relationships, things sometimes get off to a slow start, and there are curves along the way as the two organizations get to know each other.  Our goal is to build you a great opportunity for a better schedule in a good environment.

Music Together Training

As many of you know, we teach a babies/toddlers class called Music Together.  We are hosting a training for this from the 25th to 27th of September.  It is 3 full days, and if you are interested, please let me know.  We have access to a grant that we will be applying for in a couple of days, so you need to move fast if you are interested.  Visit the Music Together pages on our site for information about it.  Watching the video will give you some idea of how great the program is.  Call me directly if you are interested.  Thank you.

Conway Renovation

We will be undergoing a renovation at Conway.  This should offer minimal interruption to lessons.  Studio 5 lessons may end up in the kitchen.

The kitchen will not be available for food consumption during the renovation.  You may use the microwave if no lessons are going on there at that time.  Beyond that, please use the backyard or porch for meals.

It is our hope that the basement will be done before November.

Weekly Homework “Emails”

As you may recall, the focus of our business this year is the customer experience (CX).  The impact will be discussed in greater length at the GM, but for now I want you to be aware that you will be required to make a post to our website at the end of each teaching day that will assign homework to each student.

You will only need to do one post per teaching day, and the post will automatically go out to the students’ parents the next day.  All parents will be subscribed to this information.  Each post will contain the homework for all of the students you teach on that day.  The posts will also appear on your teacher pages.

This is going to do a few things.

  1. Parents will be impressed with our information system, and commitment to keeping them in the loop.
  2. You will be able to make direct requests from parents, including coming to lessons to touch base, getting books, etc.
  3. It will build in accountability – you can’t lose the internet, so the students will always know where to go for their homework.
  4. It will provide historical data for you to use for your reporting.

I am sure there are more advantages, but these are crucial points of contact for everyone involved.

An access point to log in will be provided on the Teachers Only page of the website.  Your user names will be Firstname.Lastname in that format, with that capitalization.  Your passwords are the same Schumann-based password we currently use.  Some of you may have seen emails with this information already, but the system is not yet activated.  I will have that sorted before month’s end.

It will be important for you to take care with language, particularly because this is not a private email, but one to a group of parents.  I will provide guidance on this at the meeting and one-on-one, as needed.

Barn Away

I may be away some days in August, and I almost certainly will be away in October and probably November for a week.

Registration Update

Please check your fall schedules now.  We start on September 8th.  Adjustments and additions are being made all the time.

We’ve also begun ramping up our advertising efforts, which are more substantial than ever.

 

So, that’s the quick and dirty update for what is happening here, and if you have any questions or concerns, by all means give me a call or Cotap.  I am very excited for the coming school year.

 

Barn.