Semester Commitment
Our fall session is 15 weeks of lessons; spring is 17 weeks. Once your student is registered, you are responsible for the entire semester of lessons, including days when Vestavia schools may be closed but VHUMC and the COA remain open.
Absences & Makeups
For private lessons, students are allowed three (3) excused absences for the semester. Excused absences include student illness, death in the family, or another emergency up to teacher discretion. Teachers must be notified of a student's absence 24 hours in advance. Teachers are not required to schedule make-up lessons for unexcused absences, which include student no-shows, notifying the teacher on the day of the missed lesson, school or sports events, or vacations. If a teacher cancels a lesson for any reason, the teacher will offer a make-up date for the lesson to be rescheduled.
In the case of registering after the session has begun, teachers may offer make-up lessons for up to three (3) weeks. If a student registers beyond three weeks into the semester, the session may be pro-rated and make-up lessons will not be offered, resulting in a shorter session.
Group classes missed by the student will not be formally made up, but the teacher may offer information about what was covered in class so that the student does not fall behind.
Withdrawal
If you choose to withdraw your student from lessons once the semester has begun, we kindly ask for four weeks' notice to allow the teacher time to fill the empty lesson slot.
Weather
The COA follows the Vestavia Hills City Schools in regard to closings or early dismissals due to severe weather. However, instead of that lesson being a loss to the student, we will add a Weather Day to the end of each semester as a built-in option for making up absences due to weather. Teachers will now be required to offer a make-up for a maximum of one weather closure absence; whether that make-up occurs online, on another day of the week, or at the end of the semester on the specified Weather Day is at teacher/student discretion.
End-of-Session Showcases
The COA invites all enrolled students to participate in our end-of-semester recitals, showcases, or art shows, regardless of experience level. In December and May, we host piano recitals, a mixed instrumental recital, a voice recital, an art show, and a theatre showcase. There is no additional cost to participate in end-of-session performances.
Fees & Payments
Tuition payments may be paid in full upfront or billed at the end of each month for the upcoming month of lessons.
Annual Registration Fee $50 per student or $100 max per family: Paid at time of enrollment for Fall semester. This fee is automatically charged upon submission of the registration form.
Accompanist Fee $20: Paid directly to the accompanist for vocal and instrumental students needing a piano accompanist for recital.
Late fee $10: Added for all payments past due by more than 30 days, with additional $10 every additional 30 days past due date.
Safe Sanctuary
Vestavia Hills United Methodist Church is committed to providing a safe and secure environment for all children, students, volunteers, and employees who participate in ministries and activities sponsored by the church. In accordance with Safe Sanctuary policy, we have a camera and window in every classroom and will never leave a child in 5th grade or younger alone on our campus.
Privacy Policy
We promise to respect your privacy. We do not sell, rent, loan, or transfer any personal information regarding our customers or their students to any third parties. Any information you provide about yourself or your students is held with the utmost care and security and will not be used in ways to which you have not consented.
Information gathered on our web site is collected and used by us and My Music Staff. We will not collect any personal information about adults or students except when specifically and knowingly provided by them. If we collect any personally identifiable information about students, we will first obtain their parents' consent. Examples of personally identifiable information include full name and birth date.
Use of Information
Information collected by us is used internally by our authorized individuals on staff. On occasion, we may share non-personal, summary information regarding our customers with unrelated third parties (for example, we may publicly disclose the aggregate number of registered users of our web site). However, we will not share any personal information about any particular customer.
Security
Registering for class online is a completely safe experience!
We use SSL (Secure Sockets Layer)—the highest standard in online encryption technology—to ensure that your personal and credit card information remains secure. SSL encryption allows you to register with confidence, knowing that only you and Conservatory of the Arts have the ability to access your information.
Keeping customer information private and secure is a top priority.
Whenever you access a secure page on our site, the information you send is immediately encrypted for your protection. There are two simple ways to see if you are on a secure page:
- Look at the URL (website address) in your browser. If you are connected to a secure server, the URL will always begin with "https" rather than "http."
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Most browsers display an icon that indicates whether or not you have a secure connection. Look for the unbroken key or closed lock icons in the bottom left or right corner of your browsers.