LESSON CONTRACT

(revised 11/30/07)

After many years of teaching thousands of lessons, I have learned that it’s best to have clear understandings about the business end of these lessons up front. So here goes:

(1) The cellotacoma website (http://cellotacoma.pbworks.com) is the main conduit for sharing information between teacher and student/parents. ALL STUDENTS AND/OR PARENTS ARE EXPECTED TO CHECK THIS SITE REGULARLY. The student/parent is responsible to know what is posted on this site, especially this contract, the regular weekly schedule, the monthly schedules, and the student recital page. The content of these pages is frequently updated. Not having seen this information will not be recognized as a valid excuse for any miscommunication.

(2) I charge on a monthly basis, not on a weekly, hourly or per-lesson basis. Payment is required on the first meeting of any calendar month for the whole month. Payment is totally non-refundable.

(3) We will agree to a normal meeting time, usually once a week for about an hour. Payment of your monthly fee guarantees you a minimum of one hour of access per teaching-week during that month. If you cancel or reduce your usual lesson time, or if you increase your lesson time, this has no bearing on your monthly fee, and is entirely up to you. Some months have five teaching-weeks; some have three, because of holidays (see (4) below). There is a rough annual average of four teaching-weeks per month. The monthly fee is always the same, unless a special arrangement is worked out in advance (see (9) below).

(4) I observe the following holidays: Labor Day weekend; Thanksgiving Day, the Wednesday prior and the Friday following; Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the day after; New Year's Day; Memorial Day weekend; July 4th. The monthly rate is not affected by lessons missed because of these holidays.

(5) You may reschedule or cancel your lesson using my scheduling wiki at http://cellotacoma.pbworks.com/ but you must do so PRIOR TO THE DAY OF YOUR LESSON. If you expect to miss a regularly schedule lesson time you are expected to delete your name from the appropriate monthly schedule in a timely fashion.

(6) If there are unreserved slots on any given teaching day, you may change your lesson time, including reducing or adding to your regularly scheduled lesson, simply by making the changes on the wiki (instructions for using the wiki are provided). Students may only modify their own lesson information on the wiki. You may not change in any way the blocks of time that I have set aside for lessons, nor may you change any other students' information. The wiki maintains a detailed log of all changes. If any dispute arises about unauthorized changes, this log will be consulted.

(7) If you need to make a change on the day of your scheduled lesson, YOU MUST NOTIFY ME BY EMAIL at the earliest possible time (parkeburgess (at) gmail(dot)com). Please do not phone me.

(8) If I can’t make a scheduled lesson, I will make every effort to give you ample notice, and to schedule a make-up time well in advance. On those rare occasions where I cannot provide more than 24 hours notice, I will give as much notice as possible, and of course owe you a make-up lesson.

(9) In months where it is known in advance that we will meet less frequently than usual, we can make special arrangements. This is reserved for rare months and is not regularly available.

(10) I provide discounted rates for longer-term commitments (of three or six months at a time). In these cases, payment is required in full at the beginning of the period of commitment and is totally non-refundable.

(11) For longer-term commitments, the period covered by the payment will be extended one week for each week canceled by me (see paragraph (8) above), up to, but not more than, four weeks beyond the original length of the commitment.

(12) The following rates were current as of January 1, 2008 (and assume a weekly hour-long lesson), and are subject to change at my discretion:

Base rate: $200 per month

Sliding scale: $150 to $200 per month, based on financial need

3-month rate: $540 (10% discount off base rate)

6-month rate: $900 (25% discount off base rate)

(13) On the signature and date below we agreed to a monthly rate of $____________

(14) Recitals: About twice a year student recitals are scheduled. All students are expected to attend and perform. Attendance at the dress rehearsal is mandatory to perform on the recital. I will hire a pianist to accompany all students who require one. There is a recital fee of $40 for all participating students, due with the regular lesson fee on the first meeting of the month in which the recital occurs.

Signing below indicates that we have both read, and agree to abide by, the above:

Parke Burgess, instructor: Date:

Student/Parent or Guardian Name: Date:

Student Address

Student Email

Student Phone