Make-up Policy

1. Each student will be limited to a total of 4 student-initiated make-ups per year.

2. Each student will be limited to one make-up lesson in any single month (exception: back-to-back make-up lessons may be scheduled subject to other scheduling needs and instructor approval). Otherwise, any make-ups may be retained and scheduled any time during the year. Once the year is over, however, student-initiated misses must have been made up at some time during the year or lost. They cannot be carried over into a new season.

3. Make-ups may be scheduled during the week (if slots are available) or on Saturday mornings, subject to instructor approval. Students initiating the make-up should give instructor 2 or 3 possible make-up times during a given month. If no make-up times can be agreed upon during any given month, that make-up is retained by the student and a subsequent scheduling may be attempted the following month, and so on. If the instructor agrees to a make-up time and the student misses that lesson as well, that make-up is lost. If the student does not give the instructor some times from which to choose for the make-up during that or the following month, that lesson is lost (but the make-up is retained for use on a subsequent miss).

4. Once a student has made up a total of 4 student-initiated misses during any given year, no more make-ups may be scheduled during that year. Any further student-initiated misses will result in lost fees for those misses.

5. Instructor-initiated make-ups DO NOT COUNT against the make-up limit. Furthermore, students have the choice of making up those lessons OR requesting a credit on their next month's fee.

6. If the instructor does NOT contact the student at least 30 minutes before that student's lesson time and is NOT present at the studio within 5 minutes of a student's lesson time, that student may deem that lesson an instructor-initiated miss. Additionally, that student will be given an automatic credit for that lesson (whether the lesson is made-up or not) as compensation for their time and trouble. The student, however, is responsible for providing GILLESPIE STUDIO with contact information (such as cell phone numbers) so that the student or parent can be contacted if the instructor has to cancel on the day of the lesson.

7. Students must make up their initiated missed lessons or lose them. Credits will not be given for student-initiated misses.

8. The first 5 minutes of any given half-hour time slot will be deemed a kind of "break" period, allowing for some tardiness and/or conferencing and/or "small talk" and/or some overlapping of the previous student's lesson. Students who arrive later than this for their lesson will lose those minutes, as they cannot overlap more than five minutes into the following student's lesson time. Students who take hour lessons, therefore, have the slight advantage of adding 5 additional minutes to their lesson time (i.e., the five minutes at their half-way point).

9. Reasons for missed lessons are not an issue. Student-initiated misses are up to the student and the instructor will not question the student's reasons. The reasons can range from the trivial to the serious. Likewise, the instructor may cancel or attempt to re-schedule lessons without any need to explain the reasons for the change.

10. SNOW DAYS: Extremely inclement weather can result in missed lessons. These do NOT count as student-initiated misses. In general, however, they cannot be credited and will have to be made up. If school is canceled during any given afternoon due to inclement weather, those lessons will be considered canceled for that day (but must be made up). If more than 4 such misses accumulate, we will negotiate crediting additional such misses to subsequent months' payments.

11. BONUS MAKE-UP PERIOD: Once the season ends (mid-Aug) and until the next season begins (usually the day after Labor Day), there are a couple of weeks during which students have started back to school but no lessons are scheduled at GILLESPIE STUDIO. If we can agree on times, any make-ups left over from the previous season may be scheduled during this period.

12. Remember, there is a user-friendly waiting area (library, family room) with books, CDs, crafts, and games, so students (and parents) who otherwise might have to be late or miss can plan to come early or delay pickup and make good use of their wait time.