The following is a summary of pertinent school policies. More details are available in the Harbor School Enrollment Packet or by contacting the office.
SCHOOL PHILOSOPHY
The Harbor School of Music & Dance (HSMD) was founded to provide quality, comprehensive music and dance education to the community of Homer, Alaska. Our goal is to enrich the lives of students while providing a solid foundation in music and dance skills. Our instructors take a variety of approaches to suit a variety of learning styles, but all with the ultimate goal of furthering lifelong appreciation of the arts.
School policies are in place to foster a healthy learning environment for our music and dance students, and to keep classes and lessons as accessible as possible for our community.
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CONDUCT POLICIES
Please be POSITIVE: Ensure any comments regarding students or staff of the school, or other arts educators in town, are uplifting in nature rather than disparaging. Encourage your student to be inclusive of other students and respectful of their instructors. Build self-confidence by allowing your student to take responsibility for their own learning.
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Please be CONSIDERATE: Try to be on time when picking up and dropping off your children. Walk them into the lobby to ensure that any communication that needs to occur is done during your student's lesson or class time. Refrain from posting pictures or videos online of other students (apart from your own) without asking permission of their parents.
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Please be KIND: Ensure any public comments made about the school, its students or staff (including on social media) are respectful, truthful and non-specific to any enrolled children. Concerns should be addressed with office staff rather than in the public sphere while enrolled in the school. Opt to focus on what students are doing well at and not where they struggle.
Please be ENTHUSIASTIC: Encourage participation and practice from your student. Help them through positive affirmation and by creating space and time for them to focus on their studies. Celebrate their successes and encourage them to celebrate the achievements of their classmates or friends.
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Please be UNDERSTANDING: We make every effort to ensure a quality music or dance education is offered to your student. You can help by supporting the instructors' decisions with regard to level or class placement, repertoire choice, and instructional methodology. Remember that students will have needs beyond what can be predicted by parents and instructors and that sometimes we will need to take time to focus on those needs before progress can be made.
Communication with Staff: Parents with questions specific to their child's music instruction are invited to speak with music instructors during their child's regularly scheduled music lesson. Parents wishing to direct questions to a dance instructor or group music instructor should email those specific concerns to office@myhsmd.com ; all questions regarding scheduling and billing, communications, policies or any other school matter should be directed to the office as well.
