Parent Information

Newsletters and important updates are emailed and posted here and on our Facebook page. Please make sure the office has your correct email address. Larger packets, like the Nutcracker and Recital handbooks, go home with your child at the end of class.

Call the office at (256) 355-2996 during office hours or email info@dancersinc.com. We answer email every weekday. All communication with teachers and the director goes through the office, except at competitions, dance events or in an emergency. Please don’t contact staff outside studio hours unless it’s an emergency.

Questions about your child’s progress or placement? Call the office to set up a conference rather than catching a teacher between classes.

If severe weather closes the studio, we announce it by noon that day by email, on the website and Facebook, and on the studio voicemail. Announcements also appear in the bar at the top of this website.

We follow the Decatur City Schools calendar, though we don’t take every Monday holiday the schools do. The studio closes for Labor Day, Fall Break, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, and Spring Break. Exact dates are on the studio calendar.

Please arrive 15 minutes before class. For their safety, children under 10 should be picked up right after class. Students 10 and older must be picked up no more than 15 minutes after their last class ends.

Every class is a step forward, and a missed class can leave a child a step behind. Attendance matters most from February through April, when recital choreography is taught.

Late students miss their warm-up and are more likely to get hurt. Students who arrive more than 10 minutes late may be asked to watch class for their own safety.

Students who miss a class can make it up in a similar class. Check with the office to find the best fit.

Parents aren’t allowed in the classrooms, but two classrooms have observation windows you can watch through any time. Families are invited in during Halloween Dress-Up Week in October and Christmas Visitation Week in December, and classes “share” with parents as the recital gets close.

Please don’t interrupt a class in session. If you need to take your child out early, ask the office manager to get them.

For safety and legal reasons, students can’t bring siblings, relatives or friends into class. The exception is Bring-a-Friend Week, the second week of September, when friends of a similar age take a class free. If a friend enrolls, your registration fee is credited to your account.

To protect everyone, please keep your child home if you notice:

• green or yellow nasal discharge
• ear pain
• a constant cough or severe sore throat
• pink, burning, itchy or draining eyes
• diarrhea or vomiting
• fever

After a fever, wait until temperature is back to normal and signs like glassy eyes or drowsiness have passed. If we notice symptoms during class, we’ll call you to pick your child up.

Tell the director and teachers if your child uses an inhaler or may need medication at the studio, and about any medical conditions or learning differences, at registration and throughout the year. The more we know, the better the experience for everyone. All student information is kept confidential.

Our lot is full of children of all ages. Drive slowly, park only in marked spaces, don’t leave your car idling near the building, and please don’t let siblings play in the parking lot.

Evacuation routes are posted in every classroom and the lobby. Students walk out quietly in single file to the meeting area, where teachers take roll, and return only when the all-clear is given.

Learning to separate from a parent is a big accomplishment for a preschooler. A few things help:

• Talk about what your child will do in dance class, not what you’ll do while they’re there.
• Before you leave, make sure your child is busy with an activity or with a teacher.
• Keep goodbyes short.
• Ask the teacher for help. We expect some tears.

Never force your child into the classroom. If it isn’t the right time and your child stops attending in the first month, we’ll credit the registration fee to the following year.

• Only water in the studios. No food, drinks or gum.
• No cell phones or computers during class.
• Please talk with office staff over the counter rather than entering the office. The studio phone is for emergencies.
• Young siblings are welcome but must be supervised and can’t run around the lobby or classrooms. Please use the outdoor trash cans for diapers.
• We never speak negatively about teachers, students or parents from other schools, and we never recruit students from other schools.
• Students show respect for their teachers at all times.

Our teachers use constructive discipline. A child who misbehaves is told what’s wrong and shown a better choice. If disruption continues, the child sits out for a few minutes before rejoining. If it still continues, we’ll call a parent to pick the child up.

We make every effort to solve problems first, but enrollment may be ended for disruptive or dangerous behavior by a student or parent, abuse of children, staff or property, or if we’re unable to meet a child’s needs.

• Don’t share personal information about the director, other students or their families.
• Don’t claim or imply you’re speaking for Dancers Inc.
• Never post anything that could hurt a student’s self-esteem.
• Don’t post any choreography in full. Dancers Inc. owns the copyright to all choreography taught at the studio.
• Don’t post negative comments about other schools, teachers, competitions or their directors.

Label dancewear, shoes and belongings with your child’s name. At the end of each semester, in December and May, unclaimed items are donated to local charities.