Frequently Asked Questions
Weather Policy
Grand Rapids - Classes will be cancelled if Byron Center Public Schools are cancelled due to weather.
Kalamazoo - Classes will be cancelled if Schoolcraft Public Schools are cancelled due to weather.
Email, Text, and Facebook posts will be sent out shortly after 6am to announce any cancellation of classes. Notices will also be posted on local television and radio websites. Please Note: WMHFA families come from all over West Michigan, therefore the weather in one area may be fine while another area may have hazardous roads. If classes are not cancelled, please use your discretion in deciding to make the drive. We want everyone to arrive safely!
Text Messages
We have a texting service for important notifications. You can adjust your texting options in your parent portal.
Parents: Go to Dashboard > Billing & Payments > Contacts > Edit > Basic Info > Contact Info, click to enable Allow text messaging? and click Save.
Students: Go to Dashboard > View (student name) > Edit (pencil) > Basic Info, click to enable Allow text messaging? and click Save.
Absences
Missing Your Work Shift
- All workers must sign in at the Information Center when you arrive to work your assignment. If you do not sign in, it will be assumed that you did not show up for your assignment and you will be charged $20.
- Call if you are scheduled to work and are not able to make your scheduled assignment. Check the newsletter for the number to call.
- Give at least a 24-hour notice if you are going to miss, unless it is an emergency or unexpected,
- Be aware that you may be called to fill in for someone during a semester you are not scheduled to work.
- There is a $20 charge for not calling in.
While we do take attendance in class, it is helpful for our instructors to know if your student will be absent and why. Absences can be reported through your parent portal. Under the menu, select Absences and Makeups. Our teachers will receive an email automatically if you do this, so there is no need to email them individually!
Sickness Policy
While we cannot enforce masks or distancing due to the nature of our classes, we do ask you to take all possible precautions to keep our kids healthy.
- If your child is sick, even with a cold, please keep them home.
- Wash hands frequently.
- Cover coughs and sneezes.
- Don't touch other people's stuff.
You can check on your student's progress in class through the parent portal. We use the Absence feature to make notes about participation in class. You may notice your child has an absence for a day when you know they were actually there. However, if you look at the notes for that "absence" you will find more information. They may be marked as "IT" or "Insufficent Time." This means they didn't practice enough that week. You may find that their card wasn't signed by a parent ("NS" or "No Signature".) Or maybe they never turned their practice card in and were marked as "NC" or "No Card." If your child didn't get enough practice time but there was a valid reason, please write that in on the practice card and the room parents will note that on the record as well. Illnesses, vacations, or instruments in the shop would be examples of things that are valid reasons to not have enough practice time.
Helpful Information for Parents
SmartMusic Information
You can get started at https://www.wmhfa.org/smartmusic-links.html. Check your newsletter for the class code.
New Sport Shirts
Do you want a new sport shirt that is not black or in stock? Sport shirts may be ordered in a variety of colors for $17. CLICK HERE to order a WMHFA sport shirt or other WMHFA apparel.
Need a larger shirt?
Anytime your child is outgrowing a polo shirt, you may bring in the clean shirt to swap out for the next size up.
I wish WMHFA had a place for parents to communicate with each other.
We do! There is a WMHFA Members only Facebook page where parents can post to ask each other questions, buy/sell used instruments, discuss carpooling possibilities, share photos and videos, etc. This is a private group and members and posts are only viewable by other members. If you'd like to join, go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/WMHFAMembers/ and request to join!
Emails from JackRabbit
Due to email regulations, all emails that come from JackRabbit (the database we use) must come from a jackrabbittech.com email address. However, even though it says [email protected], you can still reply to the email! When you do, it will reply to the person who sent the email. Hopefully this will help alleviate any confusion you may have had about how to get hold of our teachers.
Student/Parent Expectations
Dress Code
Please check over the dress code before coming to class. You can view that at https://www.wmhfa.org/dress-code.html. As a reminder, boys' hair needs to be no longer than collar-length, girls are not allowed to wear leggings or other tight pants, and no jeans are allowed. In a nutshell, students must dress to be neat, modest, and uniform.
Label your things!
We have free instrument name tags available at the Information Desk. Please make sure all of your instruments have your name on them. We often find instruments left after classes are over, and occasionally kids will grab the wrong case. Name tags can really help with that.
We also have free music folders available at the Information Desk. Please put your name on these. You may also write your name in your WMHFA provided Method book to help make sure those get returned to the correct student. Cross off any other names on the book. (They will need to be returned once your student no longer needs it.)
Respecting Our Facilities
Please remind your students to be respectful of our facilities. If you see a student playing with anything they shouldn't be, please speak up and say something to them! We work very hard to maintain good relationships with our facilities. We do not want to give any facility reason to regret that they invited us to use their space. This goes for every single facility that we use whether for classes or for concerts. Unless the facility has given outright permission for toys/equipment to be used, students are not to touch it.
Students are also not to mess with WMHFA equipment including pianos or percussion instruments. No child is to play the pianos unless they are in lessons or class. No student is to touch the percussion instruments unless they are a percussion student.
Students are not to wander hallways. They must be in class or in the study hall at all times. Please be respectful of lessons and classes and keep the noise down in the hallways.
Social Hall Tables
We have limited space at our social hall tables. Please do not leave your stuff spread out at a table when you are not using it. If you cannot find a space at a table and someone has spread their stuff out and left it for more than 10 minutes, you may feel free to consolidate it to one spot so you have a place to sit.
Students are also responsible to clean up after themselves. Lunch trays must be returned and trash taken care of.
Loading Zones/Handicapped Parking
Please be mindful of where you are in the parking lot. Do not block handicapped parking for those who need it. Also, do not sit in the loading zones by the doors. You may drop your students off or pick them up, but do not sit and wait for them. This makes it very difficult for other families who need to use the loading zone areas. Find a parking spot until they come out, then you may go pick them up.
Student's Name Badges
Students will all receive photo IDs which will be required to be worn at all times on WMHFA property.
Fundraising Information
Amazon Smile
You can make a difference while you shop Amazon. Simply shop at smile.amazon.com/ch/81-0626181 and AmazonSmile donates to West Michigan Home School Fine Arts Association Inc.
Concert Program Advertising
Earn 50% of every ad sale! – Deadline will be a few weeks before winter and spring concerts. Full, half, & quarter page and 2 line ads available for your favorite companies. Ads appear in both Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids concert programs. Stop by the desk to request a form, or visit wmhfa.org/advertising-options!
Scrip Table Hours:
Tuesdays @ LAMP Homeschool Center between 9:30 am - 1:30 pm
Wednesdays @ Corinth Reformed between 9:30 am - 1:30 pm
Summer Marching Band hours are at the Grand Rapids location:
Wednesdays, June and July
9:00 am - 10:30 am
Want to start Scrip now? Simply go to your computer, go to www.shopwithscrip.com,
click on "Join a Program" and enter our ONE TIME enrollment code 9D8AF44A1551
Create a profile and read and accept the terms. Start saving money!
Lunch Information
Grand Rapids Lunch
For your convenience, WMHFA makes a pizza lunch available every week for a very reasonable price.
Lunch may be purchased as follows:
$4 Meal Deal (Pizza, 2 sides, and beverage)
$1.50 per slice of pizza
$0.50 per side, snack, or beverage
A Ten Meal Punch Card may be purchased for $35
Kalamazoo Lunch
Lunch will be a potluck style. You can also choose to bring lunch for just your family as well. (Subject to change with new facilities.)
Potluck lunch will open in the kitchen at 11:45am. Potluck criteria:
1) Bring 1 main dish + 1 side dish
2) All food must be precooked & heated. No oven/microwave cooking.
a) Crock pots/instant pots/heating stones/insulated casserole dish bags/etc. are welcome to keep food warm
b) Cold foods/dishes welcome & can be refrigerated until mealtime
3) Bring your own drink
4) Wash your own dishes at home
5) Please drop your dishes off in the Kitchen no later than 11:30 to provide enough time to set out and organize food options.
6) The line will form in the hall outside the fellowship hall (lunch room) & kitchen area at 11:40am.
7) If your child needs a lunch before 11:45am, or will not have time to stand in line before a 12:15pm class, than an adult may come between 11:15-11:35 to prepare a plate for them. Please have them eat outside or sit with them in the Fellowship Hall to ensure they stay quiet and don't interrupt the class.
If Intermediate band is disrupted we will not be able to let anyone into the Fellowship Hall until after class gets out. The curtains will be closed between band and the eating area to muffle movement, but they do not do a good job of muffling voices.
ALL food must be kept in the fellowship hall (lunch room) or taken directly outside through the entrance doors, under the awning, by the kitchen.