We have huge glass windows on every door in our buildings to foster transparency between the teachers and parents. While it is expected that older kids and teenagers will not want their parents to sit in on every music lesson, some parents may not feel comfortable with having their child in a separate room for a half-hour.

To appease both students who wish for their lessons to be private and parents concerned about safety, we have 18” x 36” windows on every single door so that parents can view their student’s lesson with peace of mind.

At my music academy, we require office staff to be present during lessons. Many other music academies have tight budgets and cannot afford the extra expense of employing office staff.

This means that a student and a teacher might be unsupervised together in a lesson at 7:00 at night. In my opinion, this is not a safe practice and is irresponsible on the part of the academy. My academy always has office staff present so that students are never left alone with teachers.

I require that teachers and staff members undergo extensive background checks. Our teachers are required to pass four tests: a National Offender Search, Statewide Criminal Background Check, National Criminal Background Check, and Social Security Number Verification. We view this as a necessary measure to preserve the safety and integrity of our academy.

The safety of our students is our top priority, so we have security cameras in every single room. The precautionary program may be costly to the academy, but such a feature is worth it if it keeps our students safe and gives the parents peace of mind.

Our school has an open-door policy for parents, which means that they’re invited to sit in on their child’s lessons. This is something families look for when selecting an appropriate music school for their student.