Charms Office Assistant

 

Charms Office Assistant will help us to be more efficient in our communication with students and parents. We will be able to track everything needed for your child in this system, including: Student and Parent Contact Information, Student Fee and Financial Accounts, Fundraising Payments, Trip Payments, Forms Turned-In, Event Attendance, and much more. We will also be able to send out mass communication in a more personalized form from the Music Department.

 

Students returning to the Passage Music Department will continue to use their Charms Account from the previous school year. If you are a new family to our music department, information will be sent home to regarding how to activate your child’s account.

 

Please be sure to do so as soon as possible so you can keep up with your child’s fee accounts, and ensure that they have turned in all start-up forms. We will communicate more about how we are utilizing Charms Office Assistant throughout the year.

 

For now, go check it out: http://charmsoffice.com. Click on “Login” and enter our school code, which is “passagemusic.”  If it is your child's first time signing into Charms, your child's "Member Area Password" is their NNPS ID#.  If you are having troubles signing-in, please contact your child's director for assistance.

 

Canvas

Each students at Passage Middle School is assigned an account for Canvas.  The Passage MS Instructional Technology Coach can assist with students getting in to Canvas.  Your child's director will send home further information regarding how Canvas will be used throughout the school year.

 

Required Paperwork

At the beginning of the year, students are required to have specific paperwork completed.  This paperwork includes the following:  Membership Agreement Form, Blue Emergency Card, and Instrument Rental Agreement (only for those who are renting an instrument from NNPS).  These forms are due by the first Friday of the school year.

 

Throughout the year, students will be required to have paperwork completed and signed by parents.  This paperwork includes permission forms, memos, and other forms necessary to operate the music program.

 

Communication

Your child's director will utilize different forms of communication, including but not limited to:  Phone calls, letters sent home with students, letters sent home in the mail, emails, text message, text messages through the Remind app, Blackboard Connect voice messages, etc.  Your child's director will communicate which methods of communication they will be using throughout the year.

 

Expectations

Communication is the means of connecting between people.  In order for communication to be effective, all parties need to agree to follow certain expectations.  

 

Directors' Expectations

Your directors understand that their students and parents are busy, well respected individuals.  Because of this, directors will not send useless information home to our parents.  All information communicated with parents will be important and vital to the success of our students musicians.

 

Directors will be sure to denote a due date on all permission forms sent home.  The directors commit to giving students and their parents as much time as possible to return the permission form and/or money for the event.

 

Directors will generally respond to communication within twenty-four hours of receiving communication.  If you have communicated with your director (i.e. phone call, email, text message, etc...), and you have not received a response within twenty-four hours, please attempt to communicate again.  

 

NOTE:  During busy times when your director has a responsibility to execute a priority task (i.e. approaching concerts, Assessment season, approaching trips, etc...), it may take longer for your director to respond, especially if they teach at more than one school.  Please understand that the requirements of your director and executing a priority task will take precedence as the outcome affects many students.  We appreciate your flexibility and understanding. 

 

Student Expectations

Many times, students are the breakdown in communication.  It is the philsophy of our Music Department that all of our student musicians are self-disciplined, well behaved, and ethical.  Therefore, instead of lowering our expectations and communicating around our students, we expect our student musicians to raise their standards to meet the criteria for being a student in the music program.

 

When students are given paperwork, memos, or other methods of communicationg to bring home, they are expected to follow through and give that paperwork, memo, or other method of communication to their parents.  Failure to do so does not excuse our students from that responsibility, and students will be held accountable for meeting those expectations.

 

In addition, when a parent gives their child, one of our student musicians, money, a check, a permission form, or any other form of paperwork or communication, to bring to their director, the student musician must do so that day.  Again, failure to do so does not excuse the student from that responsibility, and the student will be held accountable for meeting that expectation.

 

Parent Expectations

Because our directors will only send home communication vitally important to our student musicians' success in our programs, it is expected that parents will read the entirety of all paperwork and communication sent home, regardless of the means of communication (i.e. letter, email, text, etc...). 

 

Since directors will be giving student musicians and their parents as much time as possible to return permission forms and/or money, parents will return paperwork and money in a timely manner, by the due dates.  In the event that a parent cannot return paperwork or money in a timely manner, they will communicate with their child's director to inform them of the reason for the lack of timeliness.  Failure for parents to return permission forms and/or money on time withour previously notifying the director will communicate that the parent does not want the child to participate in the event.

 

Finally, parents will respond to directors' communication in a timely manner.

 

Late Paperwork and Money

Failure to turn-in paperwork and/or money by the due date, without communicating with the student musician's director before the due date, communicates that the parent does not want their child to participate in the event.  In addition, when money is due for an event, even should the student musician return the permission form on time, failure to submit payment on time without previously notifying the director will indicate that the child cannot participate.  Exceptions are at the discretion of the director, and decisions on whether or not exceptions can be made will be made on an individual basis.  Once a final decision is made by the director, the student musician and their parent(s)/guardian(s) agree to abide by the decision made by the director.