Firstlight Arts Academy
Policies and Procedures

1. Enrollment in a Firstlight Art class is for 9 months (school year) starting in August or later and ending the following May. 35 classes are included, but 36 are scheduled with one snow day built in. There are also 9 Open Studio Saturday sessions for 3 hours each, on the first Saturday of each month unless rescheduled for various reasons. Open Studio is for Foundations, Expressions and Toons students (ages 8 and up).
If a student joins later in the school year, then the first month's tuition will be pro-rated to reflect the number of classes remaining.

2. All monthly payments are due by the first of the month, payments received after the 15th will automatically be charged a $5 late fee.

3. There is a $25 non-refundable registration fee (per student, per year) that is required to reserve a class space and for administration. Sibling discounts apply to the registration fee and are $45 for two students or $60 for three students.

4. Firstlight requires a 30-day written notice on or before February 20th of the current school year, to drop a class for any reason. Otherwise, tuition is due to the end of the school year. If something comes up, please call Dennas at 202-6426 to discuss. Please read our Frequently Asked Questions page for more information, or view our detailed cancelation explanation at the bottom of this page.

5. Siblings or any second and third classes/students are offered at a 15% discount.

6. If a student misses class for any reason it is the student's responsibility to work at home to keep up with the class if needed, (but there is no pressure to do so.) Tuition is still due on time and must be paid to keep the student's account in good standing. No refunds are made for classes that are missed. Ages 8 and up may come into the open studio which is planned once each month, to catch up if needed, or just to enjoy working on their art projects. Please read our Frequently Asked Questions page for more information about why this is our policy.

7. Supplies are the student's responsibility. If a student arrives at class with no supplies (left at home by accident), then temporary supplies may be available in the room. Supplies that have been depleted, however, and are needed to complete a project, but have not been purchased before class will need to be purchased from Firstlight's store during classtime for use on the project. If you have not made plans or purchased before class, whatever lost or depleted supplies are missing, you agree to purchase from Firstlight what is needed to continue with the class project. All supplies are sold at 15%-40% discount off the MSRP.

8. You should try your best to arrive 5 minutes early for classes. This allows enough time to use the restroom and get drinks and snacks before class. Please pick up students within 5 minutes after end of class and please make sure that the teacher knows the student has reconnected with parents or guardians. Do not let your children run out to the car without letting the teacher know parents have arrived. Children and teenagers cannot be left unattended at the school to wait after the school is closed.

9. Drinks and snacks are allowed in class, and we have a selection available for purchase, but not entire meals or hot food please.

10. Cleaning up is important. We try to make time to clean our supplies and workspace before leaving every class. Students should wash brushes in SINK to keep them in working condition.

11. Protection for clothing, such as old t-shirts and aprons are usually available in the classroom, although you should try to have a long-sleeve thigh-length smock for your children if they are wearing good clothes to class. Wearing or changing into painting clothes is recommended!

12. Closings: All Weather-related closings will be posted on our website and sent out as an email notification. We do NOT close for Monday holidays, except for Labor Day. We do not always follow Williamson county weather closings, as they take the morning travel into account and we are late in the day.

13. Our Spring break is the same as Williamson County Schools.

14. PRIVACY POLICY: We promise to take all kinds of reasonable precautions to maintain privacy of your registration information. We will never knowingly share your information with any other entity or persons unless directed to do so by you or by some scary governmental agency like the IRS. Hopefully that'll never happen. All information collected in processing your purchases are handled by our Credit Card Merchant services provider, who uses military standard encryption and has an excellent privacy policy as well - even requiring us to make our policy known to you, which we have just done.

15. Unless you let us know otherwise, agreeing to our policies by registering for classes, grants Firstlight permission to reproduce any student artwork that has been created in the classroom, ONLY for use in promoting Firstlight Arts Academy in our advertising, promotions, and web pages.


Here is our cancelation policy explained in detail

Firstlight Arts Academy loves art students and we love to keep them happy. If you or your child is unhappy for any reason, please let us know as soon as you can so that we can address the issue. We like to be encouraging and proactive. Please know that talking to us about anything will be as good an experience as we can make it!

Most schools are a tight business financially, and we cannot operate successfully without full classes. We are a school-year supplemental program. Students usually sign up for these type of programs at the beginning of the school year, and it's harder to fill empty spaces in the middle of the year. We do most of our advertising during the sign-up quarter as well.

That's why we ask for a commitment from our families. It's not a legal binding document, but more of a promise that you will do your best to stay with our program and give us a chance to work with you. In turn, we promise that we will do our best to make the art class as fabulous as we can in every way.

There are other reasons beyond just keeping us going, however, that makes sticking to your commitment a great idea.
• Each class is a wonderful little social group, and we hate to see it disturbed during the year.
• The curriculum is designed to be taken for the full year, so quitting may give you a partial view of the program.
• We may have given away a month of tuition to someone who referred you as a yearly sign-up.
• Artists can have ups and downs, and it is good for them to see that they can get past a few "learners" and find a "keeper" by sticking with it past the mood of the moment.

That said, we understand when things come up unexpectedly. If you have to quit for some unforeseen issue, or if you feel that the program has not fulfilled our description of it, then there is a 30 day cancelation policy. To cancel, send us an email or a note in writing, that tells us you need to cancel and a brief explanation. Then you are only obligated for 30 more days from the date of that notice for any tuition (attending class is optional, but we hope you do).

If you are having financial trouble and that is affecting your decision, then please talk to us to see if we can work something out together. There are several options available to you besides just canceling.

Thank you!