Family Enrollment Agreement and Terms of Service

Please read this carefully. Section 2 explains that Stage Pass does not obtain criminal background checks on Teachers. Section 11 sets a placement fee if your household takes lessons privately from a Teacher we introduced. Section 13 contains a release and limits on Stage Pass's liability. Section 17 requires individual arbitration of most disputes (with a small-claims court option) and waives class actions; you can opt out of arbitration within 30 days. A membership renews automatically every month until you stop it (Section 8).

These terms (the "Terms") are an agreement between Alex Bodnar, an individual doing business as Stage Pass Lessons, Sandy Springs, Georgia ("Stage Pass", "we", "us") and the person who accepts them ("you", the "Family"). You must be at least 18 years old to accept these Terms. If you enroll a student under 18 (a "Minor"), you confirm that you are the student's parent or legal guardian, and you accept these Terms for yourself, for the student and for your household. Our Lesson Policies (stagepasslessons.com/policies/), Pricing (stagepasslessons.com/pricing/) and Privacy Policy (stagepasslessons.com/privacy/) are part of these Terms. If they conflict, these Terms control, except that your checkout order summary controls on price.

1. What Stage Pass Is

Stage Pass is a matching, scheduling and billing service. Lessons are taught by independent music teachers ("Teachers"), who are independent contractors, not our employees, and who decide how they teach. We find and introduce your Teacher, schedule lessons, bill and collect tuition, and pay the Teacher. We do not attend or supervise lessons, and Teachers do not provide childcare.

2. How We Screen Teachers

Before a Teacher teaches any Student through Stage Pass, in any setting, the Teacher:

auditions and interviews with our founder;
teaches a demo lesson that we observe;
provides professional references, which we check;
signs our contractor agreement and Teacher Code of Conduct, including a written statement that they have no convictions or pending charges for violent or sexual offenses, offenses involving a minor, child abuse or neglect, or burglary or theft, and are not on any sex-offender registry, and a promise to tell us within 24 hours of any arrest or charge for those offenses; and
is searched by name on the public National Sex Offender Public Website (nsopw.gov).

Teachers who teach in your home or at their studio must also carry their own liability insurance. Substitutes go through the same steps.

Stage Pass does not obtain criminal background checks or other screening reports on Teachers. We rely on the steps above, including each Teacher's own written statements. A name-based registry search finds only people who are registered, and public records can be incomplete. Screening reduces risk but cannot remove it. We do not guarantee any Teacher's conduct, which is why the safety rules below matter. You understand that Stage Pass does not obtain criminal background checks on Teachers, and you choose to enroll on that basis. You are welcome to be present for any lesson.

3. Safety Rules

3.1 "Responsible Adult" means a Minor's parent or legal guardian, or another adult (18 or older) whom you name to us in writing (an email or a Family Portal message is enough).

3.2 In-home lessons for Minors: a Responsible Adult must be home for the entire lesson. If none is home, the Teacher won't start and the lesson counts as a no-show. If the Responsible Adult leaves, the Teacher stops and steps outside, and the lesson counts as a late cancellation.

3.3 Studio lessons for Minors: a Responsible Adult stays at the studio, in the lesson room or a nearby waiting area, for the entire lesson. If none is there, the Teacher won't start and the lesson counts as a no-show. Online lessons for Minors: a Responsible Adult is home and nearby, and the lesson happens in an open, shared space with the camera on.

3.4 Lessons take place in a shared, open room with the door open, never in a bedroom or bathroom.

3.5 Please don't ask a Teacher to message your child directly, connect with your child on social media, drive your child anywhere, or babysit. You remain responsible for supervising your child before, during and after lessons.

4. Your Responsibilities

Give us accurate information, including anything relevant to safety, health or learning.
Provide a safe, quiet lesson space, free of hazards, with pets settled away from it. Tell us in advance about any pet that might bite or any other safety concern in the home.
Keep any firearm in your home secured and out of sight during lessons.
Have the instrument ready for in-home lessons.
If someone in the household is sick, switch the lesson to online.
Don't move lessons to another address without arranging it with your coordinator.
Treat Teachers with respect, and keep your payment method, email address and mobile number current.

Emergencies. Tell us before the first lesson about any allergy or medical condition a Teacher should know about. Teachers are not medical providers. If a Student is hurt or becomes ill during a lesson, the Teacher may call 911 and will contact you, and has no other duty to provide care. You consent to emergency medical care for the Student when you can't be reached, and you are responsible for its cost.

5. Tuition and Payment

5.1 Paid in advance. Prices are on our Pricing page and in your order summary. There is no registration fee, and we don't offer coupons, promo codes or sibling discounts. If your Teacher's drive is 20 to 35 minutes, we tell you before you enroll and add a $5 drive charge to each in-home lesson (for memberships, $20 a month), which we pass to your Teacher for the lessons they travel to.

5.2 Monthly membership (automatic renewal). A membership is 4 lessons a month and costs 4 times your per-lesson rate. Your first month is charged when you enroll, before the first lesson. After that you are charged the same amount every month on that date (or on the last day of a shorter month). Monthly tuition covers 48 lessons a year (Section 9). By choosing a membership, you authorize Stage Pass, through its payment processor Stripe, to charge your bank account or card every month until you stop it, as Section 8 explains.

5.3 Lesson packs. The 10-lesson pack is priced 5% below the monthly rate and is good for 16 weeks. The 20-lesson Semester Pack is priced 10% below the monthly rate and is good for 26 weeks. A pack's weeks start on your first pack lesson (or the payment date, if later) and include break weeks. Packs are paid in full, never renew automatically, and can be used by any student in your household. Before a pack expires you can ask for a refund of what you paid, minus the lessons you used at the monthly per-lesson rate (never below zero). Lessons left when a pack expires become account credit for 12 months.

5.4 Single lessons are prepaid at the price shown.

5.5 Failed payments. If a payment fails, we retry after 3 days. If it is still unpaid after 7 days, a $15 late fee applies. After 14 days, lessons pause until the account is current.

5.6 Disputed charges. If you think a charge is wrong, contact us first and we will fix any error. If you dispute a charge with your bank instead, we may pause lessons while the dispute is open, and you remain responsible for lessons delivered.

5.7 Price changes. Current students get at least 30 days' notice of a price change. Packs you have already bought are not affected.

5.8 Gift certificates. A gift certificate is good for at least five years from purchase, can be used for any instrument, setting or lesson length, and isn't redeemable for cash except where the law requires. The person who redeems it (or, for a Minor, the parent or guardian) must accept these Terms before the first lesson.

6. First Lesson Guarantee

If your first lesson after you enroll isn't a great fit, tell us within 48 hours. You choose: a free rematch with a different Teacher, or a refund of everything you have paid for that enrollment. If you choose a rematch, the same choice applies to your first lesson with the new Teacher. After that, you can still switch Teachers at any time at no charge (Section 10), but the refund applies only as described here.

7. Cancellations, Make-ups and No-shows

24 hours' notice or more: you get a make-up lesson, scheduled with your Teacher. Memberships get up to 2 make-ups per student per semester, each used within 60 days. In a pack, the lesson simply isn't used.
Sick at the last minute: switch to online up to 2 hours before the lesson.
Less than 24 hours' notice, or a no-show: the lesson is charged and the Teacher is paid. Teachers wait 15 minutes for in-home and studio lessons and 10 minutes online before it counts as a no-show.
"Life happens" pass: each Family gets one pass per semester that turns a late cancellation into a make-up.
"Semester" means January through June, or July through December.
If your Teacher cancels: you choose a make-up, a qualified substitute, or account credit for that lesson. A make-up credit from a Teacher cancellation is good for 60 days; if you can't use it in that time, tell us before it expires and we'll turn it into account credit for that lesson, good for 12 months.
Unsafe roads (ice, severe storms), as decided by Stage Pass or your Teacher: in-home and studio lessons move online or are rescheduled at no charge.
Cancel through your Family Portal or by telling your coordinator. The time we receive your notice is what counts.

8. Stopping

Stop a membership any time, from your Family Portal or by telling your coordinator. If you stop by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on the day before your next monthly charge date, nothing more is charged, and lessons continue through the month already paid for. There is no notice period, penalty or long-term commitment. Monthly charges already made are not prorated or refunded, except under the First Lesson Guarantee. Unused pack lessons are refundable under Section 5.3. We may end your enrollment for nonpayment, a safety concern (including harassment of a Teacher), or a serious breach of these Terms; if we do, we refund prepaid lessons not delivered, minus anything you owe. We may also end your enrollment for any other reason with 14 days' notice; if we do, we refund prepaid lessons not delivered, and Section 11 does not apply.

9. Break Weeks

There are no lessons during the week of July 4, Thanksgiving week, or the two weeks over Christmas and New Year's. Monthly tuition already accounts for these weeks (48 lessons a year).

10. Teacher Changes, Substitutes and Rematches

You keep the same Teacher each week unless you ask for a change. You can switch Teachers at any time, for any reason, at no charge. Substitutes go through the same screening. If your Teacher leaves or becomes unavailable, we will offer a new match. If we can't within a reasonable time, you may stop and we will refund prepaid lessons not delivered.

11. Taking Lessons With a Teacher Outside Stage Pass

11.1 The promise. Finding, screening and matching a Teacher is the service we provide, and our Teachers agree not to solicit our Families. For each Teacher we introduce to you, the "Restricted Period" is the time you are enrolled with Stage Pass (you have a membership, pack, scheduled lesson or account credit with us) plus 12 months after your household's last Stage Pass lesson with that Teacher. During the Restricted Period, no one in your household, and no other parent or guardian of the Student acting with your knowledge, will take music lessons from that Teacher outside Stage Pass (directly or through another business or platform), unless the placement fee has been paid first.

11.2 Your option to go private (the release). You're free to continue with that Teacher privately at any time: just pay the placement fee first. You, the Teacher, or both together may pay it. The placement fee is three months of tuition for each person who takes lessons from that Teacher outside Stage Pass, at our published monthly membership rate for that person's most recent Stage Pass lesson setting and length (or, for someone who never had Stage Pass lessons, your household's most recent setting and length) in effect on the date of your last Stage Pass lesson. For example, $960 per person for weekly 45-minute in-home lessons at current rates. Once it is paid, we confirm the release in writing within 3 business days. We collect it only once for the same household and Teacher, whoever pays it.

11.3 If lessons start without the release. If anyone covered by Section 11.1 takes lessons from that Teacher outside Stage Pass during the Restricted Period without the release, you agree to pay the placement fee, less anything the Teacher has already paid for your household. When a household leaves to take lessons privately, we lose the net revenue we would probably have earned over the rest of your enrollment and what we spent finding, screening and matching your Teacher. That loss is difficult to calculate precisely, and you agree the placement fee is a reasonable estimate of it and not a penalty. It is the only amount we will claim from you for that lost enrollment, plus any court and collection costs the law allows.

11.4 Paying it. We will send you a written notice explaining the fee and how we figured it. If you don't dispute it in writing within 14 days, you authorize us to charge it to the card on file (if your payment method is a bank account, we will send you an invoice instead). If you dispute it, we won't charge it unless you agree or a court or arbitrator decides you owe it.

11.5 When this Section doesn't apply. This Section doesn't apply to a Teacher you took lessons from before we introduced you. It also doesn't apply if we ended your enrollment for a reason other than your breach or nonpayment, or if your Teacher stopped teaching you through Stage Pass and we couldn't offer you another Teacher for the same instrument within 30 days after you asked.

12. Conduct and Concerns

Report any concern by email to [email protected] or through the safety form at stagepasslessons.com/contact/?topic=safety. Concerns about conduct with a child go straight to our founder (or a designated backup), and the Teacher is paused from lessons with Minors promptly while we look into it, and in any case before the Teacher's next lesson with a Minor. If a child is in danger, call 911 first. You can also report suspected abuse to Georgia DFCS at 1-855-GACHILD (1-855-422-4453).

13. RISK, RELEASE AND LIMITS OF LIABILITY (PLEASE READ)

13.1 ASSUMPTION OF RISK. MUSIC LESSONS CARRY RISKS, INCLUDING LOUD SOUND, STRAIN FROM PRACTICE, INJURIES FROM INSTRUMENTS, EQUIPMENT OR CABLES, ILLNESS SPREAD IN PERSON, TRAVEL TO AND FROM LESSONS AND EVENTS, AND THE RISKS OF INVITING SOMEONE INTO YOUR HOME OR VISITING A STUDIO, INCLUDING THE RISK THAT A TEACHER, DESPITE OUR SCREENING AND SAFETY RULES, ACTS CARELESSLY, DISHONESTLY OR WRONGFULLY. STAGE PASS DOES NOT OBTAIN CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS ON TEACHERS (SECTION 2). YOU UNDERSTAND THESE RISKS AND VOLUNTARILY ACCEPT THEM FOR YOURSELF AND THE STUDENT.

13.2 TEACHERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR OWN CONDUCT. TEACHERS ARE INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, STAGE PASS IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY TEACHER'S ACTS OR OMISSIONS.

13.3 RELEASE. "Stage Pass Parties" means Stage Pass and its owner, members, managers, staff, successors and assigns, and its contractors other than Teachers. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, YOU RELEASE, AND AGREE NOT TO SUE, THE STAGE PASS PARTIES FOR ANY CLAIM, KNOWN OR UNKNOWN, FOR YOURSELF AND ON BEHALF OF THE STUDENT, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO LESSONS, SHOWCASES OR OTHER STAGE PASS EVENTS, ANY TEACHER'S CONDUCT, OR YOUR USE OF OUR SERVICES, INCLUDING CLAIMS BASED ON THE NEGLIGENCE OF A STAGE PASS PARTY AND CLAIMS THAT A STAGE PASS PARTY NEGLIGENTLY SCREENED, SELECTED, MATCHED, SUPERVISED OR RETAINED A TEACHER OR DID NOT OBTAIN A CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK. This release does not cover a Stage Pass Party's gross negligence or willful misconduct, your right to the lessons, credits and refunds these Terms promise, or any claim the law does not allow to be released.

13.4 CLAIMS BY OR FOR THE STUDENT. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IF A CLAIM IS BROUGHT BY OR ON BEHALF OF A STUDENT YOU ENROLLED (INCLUDING BY THE STUDENT AFTER TURNING 18) THAT SECTION 13.3 WOULD HAVE BARRED IF YOU HAD BROUGHT IT YOURSELF, YOU WILL INDEMNIFY THE STAGE PASS PARTIES FOR IT, INCLUDING REASONABLE ATTORNEY'S FEES, EVEN IF THE CLAIM IS BASED ON THE NEGLIGENCE OF A STAGE PASS PARTY. This does not apply to a claim caused by a Stage Pass Party's gross negligence or willful misconduct, or to a claim arising from sexual abuse of the Student.

13.5 LIMITS. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE STAGE PASS PARTIES ARE NOT LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, AND THE STAGE PASS PARTIES' TOTAL COMBINED LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS, LESSONS, EVENTS OR OUR SERVICES, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, IS LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF $100 OR THE TUITION YOU PAID IN THE 3 MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM AROSE. THESE LIMITS DO NOT REDUCE ANY REFUND OR CREDIT THESE TERMS PROMISE, AND DO NOT APPLY TO GROSS NEGLIGENCE, WILLFUL MISCONDUCT OR ANY LIABILITY THE LAW DOES NOT ALLOW TO BE LIMITED.

13.6 YOUR INDEMNITY. YOU WILL INDEMNIFY THE STAGE PASS PARTIES AGAINST CLAIMS (INCLUDING CLAIMS BY A TEACHER), LOSSES AND REASONABLE ATTORNEY'S FEES ARISING FROM: THE CONDUCT OF YOU, YOUR HOUSEHOLD OR YOUR GUESTS; YOUR HOME'S CONDITION; YOUR PETS; YOUR BREACH OF THESE TERMS; OR FALSE INFORMATION YOU GAVE US, EVEN IF THE CLAIM ALSO ALLEGES THAT A STAGE PASS PARTY WAS NEGLIGENT. This does not apply to the extent a Stage Pass Party's gross negligence or willful misconduct caused the claim.

13.7 TIME TO BRING CLAIMS. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, ANY CLAIM AGAINST A STAGE PASS PARTY MUST BE BROUGHT WITHIN ONE YEAR AFTER IT ARISES, OR IT IS PERMANENTLY BARRED. This does not shorten any period the law protects for a claim belonging to a Minor.

13.8 SEPARATE PROVISIONS. Each part of this Section 13 is separate. If any part is unenforceable for a particular claim or person, it is limited only as far as needed for that claim or person, and the rest of this Section still applies in full.

14. Photos and Media

Teachers record a Minor only for teaching, with your prior written consent, and those recordings are never shared. We use a student's name, photo or video (for example, from a showcase) in marketing only with your separate written consent, which you can withdraw at any time. We can't control photos taken by audience members at public showcases.

15. Privacy, Communications and Electronic Records

15.1 Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle information; your Teacher receives only what they need to teach. You agree to receive lesson-related calls, texts and emails at the contact details you give us. Reply STOP to opt out of texts; message and data rates may apply.

15.2 Electronic records (please read). By accepting these Terms: (a) you agree that we may provide these Terms, your signed acceptance, receipts, payment authorizations, notices and all other records about your enrollment electronically, by email, by text message or by posting them in your Family Portal; (b) this consent covers all of those records for as long as you are a Stage Pass family; (c) you can get a free paper copy of any record by emailing [email protected]; (d) you can withdraw this consent at any time, at no charge, by emailing us, but if you do, we may need to end online billing and your enrollment; (e) please keep your email address and mobile number current in your Family Portal; and (f) to access records you need a current web browser, an email account and the ability to view and save or print web pages or PDF files. By checking the box, you confirm that you can open and read these Terms on the device you are using.

16. Changes to These Terms

Current Families get at least 30 days' notice of any change. If you don't agree, you can stop before the change takes effect, and unused pack lessons are refunded under Section 5.3. Continuing lessons after a change takes effect means you accept it. A change to Section 17 does not apply to a dispute that arose before the change takes effect. If we make a material change to Section 13 or 17, we will ask you to accept it again before your next lesson after the change.

17. Disputes: Individual Arbitration

17.1 Talk first. Please contact us first. Before starting any proceeding, the party with a claim will send the other a written description of it, and both will try in good faith to resolve it for 30 days.

17.2 Small claims. Either party may bring an individual claim in a Georgia magistrate court that has jurisdiction and venue (for example, the magistrate court of the county where the other party lives), if it qualifies there (currently up to $15,000). A claim filed there stays there unless it is transferred, removed or appealed.

17.3 Arbitration. Any other dispute between you (or the Student) and any Stage Pass Party arising out of or relating to these Terms, lessons, showcases or our services, including claims based on events before you accepted these Terms, will be resolved by final and binding individual arbitration before a single arbitrator, administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, in Fulton County, Georgia or by video. For a claim you bring, you pay no more than the fee you would pay to file in court, and Stage Pass pays the rest of the AAA and arbitrator fees. For a claim Stage Pass brings, Stage Pass pays all of them. The arbitrator decides questions about whether a dispute must be arbitrated, except that a court decides whether Section 17.4 is enforceable and whether Section 17.8 applies. A Teacher may also require that a claim against the Teacher arising out of lessons arranged through Stage Pass be arbitrated under this Section. These Terms involve interstate commerce, including interstate payment networks, internet services and online lessons, and the Federal Arbitration Act governs this Section.

17.4 No class actions. You and Stage Pass each waive the right to bring or join any class or representative action; claims may be brought only individually (the "Class Waiver"). A court, not the arbitrator, decides whether the Class Waiver is enforceable. If the Class Waiver is found unenforceable for a particular claim, that claim (and only that claim) will be decided in court, after any individual arbitration is finished.

17.5 No jury. Arbitration means there is no jury. To the extent the law allows, you and Stage Pass also waive a jury trial for any claim that goes to court. If that court jury waiver is not enforceable, it does not affect the Class Waiver or the rest of this Section.

17.6 Opting out. You can opt out of arbitration by emailing [email protected] within 30 days after you first accept these Terms, with your name and the words "arbitration opt-out". Opting out doesn't affect anything else in these Terms.

17.7 Law and court. Georgia law governs these Terms, and the Federal Arbitration Act governs Section 17. Any matter that is allowed to go to court will be heard in the Superior Court, State Court or Magistrate Court of Fulton County, Georgia, except where the law requires it to be filed in another county or court.

17.8 Sexual harassment and assault claims. If a claim relates to a sexual harassment or sexual assault dispute, the person making it may choose to bring the case in court instead of arbitration, as federal law (9 U.S.C. §§ 401–402) allows. A court decides whether that law applies. Otherwise, Section 17 applies.

18. General

These Terms, the documents named above and your order summary are the entire agreement between you and Stage Pass. If any part is unenforceable, it is limited or removed only as far as necessary and the rest still applies; not enforcing a right does not waive it. Neither party is responsible for delays caused by events outside its reasonable control (for example, severe weather, illness or outages). You may not transfer these Terms. Stage Pass may assign them to any entity Alex Bodnar controls (including a future Stage Pass Lessons LLC) or to a buyer or successor of the business, and the assignee may enforce them as if it were Stage Pass. No one other than you, Stage Pass and the Stage Pass Parties has any rights under these Terms, except as Section 17 states.

Notices. We may give you notices by email to the address on your account, by text message to your mobile number, or by posting them in your Family Portal. A notice of a price change, a change to these Terms, a placement fee, or the end of your enrollment will also be sent to you by email or text. Notices to us go to [email protected].

Survival. Sections 2, 5.6, 11, 13, 14, 15.2, 17 and 18 continue to apply after your enrollment ends.

19. Electronic Acceptance

You accept these Terms by checking the boxes, typing your full name and clicking the button to continue. Your electronic acceptance has the same effect as a handwritten signature under the Georgia Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (O.C.G.A. § 10-12-1 et seq.) and the federal E-SIGN Act. We record the date and time, your IP address, your device and browser, and the exact version accepted, let you save or print a copy when you accept, and keep a copy you can view and print in your Family Portal, including after your enrollment ends.