Our Policies

Rising Stars Academy:

Rules, Terms and Conditions

Student/Family Registration Fee: All Rising Stars Academy Students/Families will be charged an annual registration fee. This fee is taken on your Student’s/Family’s start date and is good for one year reoccurring on your anniversary date. The overage of the Family discounted registration fee will be credited to your account after initial registration.  Registration fee must be current in order to register for classes.

Session Rollover Enrollment:
Here at Rising Stars Academy our class programs for Session 1-9 (Fall, Winter and Spring) operate on our Continuous Session Rollover Enrollment system.  This system allows our families to make consistent payments, of 4 week increments; which continually keeps your enrollment rolling into the next session ensuring your child never loses their current spot in class. Our Summer FLEX session is paid in full at the beginning of summer and is explained more in-depth below. We are a year round program, you may enroll or un-enroll  at  any time in accordance with our policies and procedures.

*Sessions 1-9 (Fall, Winter and Spring): During the School Year Sessions, we have a rolling enrollment.  Once you have enrolled in class, your enrollment will continue each session until the conclusion of Session 9; unless you have otherwise notified the office of a change.  Our Sessions are 4 weeks long through Session 1 –  Session 9.  Your credit card will be auto-charged on the CHARGE DATE which is the Monday one week before each session begins, unless alternative payment is made before the CHARGE DATE.  Your next session tuition will be added to your account the day after the drop date, giving you 9 days if you choose to provide alternative payment before the CHARGE DATE.  Alternative payment includes in person by cash/check or in the portal via credit card or e-check. For the specific charge dates and our full session calendar, please check out our website.  If you wish to drop a class or take a break, please notify us 10 days before the charge date.  Please note that the sessions are not necessarily on a monthly schedule. 

*Summer FLEX Tuition: is paid in full on our FLEX schedule which gives our families the opportunity to choose from all 11 weeks to 10 or 9 weeks of summer classes allotting for vacations and other summer activities. Your family will choose which amount of weeks they want in the summer, noting which weeks they will attend when registering, and pay in full for those chosen weeks. There are no makeups in the summer do to our FLEX term options.

If your child begins class mid-session, you will not pay for missed classes, you will only pay for classes remaining in the session. It is perfectly fine to start classes anytime throughout the sessions. After that first prorated session your card will be charged the full session payment on the Charge Date for the next session.

Everyone is required to have a credit/debit card on file. Each family has the opportunity to pay before the Charge Date with another form of payment (Cash, Check or Credit Card), however if payment was not made then the card on file will be charged for that upcoming month.

 Your student stays in the same class until he or she is referred to a different level or you would like to change class days and/or times.

Registration Format – How to Enroll: 2 ways

• The Quickest Way– Access our New Parent Portal to Register your Family and Payment information Online by visiting our Homepage at www.risingstarsacademy.com. Once registered in our Online Portal, you can enroll completely online or if needing assistance contact us by phone and we can get you enrolled.
• In Person – You have the opportunity to view class schedules and class descriptions on our website at comand come in to our office to Register

Joining, Changing and Dropping Classes

Joining: You may Enroll anytime based on availability. There is no need to wait for the beginning of a session, our class curriculum continually works the strong basics toward advancement throughout the each session during the year.

Changing class day, time, or program: We are very flexible about keeping up with your schedule. If at any time you need to find another class that better fits your schedule, just call the front desk and we will help take care of it for you. Change requests are accepted if there’s available space in the class, otherwise we can offer to put you on a waitlist and we will contact you once an opening becomes available.

Un-Enrolling/Dropping: To un-enroll or drop from class, you must submit your request to un-enroll in writing including the future date of your last desired class 10 days before the charge date of the next session. The CHARGE DATE which is the Monday one week before each session begins. Upon receiving your request, we will update your enrollment accordingly. No refunds or credits will be issued for missed classes. If you submit your Un-Enroll Request after the Drop Date (10 days before Charge Date), you will be charged and enrolled in the following session. Please note: You are responsible for payment for your student’s classes WHETHER OR NOT YOUR STUDENT ATTENDS CLASS until the time you notify the front desk VIA WRITTEN NOTICE.

 Withdraw from class for MEDICAL REASONS:  Any medical conditions validated by a medical practitioner’s written statement, a prorated credit will be issued based upon the date the statement was received (requests after the fact eliminate Gymnastics Etc.’s opportunity to fill a vacated class spot).  Any Refunds for medical reasons will be processed within 14 days.

MAKE-UP POLICY
Your Session tuition pays for a class spot regardless of your attendance. As a courtesy, we are offering a Make-up night for missed classes. This is different from our past make-up policy. We will be offering 3 make-up Fridays within our Sessions 1-4 and we will offer 4 make-up Friday nights within our Sessions 5-9. All make-ups will be signed up for through your online portal family account. When registering for the make-up you will need to note in the note section the missed class date that you are making-up. You must notify, 12 hours IN ADVANCE, our front office of the absence/missing class to qualify that date for our make-up Fridays. You will schedule your make-up during the listed timeframe of the class that you had your absence. If you schedule a make-up, and you fail to attend that class without calling to cancel your make-up 24 hours in advance,  you forfeit the right to a make-up for that class.  Please honor the spirit of this privilege and use it only for illness, holidays, emergencies and snow days. 

Make-up Friday dates will be emailed out by Sept. 1st, using the email on your portal account, to all active clients. These dates will also be posted at the gym and on our website. 

Note:  IF someone is absolutely unable to make our Friday evening make-up dates, we can offer you a Free Open Gym Pass.

Refunds will not be issued for classes not attended in a session.

WHAT TO WEAR:
For GYMNASTICS related classes: Girls may wear a one piece leotard and Boys/Girls may wear non-baggy T-shirts and shorts, NO spaghetti strap shirts. NO clothing with buttons or zippers are allowed in class participation, for the safety of the athlete and our equipment. HAIR should be pulled neatly and securely away from the face so that is stays up for the entire workout. Girls should not wear bows or other large hair ornaments that may cause discomfort during activity. At Rising Stars Academy, we suggest our athletes participate barefoot, however tumbling shoes are optional. 

For CHEER related classes: they should wear fitted to semi-fitted athletic attire, such as shorts/pants and a t-shirt/tank top/sports bra, with clean tennis shoes.  Cheer bows are allowed and encouraged.

NO chewing gum or anything else in the athletes mouth. NO dangling jewelry (necklace, bracelets, earrings, rings). Only jewelry permitted in class is post/stud ear rings, anything larger or other jewelry will be told to remove and put in cubbies upstairs . Personal items should be left in cubby holes upstairs.  PLEASE LEAVE JEWELRY ARTICLES AT HOME. Rising Stars Academy’s staff will not be responsible for ANY items that may be lost or stolen. Be sure your student’s personal items are marked with their name for easier identification.

ARRIVAL AND PICKUP:
Be sure your student arrives 5 minutes before (no earlier please) his/her scheduled class time.

Class in the Big Gym: After entering the complex please head upstairs to place belongings in cubby & wait upstairs until class is called down over the intercom. Students then line up with class downstairs and head into the gym with their teachers.

Class in the Prechool Gym/Ninja Zone Gym: Athletes can head to their respective class gym and wait in the parents viewing area for their instructor to call them out onto the class area and begin class. No one should be out on the equipment or in the class area without permission from the instructor during class times.

Please be on time to class: it is a very important time to prepare the body and mind for workout, but even more so this is when the coach instills Class Control, establishes Safety Ground Rules and works on Building Trust with each student. These are all important in creating a fast, fun, and exciting learning environment. Being on time to class benefits all students and the teacher for a more focused and productive class.

Please pick up your student on time. Please inform us if you know you will be late picking up your student. Instruct your student to wait inside the building and you should escort them from the building to your car, Do not take a chance on your student running to and from your car. Our parking lot can get crowded, please drive slowly (No more than 15mph) remembering that many of our students are very little and young.

Parents to Remain Onsite:  Rising Stars Academy is NOT equipped to supervise children before or after classes. Parents or caregivers of children too young to supervise themselves are to stay ONSITE. Also if you have other children not attending classes and waiting upstairs, please supervise all of them in the playroom and waiting area – if they play with toys in the playroom, please have them clean up before leaving. Thank you for making safety a priority!

Restroom Policy:  All School Age Students may use the one of the restrooms in the entryway hallway or back in the preschool gym.  Parents of Pre-School students that need to use the restroom will be asked during class to escort their child to the hallway restrooms.

Water:  Rising Stars Academy has two water fountains in the entry hallway of the complex.  Our RSA students can bring a water bottle for their drink break. We also sell bottled water for $1.

Viewing Area: Please be respectful of all persons and space in the viewing area. If you are not actively watching the classes currently going on, please do not sit in the front window row. This row is reserved for those actively watching. We have tables set up for anyone needing a work space, please be mindful of the space you are using. We do offer Wi-Fi to our viewing area clients.

WEATHER CLOSINGS: 

From time to time Gymnastics Etc. must close due to the weather. There are various ways to check on our weather closings. PLEASE READ & REMEMBER!…

• Check our Rising Stars Academy Facebook or Instagram page, call our voicemail at 309.662.3330 or check your email. We will send an email to all current class clients who have an email on file (please make sure your email is up to date in our system).
• We do not always automatically follow School Closings, as we service a wide range of school districts, but we do however take them into consideration. We do our best not to close and these decisions are difficult to make at times. We must consider the safety of all our clients and our staff in these decisions and choose the best we see fit for all.
• Team Athletes – During questionable weather, we may or may not be closed when other classes are closed.  We will email all team athletes/parents as to whether team practices will run as scheduled or be cancelled.
• Please make your own driving decisions based on local conditions, your vehicle and your comfort level. Most of all, please stay safe in inclement weather and please allowextra time, extra spaceand be extra careful. If Rising Stars Academy cancels classes due to weather – we will provide a make-up class for you, this class is in addition to our make-up policy classes.  Please refer the Make-Up Policy