7 Documents You Should Get Your Members to eSign

Being part of a K12 fine arts education program is one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had as a parent (and hopefully will again as a grandparent!). I’ve felt the pride in seeing my children’s first solo/ensemble performance and the excitement of helping plan and chaperone their first big travel competition. But unfortunately, I’ve experienced the frustration (and the tears!) when the required paperwork administration doesn’t go according to plan.

With each passing year, the level of documentation that students, and their parents and guardians are required to review and sign (much less fully understand) grows exponentially. Why? Well, more and more states are passing stricter legislation to increase levels of informed consent for any activity or communication involving a minor child. And participation in a music or dance, or theater program is no exception.

Fine arts programs today entail as much or more physical, mental, financial, and legal obligations as any athletics. Thus, all arts organizations need to ensure program conditions and obligations are transparently communicated, understood, and accepted by their members at the beginning of the season as well as at certain points during the program year. As an Educator or Booster Leader, knowing exactly what to sign when may be more obvious for some things and less so for others. Let me share my views on seven key documents that you should strongly consider getting your program members to eSign:

1. Program Handbook

Whether short or long, this document is the lifeblood of who you are, what you do, and how and why you do it. Starting with expectations for student behavior in the classroom, at a concert, game, or field study activity or transportation to and from an activity to basics about the program, skill levels, materials supplied and not supplied by the program. Good handbooks cover what fees are and how they are applied to the activities and materials, plus explain how members should communicate with the program director and if applicable, booster and other program volunteers about unplanned absences or tardiness, or misplaced/lost items. Great handbooks include a calendar of events mapping out competitions such as All County, All State and what each of these means for the student, the program, and the larger school community. Academically, members should also be informed how their grades are calculated and if there are opportunities to do ‘makeup’ assignments or earn academic or financial credits through fundraising activities.

2. Permission Slips

These are a staple of K12 activities! And for very good reason. Your school district will likely have an ‘All in One’ generic slip that outlines authorization for multiple items such as a media release and basic transportation to and from the school for program activities within a certain distance / time range. This ‘mega’ permission slip is usually distributed and signed at the recruitment or orientation meetings. That’s easy. But then the program year gets under way and you will find that you need to issue individual permission slips for specified purposes.

You might need a variety of specific slips for certain educational content you’ve selected for a class or a field study. One example of this is when a program that plans a field trip to go see a production, which may be considered ‘adult content’. Or say, another program is planning to use a snippet of a musical piece that might be controversial. Or, the specific activities that are listed in the big trip itinerary. Travel is a very important permission slip to get right! You should disclose the method of transportation to and from the activities (e.g. subway in New York), travel in groups of certain amounts, the number of persons and gender assigned to a particular room.

Always better to have written permission when in doubt. Even though to you something may feel like ‘common sense’, trust me, that’s when the permission slip is most needed. Make sure you follow guidelines of your district’s county office and see what forms they actually require to avoid any unnecessary and uncomfortable surprises.

Luis’ Special Advice for Parents and Guardians:

Yes, I know how it feels to get inundated with slips from every which way at the beginning of the school year! Make sure you KNOW what each permission slip is covering BEFORE you sign it. Proactively ask your child what permission slips are due so you’re not surprised when they come to you at 7am to get something signed while you are trying to get out the door. Good news! CutTime can help improve your visibility to what sign offs are needed. When you log into your portal page from your Magic Link, you’ll be able to see all of the documents waiting to be signed. Tap on each one to view, read, and sign with just a tap. AND you can view previously signed documents if you need a refresher at any point in the year. P.S. Anytime you are able to go on a trip and chaperone is a FANTASTIC opportunity to gain more appreciation for the cultural and personal life skill development that comes from having your child participating in the program

3. Rental Agreements

Highly recommended for both rented musical instruments and attire such as uniforms and concert formal wear! These agreement documents are intended to create personal accountability for your program’s valuable inventory assets with both your student and their guardians. Depending on your program’s financial structuring, rental fees may be included already in the overall program fee that has been paid at the start of the program year. However, your Rental Agreement should spell out certain expectations for handling the inventory item while it is being rented. With Attire items, you’ll want to clearly state what the total replacement cost as well as incidental cost for each component of the uniform or formal wear and the cleaning fee. An example: a Concert Dress replacement cost is $70 and the cleaning fee is $30. In the case of a Tuxedo, you’ll need to itemize all of the garment and accessory part costs. The same philosophy applies to any musical instrument that you rent and assign.

CutTime has a built-in Rental Agreement template that can be edited by the Program Administrator. When a ‘rented’ musical instrument is assigned, the program administrator can trigger a notification with a request for eSignature to the student and/or guardian. Like other eSignature documents in CutTime, students and guardians can easily view their signed agreements from their portal pages anytime they need to reference it.

4. Participant ‘Passenger’ Trip Agreement

Another critical document to ensure everyone’s understanding and peace of mind! This agreement should outline what the ‘Trip Fees’ include (air, bus, lodging, meals, show tickets, etc.) and what they do not include such as souvenirs and food and beverage extras. Other important content to cover in your agreement:

• Itinerary Guidelines - how to handle unexpected situations and disruptions when something doesn’t go as planned. Being flexible, while still adhering to the itinerary objectives and scope.
• Behavior and Communication Expectations - staying together at all times, responding to text and phone calls from your Trip Leaders and Chaperones are fundamental. No wandering off to explore a shop or go see something that is not part of the itinerary. How to handle disagreements and conflicts when they arise.
• Safety and Crisis Guidelines - what your student should do if a crisis happens such as travel disruption, accident, or illness/anxiety emergency while on the trip. It should also explain guidelines for what to do if they get unexpectedly separated from the group or if one of their personal belongings or program property becomes lost or potentially stolen.

My program directors always reviewed these guidelines with my kids before and after they eSigned to ensure they fully understood what each of them meant.

5. Participant ‘Chaperone’ Trip Agreement

My personal favorite! Similar to the ‘Passenger’ version, this agreement should outline what the ‘Trip Fees’ include (air, bus, lodging, meals, show tickets, etc.) and what they do not include such as souvenirs and food and beverage extras. Other important content to cover in the ‘Chaperone’ version on top of the ‘Passenger’ trip agreement:

• Behavior and Communication Expectations - staying together at all times, responding to text and phone calls from your Trip Leaders and Passengers are fundamental. NO drinking alcoholic beverages, smoking, or vaping AT ANY TIME while on the trip (only positive, healthy behaviors should be modeled to students). Make sure you highlight this stipulation in BIG BOLD letters with highlighting and call it out specifically.
• Safety and Crisis Guidelines - what your student should do if a crisis happens such as travel disruption, accident, or illness/anxiety emergency while on the trip. It should also explain guidelines for what to do if they OR THEIR passengers get unexpectedly separated from the group or if one of their OR THEIR passenger’s personal belongings or program property becomes lost or potentially stolen.

And yes, my program directors always reviewed these guidelines with me and the other Chaperones before and after we eSigned to ensure that we fully understood what each of them meant. Trust me, repetition is a very good thing when it comes to things like this.

6. Program Fees Agreement

My not-as favorite, but still very important document to review and get signed acceptance by your members is one that covers your program’s fees and payment schedule. With so many different fees coming at parents from their schools, it's super easy to mix up what each fee covers and when and how you pay it.

Some of this financial content may also be covered in your Program Handbook. I personally believe having an additional standalone fee agreement is a really great best practice because it allows you to call out why each of the fees are necessary for the Band, Choir, Dance, Guitar, Musical Theatre, Theater, Drill Team, Guard, etc. I’ve found that it’s also very helpful to include the program’s budget so the students and guardians transparently understand what everyone is paying, what it covers, and the remaining aspects that require fundraising in order for the program to be successful.

7. Casting Agreement

Perhaps this is where fine arts programs diverge a bit from the typical athletic or civic program in that we ‘cast’ our members for specific roles in shows that have very detailed responsibilities. Making sure the student and their parent or guardian understand exactly what they are ‘signing up for’ is crucial to every performance and competition. You don’t typically need to sign a form to be a forward, halfback, or goalie. In the fine arts education world, we need members to acknowledge and accept their responsibilities to:

• Learn music, script and choreography involved with their assigned role,
• Attend certain rehearsals, on time and be prepared accordingly,
• Understand the consequences of missing certain rehearsals and that they can be replaced by another program member at the discretion of the show director, and
• Adhere to the physical requirements such as lifting a sousaphone or bass drum, sporting a certain hairstyle such as a buzzcut / dye job, being a ‘flier’ that is being hoisted up off the ground by other program members for a certain amount of time at a certain height during a dance or guard show, handling special equipment/props for effects like smoke and lighting, or jumping and running to and from an elevated stage

I’ve seen what happens when these expectations are not clearly communicated and acknowledged by parents and guardians. Avoid nasty surprises that can wreak havoc on your show and everyone’s well being. Do yourself and your students a huge favor by taking time to prepare and execute a casting agreement with every individual.

Going digital with eSignature is an awesome solution to the “I Forgot to Sign / Bring My Signed Slip’ nightmare that inevitably happens each season. I’ve seen students in the past forget a critical form and wind up in tears because their parents were unfortunately unable to leave their workplace to sign the physical form and bring it to the school or departure place.

Knowing what needs to be documented and signed is only half the battle. You also need a reliable method to request and receive signatures that is trackable. Sadly, many people still try to maintain their documentation through traditional paper & ink signatures and spreadsheets. But in our ever increasingly fast paced modern world, this approach quickly falls short and further exposes your program to legal liabilities, not to mention broken hearted students and very frustrated parents. Picture this: it’s Big Trip Day and you are starting to check off who has signed the necessary paperwork as students are loading onto the bus. Imagine how much easier it will be for you to open your CutTime account on your mobile phone and see in one view the Passenger Trip Agreement signature status for all of your program members. Oh no, someone forgot to sign their form! Hold off the crocodile tears! You can instantly send them an urgent reminder notification to eSign the agreement via their Magic Link that they can instantly tap to sign without missing a beat. Mom, Dad doesn’t have to have their work day interrupted and the student gets to participate! YOU get to avoid a blow up and enjoy your trip :)

Bottom line, when in doubt make sure you adhere to your school district or state and local guidelines for compliance and consent paperwork. Go digital to avoid the dread of messy paperwork, hours of wasted filing, constant chasing for signatures, or “I forgot’ nightmares. You’ve got teaching and advocating to do!