The question about how school happens for these entertainment kids when they are working on a show keeps cropping up. I am not a teacher but am more than happy to share my understanding of how school is handled in a few different scenarios and also how our experience has been while on tour.
There are a few different scenarios that effect how school is managed. 1) Your child is and will continue to be home schooled. God Bless you! I truly admire parents who have the patience and organizational skills to offer this to their child. Not to mention the actual skill to teach all of those subjects. 2) Your child is in rehearsal for a show, either for a touring show or for a show “sitting down” somewhere. 3) Your child is performing in a show and currently touring or 4) Your child is performing in a show “sitting down” somewhere i.e./ Not changing location like the shows that are playing on Broadway.
If you already home school your child you have the best case scenario in terms of setting up school when embarking on this adventure. You won’t need to change anything. You already have your system in place and presumably know all the requirements for school aged children in your state of residence. If you decide you are going to begin homeschooling your child as you begin this adventure I would strongly suggest that you do your research on the requirements for schools aged children in your state of residence. You’re going to want to know minimally how many of hours of school / week are required, how school work and progress is required to be documented i.e./ a portfolio, regular assessments, etc.., and any annual standardized testing that may be required. I suggest you find someone in your community who home schools and is passionate about it as they will be your best resource. I know that in many ways Zack would benefit from home schooling but it is one gift I have not yet been able to give him. More power to you! Parents who home school have my complete admiration!
From this point on we will be referring to children who are not home schooled. When rehearsing for an equity show, school or tutoring is typically arranged by the company. They will provide the teachers, the schedule and cover the cost. This may not necessarily be true of a non equity production and is absolutely one of the points I would want to have clearly laid out for me in a contract before my child were to sign with a non equity show. The rehearsal schedule will typically require kids to be present at rehearsal during regular school hours. This would make it impossible for a child to attend his/her regular school during the rehearsal period. Zack has done non- equity professional shows local to us during the school year. The company worked with us to make sure that his call times for rehearsal were after school throughout the rehearsal period. When the show moved to tech we were fortunate to be in a school system that was willing to accommodate him missing a few days of school to afford him the experience. This made for some very long days for Zack but he never complained, maintained his grades, and for the short run of these shows it was manageable. The equity shows we know of both through our own experience, and those of our friends, work with an education company that provides tutors to the show. The company researches to make sure the children are in compliance with the regulations in their state of residence. The company we are most familiar with is On Location Education. Their tutors on site are excellent and their office staff are right on top of everything and worked with our school system to offer Zack the most seamless transition possible to school on tour. They are even aware of when our school system has vacation days and gives Zack those same days off from tutoring.
For the most part our school system was willing to share an outline of the curriculum that Zack would have been covering if he were to have remained in school at home. They even loaned him the text books he would need. This is a great scenario and is not always the case. Some kids we are touring with did not get that level of support from home and have worked with On Location Education to find a curriculum that would work best for the child while meeting the requirements for regulations in their state of residence.
Once rehearsal period is over and your child starts performing whether or not the company continues to provide the tutoring necessary for school will depend on if your child is touring or performing in a show that is staying in one place. Typically a touring show has a staff of tutors, ours has 2, that will travel with the company and provide school. The company is very respectful of the regulations regarding the education of the children in the cast and school is given priority. The children are allowed to “bank” a small number of school hours that they may perform in a slower week that will ensure they are not missing required time in the case of illness. The company continues to support school financially, you are not responsible.
In the case of a “sit down” show, one that is not moving, Broadway for example, the company is no longer responsible for providing the education piece to your child. There are plenty of schools in NYC that can offer your child an education so it is then up to the parents to decide if you will enroll your child in a local school, find an online or “virtual” school for him/her, or transition to home schooling. We have friends working in each of these scenarios and after a period of adjustment they are happy with the choice that they made. I personally questioned the ability of a child to perform on Broadway and still attend a regular school offering “regular” school hours. After speaking with one particular friend who had a son who did this for a fairly long period of time I was relieved to hear that for the right child in the right school this is a totally viable option.
So that’s what I know about school in a nutshell. I hope it helps those of you who had that on your list of questions as you consider embarking on this adventure. If you have any specific questions please ask them! If I don’t know the answer there are enough regular readers here that there is sure to be someone else who may have an answer and we can all learn something from the answer.
Until next time…..