Faculty Hub

Your Season Setup Checklist

1. Read the 26/27 Faculty Handbook Start here, before anything else. It answers most of what you’d otherwise have to ask, and it’s the authoritative version of every policy on this page. Handbook →
2. Log into Jackrabbit Do this before your first teaching day, not on it. Confirm your login works and your assigned classes look right. Jackrabbit details →
3. Put the 509 Staff App on your phone staff-509collective.lovable.app — Golden Tickets, lesson plans, competitions and the staff guide in one place. Add it to your home screen and sign in with your faculty code, so it’s ready when a family asks you about classes in the lobby. Setup steps →
4. Review your schedule and flag conflicts Check every assigned class, time, and studio. Anything that doesn’t work — tell Billie now, while it’s still easy to fix.
5. Complete your DEEA training Coupon code 509DEEA. Submit your confirmation through the studio process. Training details →
6. Sign and return your paperwork Your position description and the agreements packet, e-signed and uploaded — plus I-9, W-4, direct deposit and your background check. None of it takes long; all of it has to be done before you teach. Paperwork →
7. Save your five contacts Elise, Erin, Billie, Libby and Lori — know which one to message before you need to. Who to ask →
8. Add the season dates to your calendar Faculty meetings are the 4th Sunday of every month, 10:00–11:30 AM at Lori’s house — set it as a repeating event. Add the three observation weeks when families come in to watch class: Oct 5–10, Jan 25–30, and Apr 12–17. Meeting details →
9. Plan your first two weeks Pull your curriculum and the lesson plan template. First impressions set the tone for the season. Lesson planning →

Your First Day

The checklist above is the paperwork. This is the day itself.

1. Arrive at least 10 minutes early Earlier on your first day. Ten minutes is the floor for a normal night; on day one you want time to find the room, meet whoever is at the desk, and get your music working before dancers arrive.
2. Check in at the front desk Say hello, say which class you have. They’ll point you to your studio and can help with anything you can’t find. This is also where you ask for a roster if Jackrabbit isn’t cooperating.
3. Learn the three rooms 509 has exactly three studios: Big Studio Downstairs, Small Studio Downstairs, and the Upstairs Studio. Your Jackrabbit schedule names which one you’re in.
4. Find the first aid kit and the emergency contacts Kit is at the front desk. Emergency contacts are at the desk and in each studio. Do this before you need it, not during.
5. Clock in Jackrabbit staff portal, every shift. You are paid hourly, so this is how you get paid correctly. Pay →
6. Take attendance in the first five minutes It’s the official record and it’s a safety process. If a dancer you expected isn’t there, tell the front desk right away — don’t wait for the end of class.
7. If you’re the last class in the room, close it down Sweep, stereo off, lights off, and lock the upstairs studio door. Closing the building is paid time, so clock out after, not before.

What Everyone Signs

Two documents each — your position description and the Faculty Agreements & Acknowledgment Packet. Company and competition faculty sign three.

• JD — Studio Faculty · every teaching faculty member
• JD — Company and Competition Faculty · company faculty, in addition to Studio Faculty
• JD — Assistant Instructor (Mentorship Tier) · high school assistants; a parent co-signs if you’re under 18
• JD — Substitute Faculty · everyone on the approved sub list
• Faculty Agreements & Acknowledgment Packet · everyone

Hard Rules — No Exceptions

• Aerobic before static stretching. Always. Cold muscles stretched hard is how dancers get hurt. Everyone runs the warm-up, including dancers arriving from a previous class.
• Only the instructor of record, or a Director-cleared spotter on the Spotter Clearance Roster, may spot a skill. Not a parent, not an older dancer, not a teammate, not a staff member who is “good at it.” If no cleared spotter is on the floor, the skill does not run. A clearance names specific skills — being cleared for back walkovers does not clear someone for a back tuck.
• Students do not spot students, and students do not catch students.
• No aggressive passive stretching. No sitting on backs. No partner over-splits. By anyone.
• Never comment on a dancer’s body — including praise. Comment on the work instead: the line, the effort, the correction taken.
• No simulated cut on a dancer under 10. Ever. Holds under any re-split, any combined session, any substitute.
• Two adults for any early-childhood bathroom trip. No child is taken to the bathroom by one adult.
• No rides without explicit parent consent and studio awareness.

Faculty Lesson Plan Template

Use the template to prepare intentional classes while leaving room for your teaching style and your dancers’ needs. Your class curriculum and skill ladder live in the faculty Drive folder alongside the template.

The seven fields, in order:

1. Objective — one sentence. What can they do at the end that they couldn’t at the start?
2. Pillar focus — circle one pillar and one lens.
3. Skills — the 1–3 named skills from your class skill map, laid out across the five segments, including a planned Stop & Correct.
4. Music notes — tracks, tempo, counts, any edits.
5. Take-home drill — one specific, safe, repeatable thing.
6. Differentiation — who needs a smaller progression, who needs the harder variation.
7. Reflection prompt — the “What’s coming up for me?” moment and where it lands.

Planning a month: open your class page, find the current unit in the season arc, and build four plans. The unit weeks are house language — Baseline → Strength → Power + coordination → Performance prep.

Substitution Requirements

1. Give at least two weeks’ notice for any planned absence Travel, weddings, conflicts, auditions — anything you can see coming needs two weeks. Illness and emergencies are exempt: call as soon as you know, and don’t worry about the window. Nobody is penalized for being sick.
2. Find your sub from the approved list Finding coverage is your first move. Approved subs have completed studio onboarding and required training, so they can walk into a room and teach to our standard.
3. Never use someone who isn’t on the approved list No exceptions — not a friend, not a former student, not a parent who used to dance. If you want someone added, ask leadership before you offer them a class. Approval is not a formality; it covers training, background screening, and studio policy.
4. Get a firm yes before you consider it covered “Probably” and “I think I can” are not coverage. Confirm in writing — a text is fine — so there’s no ambiguity on the day.
5. Enter your time off in the Jackrabbit staff portal — do this first Before you touch the Staff App. Log the dates as time off in the staff portal. That is what takes you off the schedule and keeps your hours and pay right — the Staff App does not do it for you.
6. Then submit your sub request in the Staff App In staff-509collective.lovable.app, with the class, the date and your sub’s name. That is the request — no separate email. Faculty still can’t enter a substitution directly in Jackrabbit, so please don’t spend twenty minutes trying; the desk enters it from your request, and every sub gets logged.
7. Hand off the class properly Send your sub what they need to teach the actual class, not a placeholder. See the handoff list below.
8. If you can’t find anyone, tell Billie — don’t go quiet This is the one that matters most. We lost a night of classes last season because a teacher couldn’t find a sub and nobody knew until it was too late. Never cancel a class yourself. Uncovered coverage is a studio problem to solve, and we have options you don’t.

Money Dates Families Will Ask You About

• Tuition posts on the 25th, drafts on the 1st. Billed over 9.5 months, September–June. June is a half charge because classes end June 11.
• Registration · $55 per dancer, once a year.
• Recital fee · $140, posted Nov 15.
• Costumes · $50–$200 per routine, posted Feb 15. A dancer in two performing classes needs two.
• One Full Season class works out to roughly $1,050–$1,200 for the year, all in.

Faculty Review Meetings — November & April

Separate from the clip reviews, and a real sit-down conversation rather than a note after class. Twice a season — November and April. Those two points are deliberate: November lands ahead of the winter re-enrollment push and April ahead of the spring churn, so what we talk about can still change the outcome instead of explaining it afterwards.

We look at four things together:

• Class retention — how many dancers who started your class are still in it, across the season and against your other classes.
• Drop rates, including what the exit surveys said — when a family leaves we ask why, and we’ll bring you what came back about your class.
• The classroom standards we set at 509 — the non-negotiables, the coaching standards, the class flow, lesson plans in on time.
• How you’re doing against them — specifically, with examples, both directions.

What we ask of you. Come having thought about your own classes, and bring the things you can’t fix alone — a room, a time slot, a dancer you’re worried about, a skill you want coaching on. This works best as a conversation about the class, not a verdict about you.

Observation Week Dates — 26/27

Observation Week Norms

These are the expectations for every observation class, in every studio. An observation class is a planned class — not a normal week with parents watching, and not a performance either. Families should leave thinking “that was fun, my dancer is learning, and this is worth it.”

The shape of the class

Early childhood runs a 10-minute showcase. Little ones don’t hold a 15-minute performance block, and a shorter, tighter showing that ends while they’re still enjoying it lands better with parents than one that falls apart in the last five minutes.

1. Come prepared — plan this class in advance Know exactly what you’re teaching, what you’re showing, and what you’re saying at the end. Winging an observation class is obvious from the seats, and it’s the one week families are forming an opinion about what they’re paying for.
2. Teach real training for the bulk of the class Run the 509 class flow. Correct the way you always do — kind, specific, actionable. Parents should see how their dancer is being taught, not just the polished result.
3. Plan something to showcase for the last 15 minutes A phrase they’ve built, a skill progression from the start of the unit to now, a game or challenge that shows off what they can do. Early childhood classes: 10 minutes. Make it fun. Momentum comes from a room that’s enjoying itself — and dancers who feel proud in front of their families come back next session.
4. Leave the final 5 minutes for families Thank them for coming, name what the class has accomplished this unit and where it’s headed, and hand out anything you have for them. Keep it warm and short — five minutes, not fifteen.
5. Tell your dancers the week before Nobody should be surprised by a room full of adults. Tell them what they’ll be showing, and rehearse it once so they walk in confident rather than nervous.
6. Plan for the room to be off Younger dancers get silly or shy when parents watch. Tighter structure, more familiar material, and a showcase piece they already know cold.

The Meeting Rhythm

This replaces the separate monthly huddle. Nobody makes a second trip, and the weekly obligation is a message rather than a meeting — which is the difference between something that survives February and something that doesn’t.

• The monthly hour · 4th Sunday, 11:30am–12:30pm, straight after the studio-wide faculty meeting. You’re already there and already in the room. This is the real conversation: tracker review, caseload concerns, routine readiness, extra rehearsals, judges critiques, logistics, tasks due before the next one.
• The weekly check-in · every Monday, under a minute, in the 509 Staff App under Competitions. The prompt fires at 7:00am: How’s your week? (All good / Needs attention / Blocked) · Anything the group should know? · Anything you need from Billie or Lori? The group text stays exactly where it is — that’s the human channel, and the app submission is just the record.

Studio Support & Leadership

Sending a question to the right person is the fastest way to get an answer — and it keeps things from bouncing between three people.