Child Safety Policy

Michael Karl Studio, LLC d/b/a MK Performing Arts teaches children and teenagers. Every student has the right to learn in a place where they are safe, listened to, and treated with respect. This policy applies to everyone who works with our students — employees, contract teachers, coaches, counselors, and volunteers — in the studio, on location, and online.

It applies whether or not a student is a minor, and it applies to anyone acting on our behalf at a rehearsal, camp, performance, or event.

The studio owner is the named safeguarding lead for MK Performing Arts and is responsible for this policy, for making sure staff are trained on it, and for handling any concern that is raised.

Any concern about a student's safety or about the conduct of anyone working with our students should go to the safeguarding lead at hello@mkperformingarts.com or (770) 615-6572. A concern can be raised by a student, a parent or guardian, a staff member, or anyone else.

No one will be penalised for raising a concern in good faith, including a staff member reporting about a colleague.

Under Georgia law, people who work for businesses providing education, training, supervision, coaching, or recreational programs to children are mandated reporters. That includes our teachers, coaches, counselors, and volunteers.

If any member of our staff has reasonable cause to believe a child has been abused or neglected, they must report it. Reporting is not optional, is not something to weigh up first, and is not satisfied by telling a colleague.

The process: tell the safeguarding lead immediately, and make the report to the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services or to law enforcement within the timeframe the law requires. Where there is any doubt about whether a report is required, the report is made. A staff member who cannot reach the safeguarding lead reports anyway — the legal duty sits with the individual who has the concern.

If a child is in immediate danger, call 911 first.

Most of what we teach is one to one. That is the nature of vocal and acting coaching, and it is also where the most care is needed.

In the studio, one-to-one lessons take place in rooms with a window or an open door, in a building where other adults are present. Parents and guardians are welcome to stay, and may observe a lesson at any time without arranging it in advance.

Staff do not arrange a one-to-one lesson at a private address or in a location outside our normal teaching venues.

Online lessons take place on the studio's own platform, from a room in the teacher's home or studio that is appropriate for teaching, with the teacher dressed as they would be in the studio.

For a student under 18, a parent or guardian is responsible for providing a suitable location and device, and should be at home and contactable for the duration of the lesson. Parents are welcome to be in the room.

Ordinary lessons are not recorded. Consultations are recorded and everyone is told before joining and must confirm the recording notice. No lesson is recorded without the agreement of everyone taking part, and a parent or guardian's authorization for a minor.

Communication with a student happens through studio channels — the MK Performing Arts platform, studio email, and studio phone numbers — so that there is a record and a parent can see it.

Staff do not message students on personal phone numbers, personal email, social media direct messages, or any app where messages disappear. Staff do not add students on personal social accounts.

For a student under 18, scheduling, billing, and any substantive conversation goes to the parent or guardian. A parent or guardian may ask to see any message sent to their child through our platform.

Tell us. Contact the safeguarding lead at hello@mkperformingarts.com or (770) 615-6572. You do not need to be certain, and you do not need evidence — bringing us a worry is exactly the right thing to do.

We will acknowledge what you have told us, take it seriously, keep it confidential so far as we can while acting on it, and tell you what happens next. Where the law requires a report to the authorities, we will make it, and we will not delay that in order to investigate internally first.

You can also contact the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services directly. You never need our permission to do so.

This policy is reviewed at least once a year and whenever our programs change in a way that affects it. The updated date at the top of this page shows the latest revision.