Ensemble & Music Class Face Mask Explanation

Hello Students & Parents:

The Music Academy has always followed North Carolina State COVID mandates for businesses in order to provide the safest music education environment.  With the recent elimination of the State’s mask mandate for businesses as well as the increase in COVID Delta variant cases, our faculty has been discussing ways to hold our ensembles and classes safely and successfully for the 2021 fall semester without interruption.  We have not been able to offer our ensembles and classes since the Spring of 2020 due to State COVID mandates and restrictions.

According to the Henderson County Health Department, if a masked student is diagnosed with COVID-19 in a classroom setting and other students who have been exposed are wearing masks, then these exposed students do not have to quarantine.  However, if these exposed students are not wearing masks, then they will have to quarantine according to Henderson County Health Department guidelines.

Due to this Heath Department policy, the Music Academy of WNC will require all students and faculty to wear a face mask in our ensemble rehearsals and music classes.  My fear is if we do not implement this policy then there will be a strong possibility our fall semester will be severely interrupted and, at worse, cancelled due to multiple quarantine incidences.  This will create major disappointments and complications for our faculty, students, and their family members and we want to avoid this if at all possible.

I appreciate your understanding with this policy.  We are trying to incorporate the best solutions to have a successful fall semester without having to cancel and create avoidable complications.   We will review this policy periodically during the fall semester as Heath Department guidelines change.  Please review our current COVID-19 guidelines in their entirety HERE and contact me directly with any questions or concerns.   We hope you are a part of our fall semester at the Music Academy of WNC.

Sincerely,
Michael Ridenour
Director
Music Academy of WNC, LLC