Carnegie Hall 2027: Chaperone Agreement

Ashley High School Bands · Carnegie Hall · March 23–26, 2027

Thank you for offering to chaperone. On this trip, chaperones are part of the staff. Please read this carefully.

There are 10 official chaperone places, and most are already filled. Asking to chaperone is a request: Mr. Parker chooses official chaperones based on the trip's needs, including the number of men and women needed. Until Mr. Parker confirms you, plan to travel with the band on your own (getting yourself to and from New York).

Once Mr. Parker confirms you, your place is set when you have (1) paid in full, (2) been approved as an NHCS Level 2 volunteer, and (3) signed this agreement.

1. Before the trip

NHCS Level 2 volunteer approval (required by NHCS for every chaperone):

1. Review the NHCS volunteer orientation: https://new.express.adobe.com/webpage/CEj1D2XoaFiIZ

2. Complete the annual volunteer assessment with 80% or higher: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScVWKaIoXTNFKd1ofLKnSmK0P9Y73Xivcdb156cuEM0AGbnyg/viewform?usp=sf_link

3. Submit the Level 2 background check ($22.50, good for three years): https://securevolunteer.com/NHC/home

The background check must come back approved by Thursday, December 10, 2026 or you can't travel as a chaperone. Start it now; it can take a few weeks. If the $22.50 fee is a hardship, contact Principal Perez (NHCS Policy 5015).

Be part of the program before we go. Come to the trip meetings (dates to come), know the itinerary, and get to know the students in your group.

Share your contact information. Your cell number goes to the directors, the other chaperones and the families in your group. You'll reach your students through the school-approved channel for the trip (planned: Microsoft Teams, pending Mr. Perez's approval). Under NHCS policy 4040/7310, chaperones count as staff and may not text, call, email or message a student one-to-one outside that channel, except in a real emergency.

Tell the directors about your own health needs that could affect the trip, privately.

2. Your students

Each chaperone is assigned a group of students, usually by hotel room: about two or three student rooms, 8 to 12 students.

For your group, you are responsible for:

• Information. Making sure they know the schedule, meeting times, what to wear and what to bring, every day.
• Hotel. Up and on time each morning; in their rooms and in bed at lights-out; room checks as the directors set them.
• Every move. Each time we move from one place to another (hotel, bus, meals, rehearsal, the performance, shows, sightseeing), your students are present, counted and ready to go. You report your count to a director before we leave.
• First contact. If one of your students needs something (medicine, a call home, feeling sick, a lost item, a problem with another student), you are the first person they come to. You handle it or bring it to a director. This keeps the directors free to run the trip, especially when the group splits up, such as for Broadway shows.
• Medicine. Chaperones do not give students any medicine, including over-the-counter items like Tylenol or allergy pills. Under NHCS policy 6125, only trained, authorized staff may give medicine, with the parent's and doctor's written forms. If a student needs medicine, you bring them to the staff member in charge of medicine. Students may carry only their own inhaler, EpiPen or diabetes supplies, when the school has approved it.
• Families. You may be the one contacting a family. Keep them informed through the directors' guidelines.

Group assignments may shift during the trip (for example, for Broadway shows). Be flexible.

3. On the trip, you are staff

• There is no free time or personal time during the trip. From departure to return, you are on duty.
• You follow the same expectations as an NHCS staff member: NHCS School Volunteers (policy 5015), Staff-Student Relations (4040/7310, which names volunteers as staff), School Safety (1510/4200/7270), employee dress and appearance standards (7340), and the Code of Student Conduct, which you help enforce. Be professional and dependable.
• Student information you're given (health, medicine, family contacts) is only for caring for your group on this trip. Keep it private and return or delete it when we're home.
• No alcohol, tobacco, nicotine, vaping, cannabis or other drugs at any time during the trip, including in your own room and during any down time. (Stricter than NHCS policies 5025 and 5026/7250, which already bar these around students and at school events.)
• No contact with students on personal social media.
• You stay with the group. No side trips, visitors or leaving the group without a director's OK.
• You're never alone in a room with a single student, and you don't enter student rooms except for room checks, and then with another adult present.
• No transporting students in a private vehicle or rideshare without a director's OK.
• If your own child is on the trip, you supervise your whole assigned group, not just your child, and your child follows the same rules as every student.
• Report any injury, illness, behavior problem or safety concern to a director right away.
• The directors' decisions on the trip are final. A chaperone who doesn't follow this agreement may be sent home at their own cost.

4. Cost

• $2,500 per person, in a double room. This covers everything the band gets: travel to and from New York with the group, hotel, meals, the performance and the itinerary. In New York we get around on foot, except the ferry to Ellis Island.
• You may pay in installments. Please be paid in full by Monday, November 23, 2026. You're added to the WorldStrides traveler list only once you've paid in full.
• Final deadline: Thursday, December 10, 2026. No one can be added after that.
• How to pay: check or cash to Ashley Band Boosters is preferred. Online payment through ashleybands.com is fine; you can add the PayPal fee so your full amount counts.
• Every payment is non-refundable. There is no refund protection on this trip. If you can't go, talk with Mr. Parker; any money already paid stays with the trip until he has talked with you. Once you're registered with WorldStrides, its cancellation fees apply to your place.

Signing

Once Mr. Parker confirms you as an official chaperone, he'll send you this agreement to sign. Questions? Contact Mr. Parker.