Family Handbook

The complete guide for Rainbow DJ Lab families, covering what to bring, arrival and pickup, behavior, health, weather, privacy, performing and withdrawing.

About this handbook

This handbook tells you how a Rainbow DJ Lab class works for your family, from the first day to the last. Each section is short, and links to the full policy if you want the details.

Status: Proposed. The Lab is not running yet. The Chicago Park District has not approved or permitted the program, no class dates are set, and no staff are hired. The safety and privacy policies were adopted by the Ras Tafari Inc. board on October 17, 2026. See the launch checklist.

Questions about anything here? Contact Stephen Henry, President of Ras Tafari Inc.: 872-255-9333 or stephen@selassiefest.com.

The Lab at a glance

Age groups

Every group learns the same core curriculum, adapted by age group and by the Mild, Medium and Spicy challenge levels.

What a session looks like

The 90-minute core of every class follows the same 9 blocks, so kids always know what comes next:

1. Drop In (0–7 min): arrive, check in, settle
2. Mission Card (7–12): today's goal
3. Watch Me Think (12–20): a coach mixes and talks through every decision out loud
4. Deck Time 1 (20–35): hands on the controller
5. Move Break (35–40)
6. Deck Time 2 (40–55): kids choose Mild, Medium or Spicy challenge
7. Wordplay Lab (55–70)
8. Spotlight (70–82): volunteers only play 60 seconds on the main speaker, and only with your performance consent
9. Check Out (82–90): self-rating and "Next time I'll…"

At each station, jobs rotate every 3 minutes 45 seconds: DJ, Co-pilot, Hype and Logger. Everyone gets turns.

There are no grades and no tests. Kids rate themselves with a traffic light (I got it / Getting there / Not yet), and mentors award Passport stamps for skills: 3 per Mission, so 42 in all. When a mix goes wrong, we call it "Data!": the DJ names one reason and tries again. More in your child's journey.

What to bring

• A refillable water bottle with your child's name on it. We take water breaks every block in warm weather.
• Any rescue medicine your child needs (epinephrine auto-injector or inhaler), handed to staff at check-in with the signed authorization. See Health below.
• Weather layers for outdoor summer sessions: a hat, and sunscreen applied at home.
• Your own headphones? Not needed. The Lab provides headphones with volume capped on every laptop. Free earplugs are available.

What not to bring

• Food to share. No food is shared between children without parent permission, because of allergies.
• Music files or USB drives from home. We use clean radio edits only, checked when crates are built.
• Valuables, toys or speakers. We can't be responsible for lost items.
• Alcohol, tobacco, vaping products or cannabis. No one, adult or child, may have them at any Lab activity.

What to wear

• Comfortable clothes your child can move in. Every session has a Move Break.
• Closed-toe shoes are best, since cables and stands are on the floor.
• In summer, sun-ready clothing and a hat for outdoor sessions.
• Nothing special is required. There is no uniform.

Food and drinks

• Water is welcome. Please send it in a bottle with a lid.
• Drinks and food stay away from the controllers and laptops.
• No food is shared without parent permission.
• Tell us about every allergy on the registration form (part of full registration after launch). We follow your child's Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Emergency Care Plan (the FARE form).

Phones and devices

• Kids do not need a phone or tablet to take part. All the gear is provided.
• The class uses an app at /dj-lab/live/ for the timer, station board, self-ratings and Passport stamps.
• In the room, kids use screens opened with a room code the coach issues for each class. It expires (after 4 hours by default), and the coach can end it any time.
• At home, you follow along with your private family link, emailed when your child is approved for a class. It shows only your own child. Families don't use a class code. If the link is lost or shared, the coach re-issues it.
• Without your digital-tracking consent, nothing your child does in the app is saved; they tell the coach their answers instead.
• Phones stay put away during class unless a coach asks kids to open the class app.
• No photos or videos of other children. Please help us by reminding your child. See photos and recordings.

Arrival and drop-off

1. Arrive a few minutes before Drop In starts.
2. A parent or guardian signs each child in with staff. Children don't sign themselves in.
3. Hand over any rescue medicine and tell staff about anything new (a cough, a bad night, a change in who's picking up).
4. Little DJs (5–7): your child's grown-up stays for the whole session.
5. Junior DJs (8–11): you may leave once your child is signed in, as long as we have your signed authorized-pickup list.

Pickup and sign-out

• Children are released only to adults on the authorized-pickup list, after a photo ID check. Every release is recorded in the Lab's sign-out log, with the time and who checked the ID. The app won't record a release to anyone who isn't on the list. You get an email every time your child is signed out.
• Please bring your ID every time, even when staff know you.
• Children aged 8–11 are never released to walk home alone unless a parent or guardian has given written permission in advance.
• To change your pickup list, contact Stephen Henry in writing (email is fine) before the session. A phone call at pickup is not enough to add a new adult.
• We do not release a child to an adult who appears impaired. Staff will call another authorized adult. If the child is in danger, staff call 911 and make a DCFS hotline report as required.
• If you're running late, call 872-255-9333. Two screened adults stay with your child until an authorized adult arrives.

Full details: safety policies.

How we communicate

During a session, see reaching us during a session. You're welcome to watch any class: see the open-door policy.

Behavior and respect

Our classroom promises are simple: respect the gear, respect each other, take turns, and try again after a mistake.

How we respond when a child struggles:

1. Reminder
2. Redirect to a different job or task
3. Cool-down space with an adult in view
4. Parent call
5. Pause from the program

Safety violations go straight to a parent call.

We never use physical punishment or shaming, and we never withhold food, water or restroom access.

Spotlight is volunteers only. Coaches never call on a child who didn't sign up to play, and the app won't put a child in the Spotlight without your performance consent.

Safety summary

• Two adults, always. At least two screened adults (cleared by the Chicago Park District's background check) are present with children at all times. No adult is ever alone with a child out of sight. Any one-on-one moment must be observable and interruptible.
• Ratio: no more than 6 children per screened adult.
• Screening before the first class: a Chicago Park District background check, run by the Park District under its own rules, for every adult who works with children (and for sound and stage crew on site); references; youth-protection training.
• Mandated reporters: every staff member and volunteer completes Illinois DCFS mandated reporter training.
• First aid: at least one adult per class holds current pediatric first aid/CPR/AED certification.
• Restrooms: kids go in pairs, and an adult waits at the restroom entrance. Staff never enter a stall area with a child. Little DJs go with their own grown-up.
• Lost child: a Code Adam–style plan. We alert the whole team, cover the exits, search, and call 911 if the child isn't found within 10 minutes. We call you at once.
• Hearing: capped headphone volume, free earplugs, a main speaker checked with a sound meter, and kids kept out of the zone in front of the speakers. The Lab's safety lead has final say over the main-speaker volume.
• Sound crew: Q-Ality Sound provides sound, stage and lighting only. Its staff never supervise children, never have unsupervised contact with them, get no family data and take no photos or recordings.

None of this is in place yet. Screening, training and first-aid certification are all launch requirements.

A worry about any adult goes to the Chicago Park District: the Rainbow Beach Park office, (312) 745-1479, or any Park District staff member. Suspected abuse: DCFS Hotline, 1-800-25-ABUSE. Danger: 911.

To raise any other worry: report a concern. To make a formal complaint: grievance procedure.

Health

• Keep your child home with a fever of 100.4°F or higher. They can come back once they've been fever-free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medicine and their symptoms are improving.
• Vomiting or diarrhea: stay home until 24 hours symptom-free.
• Medication comes in its original pharmacy container with a signed authorization and is kept locked. Rescue medicine (epinephrine auto-injector or inhaler) stays within reach of the trained adult.
• Epinephrine is used according to your child's plan, and we call 911 every time it's used.
• Tell us about allergies, health needs and accommodations on the registration form. That information is seen by coaches only. See privacy.

Full details: illness and communicable disease.

Weather

• Lightning: "When thunder roars, go indoors." The group stays indoors until 30 minutes after the last thunder.
• Heat: water breaks every block, shade, and an indoor fallback when the heat index is high. Class is cancelled if the National Weather Service issues an Extreme Heat Warning, or if a Heat Advisory makes outdoor class unsafe.

How we tell you about a cancellation: weather and cancellation.

Privacy summary

• Your private family link shows only your own child. It never shows other children. If it's lost or shared, the coach re-issues it.
• In-room screens use a room code the coach issues for each class, which expires. They show each child's first name and last initial, station, job, check-in time and in-class activity, never coach notes or private details.
• Your contact details, emergency contacts, medical and allergy notes, pickup list and consents are coach-only. They're stored privately and never sent to a family link or an in-room screen.
• Your consents are enforced by the app: no in-class activity is saved without digital-tracking consent, and no Spotlight without performance consent.
• No ads, no tracking pixels, no selling or sharing data, no photos or video in the app, no biometrics, no location tracking.
• For children under 13, we collect limited information only with your verifiable consent at registration. You can review, correct or delete your child's information, or withdraw consent, at any time.

Full details: data privacy statement and your data rights.

Photos and recordings

• The class app holds no photos or video.
• On listen-back Missions (6, 10 and 13), each kid records 2 minutes of their mix and reviews it with a mentor. Recordings are deleted after the review unless your family asks for a copy.
• Any photos for outside use need your separate media consent, and we never put names with images.

Details: photos and recordings.

Performing

• Spotlight in class is always voluntary, and needs your performance consent.
• The Rainbow Showcase is for families. You're invited.
• Graduates get an Open Decks slot at Rainbow Wednesdays, the free summer DJ series. Rainbow Wednesdays is also proposed, so this applies when the series runs.
• Graduation uses published criteria: attendance at a published number of sessions and a published number of skill checks, recorded as met or not met. The numbers will be published before the first class, and no one can waive them.
• After that, the path continues: Open Decks → Youth Showcase open call → Theme Clash semifinals and Finale.
• SelassieFest, which Ras Tafari Inc. produces, makes its own decisions about its lineup. Lab performers reach it only by event audience vote, counted by someone with no interest in the result, and only with your written consent.

Details: performing.

Withdrawing from the Lab

You can withdraw your child at any time, for any reason. There's no cost and no penalty.

1. Tell Stephen Henry by phone or email.
2. Your child's name comes off the class roster and the in-room station board.
3. Tell us if you'd like to keep a copy of your child's Passport.
4. You can ask us to delete your child's information. See retention and deletion for what we must keep for safety and insurance purposes and for how long.

We'd also value a few words about why you're leaving, if you're willing. See feedback.

Emergency numbers