I have been trying to get a tumbling program started up at my studio for quite a while and I thought I had found a teacher to help head it finally as I have no experience in tumbling. I had hired her discussed pay - policies - what I needed from her, etc. Then she took the tax papers home and was going to make up a syllabus and then return to discuss class scheduling and show/costumes things like that.
The day she was supposed to return rolls around and she calls and tells me her husband is very sick and has been admitted into the hospital on life support, and they don't know if he will make it - she would call me back and let me know what was going on. This was 2 weeks ago and I have not heard from her. I feel terrible if her husband passed away and will give her the time she needs - but I do have parents asking about the programs schedule and I don't know what to tell them.
I have tried to call her - left a message expressing my concern, but didn't mention anything about the job. I'm wondering if I should try to call her again and ask about the job or if that would be in bad taste - as I don't know what ever happened since I have not heard from her or anything about her since the first call that he was in the hospital.
Another issue I'm having is wondering if this isn't fully the truth and is just a way to blow me off without telling me she's not interested. As the first time she had an interview she cancelled because her Father was in hospital - We did reschedule and between these two instances she arrived at the times she was asked to.
I'm just at a loss for what I should do. If her husband is still very ill or passed away I am willing to wait and give her the time she needs. But if she's just blowing me off I need to know so I can open the posistion to others again.

I had a similar issue once at my day job. The girl randomly called one day, said her uncle was very sick, she had to go out of state, blah blah blah. I was very sensitive to that, gave her time off, ect. Then we called and she wouldn't answer. EVERYONE called her and no answer. I was stuck in this whole, "what the heck happened? Is she ok?" mode. She never called and explained. She never returned. Her FRIEND mailed us her key. Heard later on that someone spotted her working elsewhere.

This situation sounds exactly like that. She is making something up. MAYBE something bad really did happen, but if it were as serious as she said and if she were being honest, she would have called and been upfront about what is going on. I've heard of similar things happening to friends. "My employee said she had to leave because her boyfriend was in a car accident......and then never came back!".

You can only respond based on what she told you. What if you wouldn't, and you were wrong?

Leave the teacher a message that you would like to hear from her within .... days plus if she does not respond within that time you will progress in a way that is the best for your studio.

Either cancel the tumbling classes or find a new teacher.

I agree with Lidwina. Contact her with a need to hear by date and then start looking for a new teacher. If it were real, she would have contacted you. It sounds like a bold-faced lie.

Start looking for a replacement.

I believe, even in her grief, if she really wanted the job she would have called back and let you know SOMETHING.

IF it's true, she's probably not in the best shape to kick off a program. You don't really want someone who is coping with such intensity to start a new program. Big black cloud.

My thought is that she is probably lying.

I can never understand people who say their closest family are critically ill/died/hospitalized. Just seems so odd.

There is a karate instructor at one of the places that I teach that is chronically late and sometimes doesn't even show up for class. He always calls to tell the front desk that his grandmother is sick/in the hospital/dead, etc. We joke wondering how many grandmothers he actually has, since he's killed off like 10 of them already.

If she is a pathological liar, her lies will know no bounds.

Either way, time to find a new teacher.

I'm curious too why people lie about someone close being sick, edge of death, etc. Why don't they just be honest and say they have had a change of heart and are no longer interested. My daughter ran a dance team at the local high school and one of the team members came to her to say that she had to drop out because her grandmother was in the hospital and the only time she was lucid/awake would be when team practice was. It wasn't the truth and my daughter didn't understand why the girl just didn't say she had lost interest in participating. People are weird.

Weird they are indeed.

If it were me, I would just go ahead and find a new instructor.

No matter what the "truth" is, it probably won't work out in your favor.
A)If she's lying, you don't want her.
B)If she's telling the truth and is truly dealing with a dying or dead husband, she really isn't concerned with her position with you - especially if it never really even started, and couldn't be expected to do a good job now.
C)If she's telling the truth and her husband has recovered BUT she hasn't contacted you, you can probably assume that she's irresponsible and you wouldn't want her.

Start beating the bushes for a new instructor.

This one is history, for whatever reason she didn't come back or contact you.

Get a no-compete contract and include that the syllabus is yours because you are paying for it to be created.

Just an update on the situation - So i called and left the woman a message saying if I didn't hear from her by last Saturday I would rescind my offer of employment and open the position again.
Friday her teenage daughter calls me and says her dad (the husband) is recovering and they think he'll be out of the hospital by next week and she has had her moms phone that whole week in case they needed to get a hold of her right away - but the mom has been spending every spare minute she has working on class plans and what not. So I say okay- I'll give this a shot but the mom has to call me today. The woman called me less then 10 minutes later and apologized up and down and said she could meet me right away to go over everything. I told her I would be in the studio by three and she needed to be in before my first class arrived (3:30). She said she'd be waiting at the door when I arrived. So time rolls around and she doesn't show up again! I am livid - 7:30 at night comes, everyone is gone for the night so I call and leave a message telling her just how upset I am she has chosen to disrespect my time like she has and that the position would be opened to someone else now. Needless to say I'm exhausted with the whole situation - I was really hoping to get this program running for my spring season, but qualifyed teachers are so hard to come by around here. I don't understand why she would apologize so greatly and insist she'll be right there with everything done and then not even a phone call... I just don't understand people...

What's worse is that her daughter seems to be subjected to the whole business.

That is truly a nutty story.

Move on with a new hire.

Just a fresh perspective-I was hired at a new studio in August-2 weeks later my daughter began suffering seizures. We were admitted to a major metropolitan hospital for 2 weeks while they ran tests, began medications, switched meds, changed dosages, and while I was concerned primarily for my daughter I also kept in touch with my SO every other day or so. As a new teacher I knew she didn't know me from Adam so I brought all of our paperwork to show her that this was indeed a serious situation, and she laughed at me and said that she never doubted me, and even after 2 weeks already knew my work ethic was impeccable. I guess my point is if this teacher were truly interested in the job she would make an effort to keep in touch even if it was a quick VM or email to say I need a week or so to see what is going to happen. I personally felt terrible about inconveniencing so many people in my studio-other teachers, my SO, parents and my students that to not keep in touch with them would have been a major inconsideration.
I know good teachers are hard to find, but be grateful that you got out of this one before she started. Sounds like a bad apple...