Dear
Parents,
As you
know, classes were cancelled yesterday to make sure that our students were not
put at undue risk when travelling to and from school. It came as a surprise
that (perhaps unsurprisingly) was well received by many of our students and
faculty. Those of us who have lived in northern climes are familiar with the
phenomenon of the “snow day”, whereby school is closed when roads are blocked
by snow. While there is a price to pay – shoveling snow or making up for missed
classes – the unexpected release from the routine of school and work is hard
not to enjoy. Still, it was good to have everyone back today and get back to
the routine.
Drug
Abuse Prevention Specialist on campus – Mr. David Sherrell from FCD met with students in the
9th and 11th grades this week to help them understand the
risks involved in the used of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. The core
message that FCD promotes is helping students make healthy choices based on
accurate information about the effects of drug use. You can learn more about
FCD and about prevention of drug use by teens at the following website.
There is
some good news: in his talks with the students, Mr. Sherrell found that we
have, by and large, very healthy attitudes among our students. There is some
experimentation taking place and there are some students who are making unwise
choices, which we knew from the survey conducted in March. In the coming weeks
and months I will be working with Mrs. Callaway and our teachers to develop comprehensive
drug abuse prevention strategies. Our goal in doing this will be to prevent
initial experimentation with drugs, to protect and support those students who
“choose not to use,” and to respond appropriately to students who are using
drugs. We will also begin educating our students on the impact of drug use on
their physical and psychological well-being.
To be
effective, this must be a collaborative effort on the part of the school
faculty, the students and you, the parents. Unfortunately, due to the school
closure yesterday we could not hold the Parent Seminar with Mr. Sherrell. At
the High School Parent Coffee on
Wednesday, September 26 at 8:45 a.m. I will share the information that Mr.
Sherrell had planned to present. I hope you will be able to join us.
Week Without Walls - This week we will have our last Week Without Walls meetings
with the students. It is somehow hard to imagine that we’re just two weeks away
from the adventure of exploring India as a high school. We’re ready to go, with
just the final details to wrap up. The itineraries for all of the trips as well
as a schedule of departure and return times can be viewed at High School Week
Without Walls. Because this is posted as a Moodle page, you will need to
log in to get access. Information on logging in to the Moodle pages can be
found at Moodle Information.You
can find answers to Frequently Asked Questions at WWoW Frequently Asked Questions.
Peace Flags – Today is the International Day of Peace. To
mark the occasion, this year we are encouraging families, as well as student
groups, advisories, and homerooms, to design a peace flag. Unlike last year, we are
starting to display flags on Peace Day (Friday) but collecting them through October
15, so they can all be displayed for UN Day. We are also again collecting
student or staff writing or artwork about peace, which will also be displayed
for UN Day near the PAC and published on the Roots and Shoots blog, soon to be
attached to the school website.
UN Flag Procession - United Nations Day is Wednesday, October 24th.
AISC marks this day with a number of celebrations of Peace and Diversity – a
Flag Procession, assemblies, and a parent organized International Pavilion.
There will be more communication regarding these celebrations in the weeks to
come.
This year for the
first time, the flag procession will include all students with
flags from the nations represented by AISC’s student body. We are in the
process of making sure that we have all the flags we need for our procession.
We have records of the nationalities of all AISC families. Sometimes students
see their cultural background as more significant than their nationality. For
example, in the past we had a parent who was Lithuanian, but her children held
U.S. passports. Thus we added the flag of Lithuania to the
procession. High school students will inform their homeroom teachers of
their preference next week.
Upcoming Events – We have a
very active few weeks ahead of us. The SAISA athletics tournaments will be
taking place over the weekend of October 5-7, with the Boys’ Volleyball team in
Dhaka, the Girls’ Volleyball team in Kathmandu and the swim meet here at AISC.
Housing for SAISA
tournaments is an established tradition that lowers the costs for the
travelling athletes but more importantly provides opportunities for our
students to get to know students from other American international schools. This
year we will need housing for about 130 swimmers from other schools. If you can
help out, please let our Athletics Director, Mrs. Elizabeth Davenport, know as
soon as possible.
Have a safe and relaxing
weekend.
John McCandless
High School Principal
