Dear Students and Parents,
Congratulations to all students for completing their first semester! Now it is time to relax and recharge!
Should we be allowed to open campus in January you will receive a video welcome and written explanation of the reopening plan in early January shortly before the reopen date. Please note that students who choose to return to campus when opened will have to obtain written parent permission as well as be cleared daily using our parent locker health application. Details of both of these systems will be included in the return to campus briefing materials.
Module 1 - Semester 2
Second semester will begin on Monday, January 11th. We will continue to follow our modular system through the end of the school year. This means that the first module of the new semester will run from January 11 - 22.
As we hope to be able to open campus in January, the first day of the module will be 100% asynchronous to allow faculty to attend orientation and prepare their classrooms. Synchronous lessons will resume as scheduled by the teacher within the published course rotation from January 12th onwards.
In Anticipation - Crew Meeting Movement
In anticipation of returning to campus, we will shift the weekly crew meeting/assembly meeting time to Wednesday morning (from Monday). This will allow all students to share the crew experience virtually while keeping the blocks as long as possible on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays when we plan to have students on campus.
Wellbeing Blocks Remain on Wednesdays
We will continue with our dedicated wellbeing activities on Wednesdays. These will fall every few weeks. To accommodate planning needs in January, wellbeing will begin in February with the tentative dates of session one being February 10, 17 and 24.
Return to Campus Planning and Technology Update - A Note from the Tech Office
AISC has partnered with educational software company ParentLocker to offer a way for us to monitor student and staff health and wellness before they come to campus, once that becomes possible.
In January you will receive an email with instructions on how to download the app and log in. We are hoping you can take a moment to do this and get familiar with the app -- it's very simple! -- so that our entire community is ready for reopening when that might occur.
More information on this can be found in Mr. Andrew Hoover's "Head's Notes" for Friday, Dec. 18.
A Note from the Health Office
Before attending classes on campus, we ask that the Health Office receive updated medical forms. These can be completed by a parent. All students will need this form completed and submitted. Additional forms are needed only for students that take prescribed medication during the day while on campus and for students that have allergies or asthma. These forms can be completed online. Just click the relevant links and complete the portions needed and then click the top green button to have it submitted. No need to email a copy, no printing needed either. Thank you.
Report Cards and Documentation Availability - Repeat Announcement
As a reminder, teachers will be marking final assessments and adding scores/comments to PowerSchool throughout the vacation and into January. We ask students to hold their questions about exam performance and/or final semester schools until school resumes on January 11th. Final scores are not due for teachers until January 18th to allow time for students to reflect on their performance and self-assess and for teachers to consider student input on academic achievement.
Report cards will be available at 4:00 pm on January 22nd and will be emailed home as a pdf that day. Students who would like a paper copy can contact the office on or after that date to make arrangements.
Families who may need report cards, transcripts or other documentation may also contact the office on January 22nd to make arrangements.
Hybrid Plans for Opening - Repeat Announcement
Pending governmental order, we are preparing to offer a hybrid program in January. Details of the program will be explained in an introductory video shortly before the official opening date but, for planning purposes, please make note of the following.
When schools are allowed to open, as per government regulations, we will only be able to have half of the students on campus at any one time. As such, we will split the high school student population into two groups: Mango and Blue. Students will last names beginning with A through K will be placed in the Mango group. Students will last names beginning with L through Z will be placed in the Blue group.
Students will be phased back onto campus by their color group and grade level. For example, we will begin with hosting Grade 12 Mango students with an orientation followed by virtual learning hosted on campus by grade/color cohort. Once all students have been phased back on campus, we will return to attending mixed grade level classes in hybrid mode.
Once fully in hybrid mode, students in the Mango group will attend classes on campus on Mondays and Tuesdays. Students in the Blue group will attend classes on campus on Thursdays and Fridays. All students will study virtually on Wednesdays in order to allow for everyone to enjoy Crew and Wellbeing blocks together as a cohort, to allow for cleaning to take place in high school classrooms between cohorts and to support teachers in having collaborative meetings on campus.
Please note that virtual learning will remain as an option for all students who choose not to return to campus. We are presently installing technology solutions to make the hybrid classroom experience effective, efficient and enjoyable for all - whether in person in the classroom or via zoom virtually.
Sincerely,
Joelle Basnight
High School Principal
