Dear Students and Parents,
Congratulations to all families and students for the first full week of school virtually! We’re getting back into the groove of school, and we have much to look forward to.
You can read all about the courses your children are taking in the HS Master Syllabus list linked here.
Congratulations to the students in grades 9-12 who were recognized for their outstanding work completing the challenges in Orientation Bingo. Many students connected, re-connected and had fun in the effort. Special recognition and a prize go to:
12th grade: Sam, Hyeonguk and Louisa
11th grade: Shapur, Arsh, Daeun and Seohyun Kang
10th grade: Karan, Jio, Doyeun
9th grade: Seunghyeon, Maya, Yewon
Save the Date- Virtual Back to School Night
Our annual Back to School Night takes place Thursday, August 26th. Parents will have the opportunity to attend video conferences in order to meet their children’s teachers. The afternoon will kick off at 4:00 pm with a brief welcome and, then, parents will follow a short-form “day in the life” of their student - don’t worry, you won’t get lost! The schedule for the evening along with all video conference links can be found here. Links will be live on the day of the event.
In Case You Missed It - Organizational Option
At the Orientation bootcamps and during a number of Crew sessions a version of this organizational template was shared with students. This is one possible conversation starter with your student about organization during virtual school.
Module Attendance begins
Students will be marked for attendance in Week 1 of Module 1 (August 9-13) by 4:00 pm on Monday, August 16th. If your student completed all required elements of their modules in Week 1, they will receive no attendance marks. So, no news is good news. If your student did not complete a required module element, your student will be marked “IE” (Insufficient Evidence” in PowerSchool you and your student will receive an email from the HS office alerting you to this. Students have until the end of the Module (August 20) to make sure to attend to that requirement. IE is intended to be an alert and has no consequences. Students with IE in several classes may be contacted by their counselor for a check in. The full virtual/hybrid attendance policy is here.
Covid Testing, Vaccinations and Entering Campus
As we look ahead to a return to campus for HS students, Mr. Ryan McFarland, our Director of Student Life and Raptor Safe coordinator, has shared information to prepare the community and HS students and families. Mr. McFarland’s full Student Life communication is always found in the weekly Head of School blog, also shared in the email that shares this HS Principal’s blog. As this information is especially timely for HS students and families, I’ve linked it here.
HS Return to Campus
As you likely know, the Tamil Nadu government has announced that grades 9-12 are permitted to return to hybrid school starting on September 1, 2021. As Mr. Hoover has shared, we are ready to have students return to campus safely and we will do so in a phased manner.
We do not yet have the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that will give us the information we need to share the details of the return to campus. I will have those details for you in next week’s HS Principal’s blog.
What I can share with you is that as part of our phased return to campus:
Grade level groups of students will begin their Raptor Safe orientation to campus on Wednesday, September 1st.
By Monday, September 6th, all students intending to return to campus will be Raptor Safe oriented and we will be prepared to begin hybrid learning.
Details on the phased return and Raptor Safe orientation plan, and the specifics of hybrid learning will be shared in next week’s HS Principal’s blog, Friday, August 20th. We will have an understanding about whether high school will start hybrid learning in 50% cohorts (Mango and Blue) or all together as a single cohort at that time. We will have return to campus parent information sessions to support your understanding of these details during the week of August 23-27.
Family Use of the AISC Libraries
AISC families are now able to request books every week from our libraries using this Google form. Books can be ordered through the form from Friday until Monday at 3:30pm and can be picked up curbside at the ES entrance on Wednesdays between 8:30am - 4:00pm. Bags with the child's name clearly marked on the front will be located inside the white cubbies. Patrons are invited to take the bag that belongs to them without touching any other materials.
In addition, a book drop is positioned curbside at the ES entrance, as well as the main entrance, for returned books. We encourage families to return the books after two weeks, although if a specific title is needed for a longer period, please contact Babs to implement an extension.
Library staff will practice all health and safety protocols while gathering your books. Upon return, books and the canvas bags that are distributed will be sanitized.
We encourage families to check the ES library catalog or the HS library catalog before requesting specific titles to ensure that they are available. Please let Babs know on bbarbara@aischennai.org know if you have any questions.
Student Handbook - Review and Signature Pages - Repeat Announcement
The High School Handbook is an important document for all families to reference. You can view a copy of the handbook on our website.
Kindly take some time to review the handbook. We ask that all students and parents sign the final page of the handbook acknowledging an understanding of the contents of the Handbook. This year you can sign the page virtually by clicking here. Please complete your review and submit the signature page by Friday, August 20th.
New Families - Save the Date - First Parent Coffee - SBAR - Repeat Announcemnt
Our first high school virtual parent coffee will take place on Tuesday, August 31st, from 8:45 - 9:45 am. This coffee is aimed to get parents new to high school up to speed on our Standards-Based Assessment and Reporting (SBAR) system. While returning parents in grades 10 - 12 are welcome to attend, please note that no new information will be shared.
Sincerely,
Mike Malone
High School Principal
