Dear Students and Parents,
Looking forward to virtual student-parent-teacher conferences on Monday, October 18. Remember, there are no classes on Monday--students attend conferences from home and all conferences are on Zoom.
HS full cohort attendance on schedule for Oct 18-22 and Oct 25-29
The HS has moved to full cohort hybrid attendance. That is, all students who are attending in-person should attend every school day. There will no longer be virtual days. RaptorSafe orientation dates are below. Students can only be oriented on these days.
Raptor Safe Orientation for students returning to campus
Next Raptor Safe Orientations and requirements
If you have not had Orientation this school year, or if you have returned to virtual after being in-person, you must attend a RaptorSafe orientation.
The next Raptor Safe Orientations are:
For all HS grade levels: Tuesday, October 19, 8:00 am
For all HS grade levels: Monday, October 25, 8:00 am
For all HS grade levels: Monday, November 1, 8:00 am
Forms required to return to campus:
Health/Medical form for all HS students
HS Student Handbook signature page for all HS students and parents
Return to Campus Permission form for all HS students intending to attend school in- person
Uploaded recent Covide negative test result. Panbio Rapid Antigen test instructions and upload process described in the document linked above
This information is fully laid out here.
Vision for an AISC learner recognition
Each month, AISC faculty choose a student from each grade level to recognize as demonstrating the characteristic of the Vision for an AISC Learner.
On our first day back on campus as a full cohort, we presented the August Thinker and the September Collaborator recognition to the following AISC learners:
Thinker Collaborator
Grade 9 William Holm Grade 9 Luke Merletti
Grade 10 Ritwik Balaji Grade 10 Sungmin Lee
Grade 11 Nicole Ahn Grade 10 Chanak Gautam
Grade 12 Aalia Sait Grade 11 Byeongchan Kang
Grade 12 Achilles Daniels-Condon
HS Teachers leading classes virtually from home
Periodically, your child’s teacher may teach virtually from home due to our health and safety protocols. Like all members of the community, teachers stay home if they answer “Yes” to any question on ParentLocker. Our health office guides all community members, including teachers, through our protocols to make sure that they are well and safe to return to campus. When at home due to protocols, and able to teach, teachers lead their classes virtually, with an AISC staff member, a trained “hybrid classroom facilitator,” as the supervising adult in the classroom. After the required protocol is completed and a safe return is indicated, teachers return to in-person teaching.
National Merit Scholarship Recognition
We are proud to share that three AISC Seniors have been recognized for their achievement in the National Merit Scholarship Competition (NMSC), which is open to high school students in the US and US students at international schools. AISC has two 2021 NMSC Commended Students (top 50,000 scorers): Arjan Chakaravarthy and Lekhana Gogineni. Congratulations! Lekhana and Arjan received their commendation yesterday. AISC is represented by one NMSC Semi-Finalist (top 16,000): Vihaan Saharia. Vihaan has completed the application to become a National Merit Scholarship Finalist. National Merit Scholarship Finalists then apply to be selected as National Merit Scholars. National Merit Scholars receive national recognition in the US along with a scholarship. Congratulations and good luck, Vihaan!
Virtual Student-Parent-Teacher Conferences Monday, October 18
You can sign up for a conference appointment here until the evening of Sunday, October 17. Conference slots are 10 minutes in length on Monday, October 18 from 8:00 am - 5:00 pm.
On October 18th at your conference time, please use the teacher’s Zoom link found on this document to join a Zoom call with your child’s teacher, who will be attending from home so they can interact without a mask. You will be sent a copy of this document on October 18th.
For Mr. Gio Bello, who is on leave, Ms. Sunita will set up your meetings for a time starting October 25th.
Students are expected to attend (virtually) SPT conferences with their parent(s) and lead the conversation.
High School Fall Production
The Legend(s) of Sleepy Hollow by Jonathan Josephson
Adapted from Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"
LIVESTREAM EVENT on October 22nd @ 6pm
https://www.aischennai.org/theater/
ABOUT THE PLAY
You know one version, the popular version, of Washington Irving’s tale of the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow— but wouldn’t you like to know what really happened on that fateful night that Ichabod encountered the Horseman? This play reveals all from the point-of-view of the one character who was there and knows the whole truth: Ichabod Crane’s horse, Gunpowder.
Parent coffee: Tuesday, October 26 8:45 am - 9:45 am
Focus: Establishing renewed ways of communicating with our children while supporting them in the midst of uncertainty. Join HS Counselors Karen Killmer and Dr. Cathy Curtis to dialogue about and learn strategies and tools for supporting communication with your child/ren. Zoom link here.
Save the Date! Portal Project AISC Dialogue - What is Learning?
This month the Portal Project is focussed on "What is Learning?" and we invite all parents, faculty and students to help us craft a definition of learning and identify conditions that support it. The session will take place on Thursday, October 28th from 4:30 - 5:15 pm. Portal Project dialogues are not only engaging but generate data that is shared with the Community Planning Team and Leadership Councils to help guide our Futures Planning process. As such, participants have a voice in helping to shape the AISC of tomorrow. Interested? Please click here to add the event directly to a Google calendar or here for the direct meeting link.
Lunch Menu Oct 18-25
The menu for next week’s lunches is here. Mr. McFarland will email all attending students the order form for lunches. Student lunches are cooked fresh on campus, picked up in the FAC cafeteria. The FAC cafeteria is now open for socially distanced eating. Additionally, the iHub is selling snacks and drinks and is open to high school students for socially distanced eating and drinking.
Repeat Announcement: Important Social Media Information Share
Please see this note from Director of Information Technology and Research and Development Dr. Greg Clinton regarding information that we have become aware of involving cyber safety and social media. Included in the note is an invitation to take part in a learning dialogue on October 21 about cyber safety and how we can work together to empower students in a digital landscape.
Repeat Announcement: Opportunity for HS Students to join a GOA-facilitated global dialogue about race
As part of our Diversity and Equity mission this year, we are offering some "opt-in" activities for students. Our online partner, Global Online Academy (GOA) is offering a one-week, asynchronous online learning course called "Who We Are, What we Say, What it Means:Conversations About Race" suitable for HS students Grades 9-12. The course and conversations will occur October 18-22.
The GOA-designed and facilitated activities invite students to explore their racial, cultural or national identities and consider how to understand and communicate with others who are different. Some age appropriate personal narrative resources focus on experiences of bias and racism. Shari Abbott, HS Personalized Learning Coordinator, will facilitate our students' participation, including offering two real time meetings for AISC students to dialogue and process.
This course will allow HS students to learn more about living in our diverse and dynamic world, and provides them with tools to talk and act confidently, empathetically and ethically within it.
Students have been invited to join the course through the HS Daily Bulletin.
Please write to Shari at ashari@aischennai.org for further information.
Repeat Announcement: Reminder about absences and pre-arranged absences
If your child is absent from a class, we ask that you call the HS office or email ahead of time. For example, if your child is unexpectedly unwell, please call the HS office to report that they will not be attending a class or classes that day. Please do this whether we are in virtual, hybrid or fully in-person. Our health office will follow up. If your child is not present in a class without you having notified us of their absence, we begin a safety process to ascertain your child’s wellbeing and whereabouts.
If you know in advance that your child will miss a class or a day or more of school, your child is required to complete a Pre-Arranged Absence form (aka Blue Form). This process allows your child and their teachers to plan ahead for the absence, and identify what should be completed before, during and after the pre-planned absence. This completed form is signed by a parent and the principal. This document functions as a contract, clearly laying out the path to support your child’s learning.
Sincerely,
Mike Malone
High School Principal
