Dear AISC,
As you know, last weekend, India celebrated Independence Day. This holiday commemorates India’s independence from Britain. In 1947, Britain ended its nearly century-long rule over India by agreeing to a transition of power to an Indian Government.
Indian independence represented the culmination of years of mostly nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience to British rule. Mohandas K. Gandhi was the central leader of the resistance movement and his widely recognized legacy has had significant impact on civil rights leaders and movements throughout the world.
Gandhi insisted that we see the humanity in all people no matter how differently they may think than we do, or how different they may be than we are, or how differently they may see the world than we do. He showed the world what it means to respect all human beings, how to value equality and diversity at the local and global levels, and that each of us must take responsibility for our own actions.
These sound a lot like AISC’s Core Values of respect, responsibility, integrity, and diversity. Have you considered those values recently? How do we practice respect? How do we balance personal responsibility with shared responsibility? How do we know if we are remaining true to ourselves? What does diversity mean to you?
If nothing else, the pandemic has opened up more time and opportunities for families to be together, have meals together, and engage in conversations together. Grab on to one of these questions for a good family discussion!
And,
if you need a wellbeing reminder, check out this rich article on the virtues of family dinners
– remember, we don’t get the time back! Eating together (and talking together)
enriches wellbeing on many fronts.
By the way, did you also know that Korean Independence Day falls on August 15? Korean Independence Day is known as Gwangbok-jeol, which literally translates to "the day the light returned". Also, AISC celebrated its 26th birthday this week on August 18th! Happy birthday, Raptors!
Current State Update – High School Students Returning to Campus/ES
& MS Virtual Learning
As of this writing, we are excitedly preparing for high school students to return to campus for Hybrid Learning on Wednesday, September 1st.
The Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) we received on Wednesday, August 18 require us, among other things, to allow only 50% of our students on campus at any one time. For details on the plan to phase high school students back to campus, please read the High School Blog.
ES and MS students are in Virtual Learning through at least Thursday, September 9th. No later than Friday, September 3, we will communicate a Learning Model status update for ES and MS students after September 9th.
Our ears and inboxes are open, so continue to use us as resources.
Return to Campus – Ryan McFarland, Student Life Director
Rapid Antigen Home Testing
As we prepare to have high school students on campus we are introducing the use of Rapid Antigen Tests which are conducted using kits at home. These kits are to be used on a Friday with the results uploaded to a form which then is used to grant permission to attend campus via the ParentLocker app. We will be distributing Panbio kits where each box contains 4 tests. The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) recognizes Panbio, CoviSelf, and CoviFind and we're happy to also allow the use of any of these kits if people want to purchase some for back-ups or more frequent testing.
These test kits seem to be widely available in online shops or even local pharmacies and cost approximately 250 INR per test.
The families of HS students will be able to pick up their test kits from the school security from Monday, August 23rd through Friday, August 27th. Specific information for the rollout of these kits to the high school is in this week's HS Principal's notes. See how to conduct the Panbio tests in this video.
Technology – Dr. Greg Clinton, Director of Technologies/Research
& Development
Our Core
Learning Platforms, explained
As systems change and improve, it helps to have a simple explanation of how our core information tools fit together. This will become more important as families look to access records, progress reports, and so on.
Returning families may remember logging into PowerSchool to download grade reports, find student schedules, or see current demographic information. That system is still in place — Powerschool Student Information System is where all our core data resides.
Returning families may also remember Seesaw as a place where ES students found virtual learning engagements. That system is still in place, as well.
The big shift for MS and HS families this year is Schoology, which has replaced Unified Classroom. Those of you who were able to attend our Schoology Introduction for Parents, you have seen the potential and some of the features of this system. We see it as an opportunity to build partnerships between parents, students, and teachers. Here are some resources to help you get started with this new platform, and here is a video introduction to how we are using Schoology at AISC.
Your PowerSchool, Schoology, and Seesaw login information has been shared directly with you, if applicable. You can find quick login links to these core tools at our website under Quicklinks and “Parents”.
As always, we are happy to hear from parents about how we can help. Please get in touch with our IT Support team or feel free to contact me directly with any questions.
IT Support: itsupport@aischennai.org; Greg Clinton, Director of Technologies and Research & Development: cgreg@aischennai.org.
School
Website Maintenance
Please be advised, beginning Saturday, August 21 at 8pm IST the AISC school website will be unavailable for 12-24 hours while we perform maintenance and upgrades.
Advancement Office – Gautami Ramachandhran, Advancement Director
We’re
Celebrating AISC’s Birthday Week!
AISC turned 26 on August 18, 2021! And we celebrated our school's Birthday Week on social media channels (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram) with short video stories that took us down memory lane, a trivia quiz on AISC's unique story, and a fun challenge that asked community members to send in photos that depicted their significant AISC memories. A big THANK YOU to everyone who helped us celebrate our school’s big 2-6 virtually!
Watch our celebratory birthday video where we go right to the start and relive the cherished memories we've built together as a community!
IMPORTANT:
Submitting Student Yearbook Portraits - Last day to submit: September 3, 2021
The Yearbook Team will be collecting student portraits virtually. You can read the instructions and upload the photo by visiting this website.
At-A-Glance Information
- Please
read the instructions carefully.
- You
can use the back camera of a mobile phone to take your child’s photo. The
instructions have detailed info on taking a good photo.
- You
can also consider taking your photo professionally at a studio if you have
access to one in your area; make sure to request for a grey background.
- IMPORTANT! Rename your child’s
photo accordingly. We will not be able to accept submissions if you do not
rename the photo. For ES: Homeroom_First
Name_Last Name; For MS/HS: Grade_First Name_Last Name
- Last Day to Submit: Friday, September 3, 2021, 11:59 p.m. IST
Thank you for your support! Please write to media@aischennai.org if you have any questions.
Parent Relations – Deborah Allen, Director of Admissions and
Parent/Alumni Relations
NEW
Student and Parent Campus Visits - Beginning end of August!
We are very excited to be able to invite new AISC students and parents to campus! As mentioned last week we are considering 'new students', as anyone who enrolled after our campus closure in late March 2020 and who have not had the opportunity to come to campus yet.
AISC will follow government orders and allow new students to visit the school as part of our admissions procedure and for distribution of school materials for the start of the year. A parent or guardian must accompany their child(ren) during the visit. Students visiting campus must be from the same section of school (ES, MS, or HS) - no mixing of students from different sections. Adults visiting campus will need to submit proof of at least one vaccination shot and a recent negative COVID test. Students visiting campus will also need to have proof of a recent negative COVID test. Further information is included on the sign-up form. To sign-up for a guided tour, please complete this form.
Environmental Responsibility Council – A Call for Participation –
Join us!
AISC has made great strides in becoming leaders in being good stewards of the planet. Our use of renewable energy, efforts to reduce non-biodegradable waste and LEED certification all testify to that focus. But we know that there is always more to do. AISC's responsibility to the environmental responsibility includes our efforts on campus, combined with a more purposeful recognition of the role we all play throughout our lives in the future of our planet, and connecting with local partners with similar aims.
Our aim for Environmental Responsibility at AISC, as part of the Futures Plan, is as follows: To incorporate environmentally sustainable policies, practices, and programming in alignment with our mission and core values. This Team is made up of Faculty, Staff, Students, and Parents with interest in the environment. If you are interested in participating in the council or would like more information, please email Andrew Hoover headofschool@aischennai.org or Ryan McFarland mryan@aischennai.org by September 1st.
Have a restful weekend.
Andrew A. Hoover
Head of School
headofschool@aischennai.org
NOTES & REMINDERS
Commitments in 2021-2022
Our Commitments for the 2021-2022 school year are here!
Staying RaptorSafe
Our RaptorSafe information is here!
Student Protection Manual 2021-22
Health Office Update
If any members of the school community have concerns about a student’s safety, please contact one of AISC's counselors (ES, MS & HS), principals or the School Psychologist.
1. Complete this permission signature form. Parents MUST give permission to their child to return to campus. This has been a government SOP requirement. By completing this signature page, you indicate your willingness and interest to send your child to campus.
2. Completed medical forms. For most grade levels, these can be completed by a parent. New students and those starting grades 3, 6, or 9 will need a physician to complete form B and then parents should email the document to the health office. All other students will need form A 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.
|
Form |
For |
Completed by: |
|
All students every year |
Parent - digital form |
|
|
New students and those
entering grades 3, 6, or 9 |
Physician - hard copy |
|
|
Any students that take medicine during the
school day. |
Parent with attached hard copy of
prescription |
|
|
Any students that have allergies or asthma |
Parent - hard copy |
3.
Weekly Rapid Antigen Testing. AISC
has sourced PanBio COVID-19 test kits for the use of staff and students. Every
person on campus will have a weekly home test conducted with kits provided by
the school. These tests were recently approved
by the Indian Council of Medical Research and similar tests are used throughout
the world in helping screen the health of people coming on campus.
The families of High
School students who will be attending on-campus classes will need to have them
picked up at the school during the week of August 23rd and then conduct the
first test on August 27th for attendance the following week.
It's important to note that these tests will not be entirely replacing the RT-PCR tests. We'll still utilize RT-PCR tests whenever a community member is symptomatic or has had close contact (such as household) exposure to a confirmed case. We will also be able to use these tests to immediately test anyone sequestered to the isolation room on campus, expediting our ability to contact trace.
4.
Every day your child is to come to campus you must attest to your child(ren)’s
health. AISC has partnered with the educational software company ParentLocker
to offer a way for us to monitor student, faculty, and staff health and
wellness. Using this app, parents will attest daily to the health safety of
their children. Everyone will need to do this each day once we are back on campus.
Parents of HS students will receive directions and permissions regarding this
app by August 20th.
Requirements
to attend classes on campus
To ensure the safety of everyone on campus we have the following expectations:
Vaccination
Requirements
Beginning August 27th, AISC will require proof of at least one vaccination dose for all adults (non-students) over the age of 18 in order to access the campus. This vaccination requirement will also apply to all visitors, including parents.
If you have access to vaccines, we advise you to follow your government’s directives to get vaccinated as soon as possible.
Distancing
AISC is ensuring safety through screening, testing of everyone on campus, vaccination requirements of adults, mask wearing, rigorous cleaning schedule, and a focus on ventilation. We will be maintaining 6 feet of distancing according to locally directed protocols.
Contact
Tracing
We conduct our own in-house contact tracing whenever there is a positive case on campus. In light of the greater transmissibility of newer strains of the virus, we will be casting a broad net in having contacts quarantine. Classmates and staff that may have been present in a classroom with a confirmed case will be asked to quarantine for 5 days and then test before returning. We may adjust as the year progresses, but will start with a very aggressive approach to minimizing community spread.
Illness
Reporting
Despite being in Virtual Learning, it is vital that AISC continues to monitor the health of our student body. While our attendance has been spectacular this year, we also need to know when a student is not well enough to participate in a day’s learning activities.
By way of reminder: Elementary, Middle, and High School parents and/or High School students are expected to email the section offices with the reason for virtual absence when a student cannot attend to/participate in the day’s learning activities. [esoffice@asichennai.org; msoffice@aischennai.org; hsoffice@aischennai.org]
In a typical year, we track illnesses, fevers, and flu symptoms. Now, more than ever, it is so important that we know if a student or household member has flu symptoms and/or has tested positive for COVID-19.
Our Health Office is open virtually. Please use us as a resource.
Our school nurses are Jessy David, Suvitha R and Barkath B and are available on all school days from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Contact our Health Office by email on healthoffice@aischennai.org or by phone on +919840729563 / +919940635827 for any health-related questions or if you need assistance.
Positive
COVID Case Reporting
Given the contagious nature of the coronavirus, the AISC Health Office must stay informed of positive cases in our families’ households. In order to serve and protect community members, positive COVID cases need to be reported to us immediately.
Here
are a few guidelines:
- If
anyone in your household -- including staff (live-in/non live-in) -- tests
positive, please inform the School by writing to the section offices -- [esoffice@aischennai.org; msoffice@aischennai.org; hsoffice@aischennai.org]
or to the Health Office contact details shared above.
- All health information provided by AISC families has always been and will continue to be kept confidential and used by our Health and Planning Teams for record-keeping. When reporting positive cases within our community, the School will not use personally identifiable information.
We
thank you for your cooperation in helping us keep our community safe. With
collective and personal responsibility, we can all do our part to ensure the
health of our community members and to help flatten the COVID-19 curve.
2021-2022 Data Center
Below find snapshots from our COVID-19 Data Lab. During the school year, we will update these each week (until further notice). Use this information to compliment external sources of information to understand our local context, inform decisions, and as opportunities to ask more questions.
1. Below, Return to Campus variables are trending yellow. The
signs are getting better almost every day…
Return to Campus Rubric
The
variables on our Rubric have been approved by our partner International SOS and have the support
of the AISC Board.
All of the Decision-Making
Variables below must be GREEN (GO) for AISC to consider re-opening campus for
students.
|
GO |
SLOW |
STOP |
|
Decision-Making
Variables |
Explanation |
|
Lock-Down lifted. |
Tamil
Nadu has relaxed most lockdown elements. Some specific and selective
restrictions remain in the areas of travel, retail, commercial, recreational,
industrial activities and movement within the city. |
|
Government has lifted
school closure orders. |
Students
in grades 9-12 have been given the green light to return to campus on
September 1st. |
|
Emergency COVID
Health Care. |
This
assessment is based on data from 9 major hospitals in Chennai. Availability
of hospital COVID beds, ICU and O2 beds is high. Vacancy rates remain well
above 25%. |
|
Emergency
Non-COVID Health Care. |
Emergency
care and access to emergency care facilities are close to normal. |
|
COVID-19
Testing Levels. |
Testing
levels continue to be high. |
|
Access
to Supplies and Equipment at AISC. |
Our
campus is well-supplied and remains prepared to be opened, when permitted. |
We also
keep our eyes on the following Decision-Informing Variables, among many others,
every day:
|
Decision-Informing
Variables |
Explanation |
|
New cases below 1,000
per day. |
New
cases began falling below 1,000 on June 12. They are now consistently below
200. |
|
5 Day
Moving Average of new cases over total cases is less than 2% for two
incubation periods. |
This
remains well under 2%. |
|
Percentage
positive test rate at acceptable level for one incubation period. |
(WHO
3-12%) We have been below 12% for several incubation periods. See graph
below. |
2. Below, notice the curve is flat.
Total cases in Chennai are now increasing very slowly as patients recover and
new cases decrease.
3. Below, daily new cases in Chennai have
been below 1,000 since June 12 indicating continuing significant decreasing
levels of local spread.
4.
Below, we summarize the availability of emergency COVID Care in 9 major private
hospitals in Chennai. COVID Care
infrastructure and resources continue to improve and have returned to pre-surge
normalcy.
5. Below the percent of
positive tests relative to total tests has continued to fall precipitously
indicating decreasing levels of local spread.
6. Below we have 157 confirmed COVID-19
cases in our community since January 2021, with 3 active cases currently.
Active case individuals observe a 14-day quarantine at home and require two
negative tests before returning to campus. Confidentiality is strictly
observed.
7. Below, vaccination efforts continue in Chennai. More than 40% of
the population of Chennai has had at least one shot.
Attendance
More
than 98% of our students were in attendance this week!
Faculty and Staff Vaccinations
Health
Care Workers: 100% of the school's health workers are fully vaccinated.
Faculty:
77% of the school faculty are fully vaccinated. 20% have had the first dose.
Staff:
37% of the school staff are fully vaccinated. 61% have had the first dose.
Some staff have recently recovered from COVID and are waiting for the three months’ window to be over to get vaccinated safely.
Information and Reminders:
Head of School Coffee Presentation – August 12, 2021 | Head of School Coffee Q&A - August 12, 2021 | Senior Leadership Team Town Hall Presentation – July 27, 2021 | Senior Leadership Team Town Hall Meeting – Q&A – July 27, 2021 | Learning Models Framework | Student Protection Manual 2021-2022