Dear AISC,
If there is ever a time to say it, it is now: I love a Monday!
On Monday, November 1, it will be 598 days since last we had our students in grades 1-8 on campus. 123 students who have not yet set foot on campus at AISC will be among the hundreds filling our spaces with stories, laughter, exclamations, and tears.
To our elementary and middle schools, I say, “Welcome Home!”
Next week, consider the magic of the extended moment. We have been a remarkable virtual community and Monday will bring new opportunities and challenges – it will be a day filled with excitement and exhilaration, promise and potential, human connection and community, and insecurity and fear as we all begin a new journey together that will feel at once familiar and utterly novel.
We have every reason to be grateful for the opportunity to have life together in-person. Enjoy and appreciate each and every day.
And, please exercise patience as we begin the process of implementing our systems to have students back on campus safely. Each of us continues to do our best and to be the best version of ourselves!
(EY/KGs: Your day of return is still not determined, but will hopefully come soon! See below for a brief update.)
Work Gloves captures the optimism and spirit of a new day. May every day be something good for each of you!
Work Gloves (author unknown)
This
is the beginning of a new day.
What
you do today is important because
You
are exchanging a day of your life for it …
When
tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever;
In
its place is something you’ve left behind.
Let
it be something good.
Raptor-Safe Preparedness! Our campus is as Raptor-Safe as we can make it. We have prepared for campus life by integrating the following adaptations and processes:
Daily
health screening (Everyone through ParentLocker App and at entry)
Thermal
screening (4 thermal screening stations at entries)
Mask
wearing (Everyone compulsory)
Social
distancing (6,000 stickers and markers)
Hand
sanitizing (Installed in every classrooms & 50 stations across campus)
Touchless
water dispensers (70 across campus)
Touchless
water tap dispensers (215 across campus)
UV
sterilization (2 UV sterilization tunnels are used for all packages)
HEPA
and UV filter installation (315 installations)
Air
ventilation doors and windows installation (117 classrooms)
Air
purifiers installation (215 across campus)
CO2
meters installation (35 in use across campus)
Micro
Pro Shield sanitized coating (All surfaces across campus)
Health-Safety
signage (500 across campus)
Vaccination
requirement (All adults)
Weekly
Testing requirement (Everyone entering campus)
Remember the importance of remaining vigilant about health and safety, being respectful of each other and our guidelines, of being responsible in taking care of ourselves and others, and staying attentive to information and evolving routines as we move closer to having every student back on campus.
Before
returning to campus, review these pandemic resources:
NEW - Current State Update
What we know, what we are doing, and what families need to do in the coming days and weeks as we move toward November 1st.
What do we know?
- EY/KG Return Date
Unknown. Following
the latest Government Order dated October 20, a decision regarding the opening
of lower and upper kindergartens (AISC’s EY/KG) will be intimated later. EY/KG
has not yet been authorized to open on November 1st. Awaiting further
directives, we do not know at this time the return to campus date of our EY/KG
students. We have filed a specific request and are awaiting a response to open
our EY/KG as we are a comprehensive EY-12 program.
- Elementary and Middle
School Return date November 1st.
- Further
government issued SOPs and guidelines have been issued. We will be fully compliant.
- Thank you for your understanding that parents are not allowed on campus at this time.
What are we doing?
- Last
week, we hosted EY/KG, Elementary, and Middle School Parent Coffees to explain
our circumstances, processes and procedures.
- We
are sharing information here and in Principal’s Blogs regarding returning to
campus.
- We will continue to communicate school opening information in a timely fashion.
What do you need to do?
- ES Families: 95% of elementary
families have submitted their permission signature form to return to campus. Thank you!
- MS Families: 93% of middle school
families have submitted their permission signature form to return to campus. Thank you!
- EY/KG: If you are a family with
a student(s) in grades EY/KG, we advise that you complete all forms, etc. to
prepare to return to campus, which we will do when we are allowed to do
so.
- Grades 1-8: Please continue to
read Principals Blogs and also review carefully the requirements to return to
campus below in COMMUNITY NOTES/Health Office Update & Return to Campus
Readiness Update. Forms must be
completed and submitted to the school to return to campus on November 1st.
- Stay informed: Read Principals’ Blogs and stay focused on preparing for more change. We know this is an inflection point of information and preparation. Do not hesitate to reach out to us with questions at any time.
Our ears and inboxes are open, so continue to use us as resources.
Here are a few captures of what experience looked like on AISC’s campus this week.
NEW – Next Week At-A-Glance
Head of School Coffee, Thursday, November 11 (8:45-9:45 a.m. IST)
Please join me on Thursday, November 11, (8:45-9:45 a.m. IST) for the Head of School Coffee when a team of administrators and I will share perspective and information on returning to campus and other timely updates.
Zoom link below. Please do not share this link with outside our community.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://aischennai-org.zoom.us/j/97886347524?pwd=blQ0VEdCOGtNdU1jbWdHeDROSEJMdz09
Meeting ID: 978 8634
7524
Passcode: AISC
Office of Teaching and Learning Update – Joelle Basnight, Deputy Head of
School
Futures
Plan - Blog Updates!
Wondering what is happening with AISC’s Futures Plan? Check out the updated blog post by Dave Allen and Jennifer Bertram.
Dave shares about progress in the Learning and Inclusion pathway while Jennifer reports on goals related to Learning and the Vision for an AISC Learner in Middle School.
Technology – Dr. Greg Clinton, Director of Technologies/Research &
Development
Cyber
Safety Follow-up
We had a rich conversation with a group of parents last week on the topic of online safety for our children. If you missed it but are interested in the discussion, you can see the slides from the session here. These slides contain links to research and tools you might consider as a parent.
Just this week, Google has rolled out a way that “anyone under the age of 18, or their parent or guardian, can now request the removal of their images from Search results” by following the steps that you can find here. This is a potentially handy feature that complements Google’s existing tools for removing content from search. Note that this process doesn’t remove the content from the Internet, but it removes it from Google’s search results.
Advancement Office – Gautami Ramachandhran, Advancement Director
SAVE THE
DATE: PCA Diwali Virtual Mela
Diwali and all its promised festivities are upon us! And the PCA, in partnership with the Advancement Office is excited to bring you a virtual Diwali experience. This web-based community festival includes pre-recorded community performances, cooking tutorials, and an activity book. Head to the PCA Blog for more details.
When: Thursday,
November 11, 3:00 p.m. IST onwards
Where: Bookmark this page! It will
go live after 3:00 p.m. on November 11
Coming
Soon! HS Career Conversations
The Fall edition of our High School Career Conversations is coming soon and we wanted to share with you our lineup of industry experts. Career Conversations provides high schoolers an opportunity to hear personal career journeys and authentic
- Raj Ganpath, Co-Founder of The Quad (Wellness, Fitness, and Nutrition)
- Dr. Gagandeep Kang, Virologist, Christian Medical College Vellore (Medical Sciences)
- Sriram Gopal, CEO, Futurefarms (Sustainability & Food Technology)
- Aishwarya Manivanan, Silambam (Tamil martial arts) practitioner and graphic designer (Education, Culture, Arts)
- Arun Edwin, Software Architect, Imaginea-Accenture (Innovation & Tech)
Parent Relations – Deborah Allen, Director of Admissions and Parent/Alumni
Relations
NESA
Parents as Partners Series - Webinar #5, Tuesday, November 2nd, 7:30 p.m.
Join us for the 2021-2022 NESA Webinar Series: Parents as Partners--an engaging collection of webinars for parents addressing child development within the context of family and school. Twice each month, for one hour, you can join parents from across the NESA region to listen to distinguished speakers.
Upcoming: Webinar #5, Neutral Spaces: Tips and Tools for Avoiding Power Struggles -- Presented by Joy Marchese on Tuesday, November 2, 2021, 7:30 p.m.*
[NOTE TIME CHANGE: Daylight Saving Time ends in Europe on October 31, 2021 and webinars will be an hour later in India, starting at 7:30 p.m.]
Do you find yourself feeling overwhelmed, frustrated and constantly losing your temper because your kids “never listen?” Do you find yourself yelling, nagging, lecturing, threatening and/or bribing way more than you’d like? Are you ready to learn how to calm the chaos and create more PEACE and CONNECTION in your home? This session will help you learn how to increase cooperation and end the power struggles, so you can have a family life filled with more calm, connection, joy and FUN!
Recordings
from the first webinars:
Journeying
Together: Parents as Partners in Social Emotional Learning
A
Parent’s Guide to the Science of Attention
In
Our Classrooms, In Our Schools: What is the Story of Learning?
Getting
the Most from the Marshall Memo
If you have already registered you will receive a reminder with the link, a few days before. If you would like to register for the webinar series, click here.
PCA
Storytrails Event - Tuesday, November 9th, 4:30-5:30 p.m.
SAVE THE DATE and join the PCA for another StoryTrails event on Tuesday, November 9th at 4:30 p.m. 'Tis the season' to learn more about Indian Festivals, including Diwali. Explore customs, traditions, and stories with the talented and engaging Storytrail hosts. This is a FREE exclusive event for our community (up to 50 spots available). Portions of this event will be recorded and shared with the community on the PCA Diwali Mela webpage. Meeting link available next week.
Reminder – ‘21-22 Community Directory
Our community directory is more dynamic than our pandemic context – students and families adapting to their global and local situations. Our directory is in motion and as this situation evens out, we will be publishing a community directory; our intention is to do so before the new year in January. Stay patient, stay tuned.
NEW - Emergency Campus Closure Procedure
Should weather or other external situations force a consideration of the safety for students/families, faculty, and staff to travel to school, we could take a decision to close campus (for a day or more, depending upon the situation).
Regarding Virtual Learning, as long as power and internet connectivity are not widely interrupted and no specific directives preclude us, please assume we will revert to a Virtual Learning Day when our campus is closed due to an emergency. If power and internet are or could be widely interrupted, we may take a decision not to hold a Virtual Learning Day.
In general, we operate
by two rules regarding travel safety communication:
- When
we have information that we believe would be relevant and essential to our community,
we communicate it.
- No news means business as usual.
We are careful to
collect information – facts and perspectives – from an array of sources. In
order to assess travel safety in Chennai and to AISC and to make a decision
regarding school closure, we do the following:
- Follow
Tamil Nadu Government directives regarding campus closure and Virtual Learning.
- Engage
timely AISC vehicle reconnaissance forays on bus routes to assess travel
viability.
- Track
local news sources, print and electronic, to keep abreast of the situation.
- Confer
with the Regional Security Office at the U.S. Consulate and consider their
assessment of the situation and/or any recommendations they may have.
- Confer
with the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police and consider their
assessment of the situation and/or any recommendations they may have.
- Assess
the relevance of local school closures.
- Reach out to other agencies to obtain necessary information or perspective should the situation warrant.
Regarding the timing of
an announcement, we use the following guidelines:
- If
we know about a situation in advance, we may decide to communicate a campus
closure a day (or more) in advance.
- In the case of overnight weather or other unforeseen
situations, we will make a decision to close the campus by 5:00 a.m.
- Likewise,
should the circumstances warrant, an early/partial day school closure (that is,
an early release or late start) would be made by 5:00 a.m.
- A decision to cancel ASAs or other after school events, will be made no later than 11:00 a.m. and communicated in a timely fashion.
We will use all
available means of communication:
Campus closure announcements will be conveyed by email, SMS, Facebook, and an announcement on our website. Further, we could activate our phone tree, if we have concerns regarding mobile phone/internet connectivity and/or if we want to make sure that all community members are accounted for.
Also be advised of the
following:
A. Once a decision to keep the campus open is made, we will stay open for students until the end of the school day, or, if a situation warrants, until it is safe for students to leave. Should a situation arise during the school day, we will engage appropriate and prompt communication.
B. Conditions in Chennai can vary dramatically according to locality. If the school has made a decision to stay open, and a student, parent, or staff member deems it is unsafe to proceed to school because of local conditions or conditions between home and school, making a personal decision to stay home is encouraged and will be noted as excused.
Have a great week and let’s continue to practice patience and grace as we prepare for another pivot amidst the pandemic.
Stay connected.
Andrew A. Hoover
Head of School
headofschool@aischennai.org
COMMUNITY NOTES
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.
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.
Requirements
to attend classes on campus
To ensure the safety of everyone on campus we have the following expectations:
Vaccination
Requirements
AISC now requires proof of vaccination 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.
Return to Campus Readiness Update
For those ES and MS families with the Parent Permission turned in expect the following messages. 1 - Following today's weekly updates an email with the steps required for home antigen testing, link for uploading the results, section specific lunch order form, and other instructions to be ready for Monday morning. 2 - On Saturday a follow up message to those that do not have their home antigen test image uploaded to the form. 3 - On Sunday a reminder to bring the completed home antigen test, to complete ParentLocker in the morning, and the drop-off and pick-up times. We know that this is much more frequent communication than usual, but want the process to be clear.
For
“return to campus” questions, please choose the appropriate contact:
- Ryan
McFarland, Director of Student Life, at mryan@aischennai.org
- Lynn
Schneider, Elementary School Principal, at slynn@aischennai.org
- Jennifer
Bertram, Middle School Principal, at bejennifer@aischennai.org
- Greg Clinton, Director of Technologies and R&D at cgreg@aischennai.org
If you aren’t sure what kind of question you are asking, we are happy to hear from you, no matter what!
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 remain mostly green.
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 were 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 normal. |
|
COVID-19
Testing Levels. |
Testing
levels are 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 around
or 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 many 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 hold steady.
3. Below, daily new cases in Chennai have
been below 1,000 since June 12 indicating continuing flattening 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 levelled off indicating fairly low
levels of local spread.
6. Below we have 178 confirmed COVID-19
cases in our community since January 2021, with 2 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. Over 70% of the
adult 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:
100% of our faculty are vaccinated. 95% of the school faculty are fully
vaccinated.
Staff:
100% of our school staff are vaccinated. 93% are fully vaccinated.
Commitments in 2021-2022
Our Commitments for the 2021-2022 school year are here!
Staying RaptorSafe
Our RaptorSafe information is here!
Information and Reminders:
AGM Head of School Presentation – September 8, 2021 | 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