Head of School: October 8, 2021

Good afternoon AISC,

Today, I share a slice of my Head’s Notes in this brief video message.

Do you hear that drip, drip, drip? That is the sound of the gradual erosion of the current state of the pandemic – truly delightful drips in sight and sound!

Indeed, what you have read and heard is true. We are coming back to campus. As per government directive, students in grades 1-8 will be returning to campus on November 1st. I know that some of you were hoping to hear from us earlier this week about this, but we needed certain clarifications before sharing the news. Thanks for your patience!

I will knock on wood, cross my fingers, throw my coin into the box, whatever it takes not to interfere with what appears to be a rainbow emerging from the mist.

We have been practicing optimism. Let’s continue to stay focused on what we know and what we can control. We don’t have all of the answers yet, but we will be sharing our plans and thinking as openly and frequently as we can.

Below, I share an important update on 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, when we will welcome students in grades 1-8 back to campus (knock on wood, fingers crossed, coin tossed)!

NEW - Current State Update – High School Students on Campus/Grades 1-8 Returning to Campus on November 1st

What do we know?

Elementary and Middle School. As per an announcement made last week and this week, students in grades 1-8 will be returning to campus on November 1.
EY/KG. We are awaiting further instructions regarding the return to campus of students in EY and KG. Stay tuned.
High School Update. Given our physical capacity and student enrollment, our RaptorSafe practices, and the local SOPs that require 6 feet social distancing and classroom caps of 20, we can safely have all high school students on campus at the same time. Starting Monday, October 11, high school students will be on campus together every day of the week. Students will no longer attend classes on campus in blue and mango groups.
Further government issued SOPs and guidelines are expected.

What will we do?

We will begin a phased approach to returning students in grades 1-8 to campus on November 1. In returning students to campus, we will be fully compliant with local SOPs.
Look for information in Principal’s Blogs regarding returning to campus and ES and MS Parent Coffees to explain our processes and procedures.
We will continue to communicate school opening information in a timely fashion.

What do you need to do?

Grades 1-8. If you are a family with a student(s) in grades 1-8, please read 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 by Friday, October 22.
High School. If you are a family with a student(s) in high school who is participating in our Hybrid Program, please plan on being on campus each day of the week starting on October 11. For high school students who have stayed Virtual, we will continue to offer this option through the year. For HS students wishing to return to in-person attendance from Virtual, see the HS Principal’s Blog for requirements and RaptorSafe orientation dates.
Stay informed. Read Principals’ Blogs and stay focused on preparing to for more change. We know this is an inflection point of information and preparation and that we will do this best by paying attention to self and others.

We know this transition will be welcomed, exciting, and challenging. We know it will require adjusting the routines and patterns that have formed in order to best cope in Virtual Learning.

This will mean that there will also be some stress and anxiety. Let’s take care of each other.

Our teams know that this will require careful and comprehensive communication. This means we will do whatever we can to clarify the numerous details about returning to campus. We welcome and need your participation, your questions, and your understanding.

And finally, remember that this is a very good thing. Our students and faculty, all of our students and faculty, will learn best and most holistically when we are together on campus. We are so ready to get back to growing up together.

Also, we have adapted our campus and developed protocols to optimize student health-safety. We will do everything we can to keep every community member safe. And, lest we forget: Living in COVID means living with some degree of risk – we all have to do our best to make this work. We will have to stay flexible and adaptable.

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

Date	Event	Details
October 8-9	ASIAC Season 1
October 11	PCA Monthly Meeting 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.	Join Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 945 2831 2597 Passcode: 619915
October 12	MS Parent Coffee 8:45-9:45 a.m. Schoology & student presentations on VfL Days	Zoom link here
October 13	Inspiration Conversation 4:00-4:30 p.m.	Join Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 971 8034 3916 Passcode: AISC
October 13	PSAT
October 13	HS Progress Reports
October 13	Early Release 2:30 p.m. Faculty Meetings 3:00-5:00 p.m.
October 13	Board of Directors’ Meeting 5:00 p.m.	Join Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 956 5304 0537 Passcode: AISC
October 14	Ayutha Pooja Holiday
October 15	Adaptive Schools Training Day 3
October 16	Adaptive Schools Training Day 4

Board of Directors Update – Board Meeting

The October Open Session Board meeting will be held in Hybrid Mode on Wednesday, 13 October at 5:00 to 6:20 p.m. IST. Community members are invited to attend us virtually.

Join us via the Zoom link mentioned below. Please do not share this link with outside our community.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://aischennai-org.zoom.us/j/95653040537?pwd=NmxHYUtuaW9ENks5OFNnSHFUR1h1dz09

Meeting ID: 956 5304 0537
Passcode: AISC

Office of Teaching and Learning Update – Joelle Basnight, Deputy Head of School

Call for Comments - Calendar Versions for 2022/23

Believe it or not, it is time to start planning for 2022/23!

The following statements guide the drafting of the annual school calendar:

Respect local laws. Be mindful of local culture.
Follow Board Policy appropriate to the calendar.
Abide generally by North American school calendar framework (Late summer start/late spring end), as opposed to other various frameworks.
Optimize student learning and provide appropriate and balanced spacing of breaks and holidays.
Facilitate teacher development, collaboration, and preparation.
Balance the needs of our diverse and international families.

Alongside this guidance, calendars are designed to allow the first semester to conclude before winter vacation in December and for the school year to end shortly after IB and AP Exams, as well as High School Graduation, concludes in May.

With this in mind, two versions of the school calendar for next year have been drafted for consideration by the Board.

Both Version A and Version B meet the criteria above. The main difference between the two versions are the length of the first week of school and the placement of fall break.

We welcome any comments you may have regarding either or both drafts via email no later than Wednesday, October 13th. It is important to note the version, once chosen by the Board, will remain in draft form until we receive the final dates for local holidays later this semester.

Technology – Dr. Greg Clinton, Director of Technologies/Research & Development

Your Child Online: An All-School Learning Dialogue on Cyber Safety

Thursday, October 21 at 8:45-9:45am, Zoom Link (please do not share this link outside our school community)

We communicate, make friends, learn, and play online. The proliferation of activities that happen digitally has increased dramatically. With that comes some justified concern for how we and our children stay safe and secure, and what we can do as parents and educators to give young people the tools they need to thrive. Please join me, along with AISC administrators and teachers, for a presentation of new research, to hear about how we are addressing these needs in our own community, and a discussion of the tools and techniques parents might use to navigate these new situations.

Advancement Office – Gautami Ramachandhran, Advancement Director

SAVE THE DATE: Inspiration Conversation (Tuesday, October 12)

Join Storyteller and Performer Vikram Sridhar as he takes us on an engaging journey through the cultural significance and folklore behind water storage systems across India. With his signature style of storytelling, Vikram is an engaging performer based in Chennai and Bangalore. You can watch his TedX talk on "The Power of Stories in Our World of Reality" here.

When: Tuesday, October 12, 4:15–5:00 p.m. IST

Where: Join us on Zoom here (Passcode: AISC)

Meeting ID: 971 8034 3916
Passcode: AISC

Whom: Open to students, faculty/staff, and parents!

Parent Relations – Deborah Allen, Director of Admissions and Parent/Alumni Relations

PCA Monthly Meeting - Monday, October 11th, 2:00-3:00 p.m.

Please join us on Monday, October 11th, for the next PCA Monthly Meeting! At this meeting you will have the opportunity to learn more about Indian festivals with an interactive and fun Kahoot game. We will also be introducing a PCA Book Group, and our very own ES/MS librarian, Ms. Babs, will come to talk about the books. Please join us to find out more.

PCA Monthly Meeting: Click the Raptor meeting icon to get the zoom link

Meeting ID: 945 2831 2597 // Passcode: 619915

Student and Parent School ID Badges for 2021-2022

Middle School students will receive their ID badges when they collect their PanBio kit. Elementary School students will receive their ID badges on their first day back on campus.

Parent ID badges can be picked up from the main security desk starting on Monday, October 11.

Pick up time is between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. or between 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Monday to Saturday:

High School students can pick up their parents’ ID badges while they are at school.
Parents can pick up their ID badges (and spouse) themselves during the pick up time stated above.
If you want your cards to be picked up by someone else, kindly send an authorization letter with ID verification.

Write to Seema Thomas (tseema@aischennai.org) if you have any questions.

NESA Parents as Partners Series - Webinar #4, Tuesday, October 19th, 6:30 p.m.

Please register 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 specialists.

Upcoming: Webinar #4, Getting the Most from the Marshall Memo -- Presented by Kim Marshall on Tuesday, October 19, 2021, 6:30pm IST

Every week, Kim Marshall reads and skims about 150 articles from a wide range of publications and chooses 8-10 that are most relevant for K-12 educators and families. He then writes a short summary of each and sends the Marshall Memo to subscribers around the world. In this webinar, Kim will describe how the Memo got started 18 years ago, how it's evolved, and how you can put it to best use.

Recordings from the first webinars:

Journeying Together: Parents as Partners in Social Emotional Learning, Presented by Ellen Mahoney

A Parent’s Guide to the Science of Attention, Presented by Andrew Watson

In Our Classrooms, In Our Schools: What is the Story of Learning?, Presented by Mark Church

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.

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.

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:
A - Annual Medical Form	All students every year	Parent - digital form
B - Physician’s Medical Form	New students and those entering grades 3, 6, or 9	Physician - hard copy
C - Medications	Any students that take medicine during the school day.	Parent with attached hard copy of prescription
D - Allergies and Asthma	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

We are excited to be welcoming ES and MS students back to campus starting November 1. To make sure your children are ready to return, parents need to complete some tasks. Expect a personalized email in your inbox on October 13. This will contain a list of forms and procedures, as well as helpful links and ways to get support from our Raptor Safe teams. For those of you who have children in high school, this will be a review. For those families with children in middle and elementary school, we ask that you read these materials carefully and communicate any questions or concerns as they arise. Completing these essential tasks as early as possible will ensure a smooth transition back to being on campus again.

The deadline for completing return to campus tasks is October 22.

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

For questions about technology or communications, please contact Greg Clinton, Director of Technologies and Research & Development, 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 are 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.

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 1^st.
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 177 confirmed COVID-19 cases in our community since January 2021, with 9 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.