Dear AISC,
This week with parents on campus for Conferences, we can feel the magnetism of getting back to our whole on-campus lives. Last week in these Notes, I reminded the community to keep eyes open to the continued spread of the Coronavirus in places across the globe. Remember, we are moving through this but we are NOT yet through this. (Please do keep your eyes on the progress of the Coronavirus across the globe.)
Nonetheless, we know we can continue to adapt our practices and protocols as the pervasiveness of COVID-19 has receded in our community and in Chennai.
Since the first semester of the 2020-2021 school year, AISC has used The Swiss Cheese Model of Virus Defence (see below) as a tool to help community members understand the multiple layers of practices and adaptations required to optimize health-safety in communities.
As community spread increased over the past two years, we engaged more layers of protection. Now, as community spread continues to recede, we are scaling back on the multiple layers of protection. Are we removing them? No! Some are, in effect, on hold, because we must stay prepared for possible future waves/surges.
Certain practices will likely be with us for some time in some form – mask-wearing, handwashing, ventilation, air filtration, health screening, testing, vaccinating (among others) will stay central to our approach to health-safety. But, we must also recognize the need to adapt these (and get our on-campus lives back!) as we see the signs that it is reasonably safe to do so. For example, most recently, we have moved from weekly testing to situational testing; we have moved from fully ventilated rooms to partially ventilated rooms.
As I wrote last week, please continue to bear with us as we exercise old and new organizational muscles to enrich our learning and living experiences on campus. Starting on Monday, April 4, mask-wearing will be optional when outside on-campus. See below in Return to Campus Updates for further explanation and detail.
Check out Project Get Back below as we continue to get-back to our rich campus life.
Here are a few captures of student experiences this week.
On Campus Updates - Ryan McFarland, Student Life Director
Outdoor Mask-Wearing Optional. Given that there are no cases among students and staff and no indication that the Coronavirus is being transmitted on campus, that new cases and hospitalizations in Chennai have been notably minimal for several weeks, and that we know the probability of transmission when outside is very low, starting Monday, April 4, using masks when outdoors on campus is optional.
Note that mask-wearing outside the entries in the pick-up and drop-off areas is required at all times.
Except for eating in the cafeterias, mask-wearing in all indoor learning and social spaces is required.
Testing. With testing not required for admission to campus and tests only in use for situational circumstances, we’re not issuing free rapid antigen kits. If a student is sick and testing for COVID-19 is necessary to help with the potential identification of cases, then we can supply test kits. Contact healthoffice@aischennai.org in the case of illness in the household where access to test kits may be helpful.
Positive cases. Once again, this week we had zero students or staff members that tested positive and had been on campus in the two days prior. We currently have 0 students and 0 staff members that are positive for COVID-19.
Updated! Project Get Back Update
Thank you PCA! Parent presence was also felt on campus this week as our PCA Network appreciated and nourished our faculty and staff with a delicious array of tasty and thoughtful treats on their Early Release Wednesday. Thank you to everyone who facilitated this effort on campus and to the many-many parents who so generously conveyed delights from home!
In
the coming weeks, we are phasing-in the following routines/activities while
maintaining our RaptorSafe Protocols:
Note on the Pool
Our pool is awaiting formal re-certification, which we are expecting any time. Once that happens, we will begin the process of re-opening the pool for community use.
Here
are the other aspects of campus life we are working to bring back soon…
- Interscholastic
team play
- ES
Movie Night
- Field
Trips
- HS/MS
in-person CareerX experiences
- AISC Staff Crèche
We will continue to welcome your questions, ideas and input as we continue to work on Project Get Back. Email Ryan McFarland or Andrew Hoover directly at mryan@aischennai.org or headofschool@aischennai.org.
Board of Directors Update
Biannual
General Meeting – Wednesday, April 13, 2022 at 8:45 to 9:45 a.m.
Association members have received the Agenda for the Biannual General Meeting of the Association that will be held on Wednesday, 13 April, 2022 at 8:45 a.m. virtually. Please join using the Zoom Link below and do not share this link outside our community.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://aischennai-org.zoom.us/j/91234568623?pwd=aTUyNzhBN1lpSHdQRnhMdFhrR0ljQT09
Meeting ID: 912 3456
8623
Passcode: AISC
Next Week At-A-Glance
|
Date |
Event |
Details |
|
April 2 & 3 |
ASBMUN (Mumbai) |
|
|
April 4-22 |
ES WIDA Testing |
|
|
April 4-13 |
Board of Directors Meet the
Candidates and Election Week |
|
|
April 4-8 |
IB Art Exhibition |
|
|
April 4 |
HS Parent Teacher Conference 8:00
a.m.-5:00 p.m. |
|
|
April 4 |
HS Celebration of Learning |
In-person (Madras Hall) 9:00-10:00 a.m. & 1:00-2:00
p.m. Virtual Presentations (link) |
|
April 6 |
Early Release 2:30 p.m. Faculty Meetings 3:00-5:00 p.m. |
|
|
April 7 |
Family Information Update |
|
|
April 8 |
CABARET @ 6:30
p.m. |
FAC Theater |
|
April 8 & 9 |
Cognitive
Coaching Days 7&8 |
Health Office Update – Vaccinations in Chennai for 15-18 Year-olds and 12-14 Year-olds
If anyone would like assistance coordinating vaccinations for your child 12 or older, please email healthoffice@aischennai.org.
For 15-18
Year-olds
Parents of children between 15 and 18 years of age received a direct communication from the School’s Health Office with details on vaccination camp at AISC campus today, Friday, April 1. Please check the email and indicate if you are interested by filling out the form linked within that communication.
For 12-14
Year-olds
As of now the vaccination for 12-14 year olds can only be booked through the COWIN portal. Linked here are the Guidelines for the COVID-19 vaccination for children between 12 and 14 years of age published by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
Parent Relations – Deborah Allen, Director of Admissions and Parent/Alumni
Relations
PCA
Election: Executive Committee 2022-2023
Please consider serving on the PCA Executive Committee for the 2022-2023 school year! Being a part of the Executive team is a rewarding experience and an opportunity to engage with the school, developing what often ends up being long lasting relationships with many members in our community. Self-nomination forms are available by emailing Seema Thomas at tseema@aischennai.org. Completed forms should be returned to Seema by 12:00 noon on Monday, April 18th. The PCA Elections will be conducted using an electronic ballot, the ballots will be open to the AISC community May 10-12, 2022, and results announced on Friday, May 13th.
NESA
Parents as Partners - Webinar #7, Tuesday, April 5th, 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.*
Join us for the Parents as Partners Webinar Series. To participate you may use the same link you used previously, or you may (re)register to receive an email with the link.
Webinar #7, Supporting Your Child's Learning Through Effective Guidance -- Presented by Garfield Gini-Newman on Tuesday, April 5, 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.*
*IMPORTANT: Daylight savings time in Europe -- webinar will start at 6:30pm IST.
For many children, assessments create stress and anxiety, yet when used effectively, assessment is one of the most powerful tools that can help to support their learning. In this webinar, Garfield will share a vision for learning that seamlessly weaves supportive assessment into daily learning. He will provide practical strategies that parents can use to guide their children's learning and nurture important habits such as curiosity and perseverance.
NOTE: If you are unable to attend, or you want to listen to the session again, the webinar recordings and slides from the previous sessions are posted on the Parents as Partners Info Hub a day or so after each session.
PCA April
Monthly Meeting, Monday, April 11, 2:15 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.
Please join us for the PCA April monthly meeting on the AISC campus!! This will be an in-person only event, virtual and hybrid options are not available, and you must be registered to attend the meeting: registration form. Covid protocols will be communicated on the registration form and a health screening form will be sent to registrants (same requirements as communicated for conferences). Special guest and veteran AISC teacher, Priya V., will be presenting information about living in Chennai and the changes to the area and our school over the past 20 years. We look forward to seeing you there!
Cabaret – From the AISC Theater Department
Cabaret, our student body’s annual showcase of their jaw-dropping talent is back this year! This year’s theme is “AISC’s still got Talent!” and our performers are continually reminding us how true that is! This has been a long time coming, but it will be great for us to get together and celebrate our resilient community.
We are pleased to welcome all parents, students and faculty members to the show. As per our current protocols, if you are not vaccinated and wish to attend the show, please contact Mr. Ryan McFarland (mryan@aischennai.org) for exemption information, and be prepared to present a recent negative RT-PCR test to enter campus.
We look forward to seeing you at the FAC Theater at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, April 8th!
Reminder - AISC Libraries - The #earthweek2022 Coming to AISC in April
The AISC
Libraries are collecting book donations now for our first ever Earth Week Book
Swap! If you have any pre-loved books (still in good condition) in any
language, for any age, and in any genre, please drop them off in the ES/MS or
HS libraries. For every two books you donate, you get a free book at the swap!
Please let Babs know on bbarbara@aischennai.org if you have any
questions.
Stay
connected.
Have an amazing week ahead!
Andrew A. Hoover
Head of School
headofschool@aischennai.org
COMMUNITY NOTES
Reminder – Student Protection – Michele Ness, School Psychologist/ES
Counselor
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.
FOR REFERENCE
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
We have reduced the data share in our Data Center to the four most relevant items right now: daily new cases, hospitalization data, community illness data, and local vaccines rates.
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, we are sharing daily new case
graphs in Chennai comparing the Omicron Surge to the two previous surges --
Alpha and Delta. (The x-axis is the number of days and the y-axis is number of
new cases/day.)
2. Below, we summarize the availability of emergency COVID Care in
9 major private hospitals in Chennai,
and of more 13,000 beds across Chennai in Community Health Centers (CHC) and
Communicable Disease Hospitals (CDH). COVID Care infrastructure and resources are
steadily returning to normal.
Percent of Chennai COVID-19 CHC and CDH Beds Available Since
January 1, 2022
3. Below we have 310 confirmed COVID-19
cases in our community since January 2022, with 1 active case currently,
including staff, students and family members. Active case individuals who expect
to be on campus observe a 10-day quarantine at home and require two negative
tests before returning to campus. Confidentiality is strictly observed.
4. Vaccination efforts continue in Chennai. More than 99% of the
adult eligible population Chennai has been vaccinated and more than 79% of the
adult eligible population of Chennai has been FULLY vaccinated. 76% of eligible
children in Chennai between the ages of 15-17 have been 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:
Head of School Coffee Presentation – March 10, 2022 | Head of School Coffee Q&A – March 10, 2022 | #MeetAISC Survey | AISC Community Directory – 2021-2022 | AISC Annual Calendar – 2022-2023 | Head of School Coffee Presentation – November 11, 2021 | Head of School Coffee Q&A – November 11, 2021 | 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