Dear AISC,
Happy Earth Day! Thank you to everyone who has supported our efforts this week to call attention to our relationships with the environment and to the environmental issues that are closest to us!
We have just a few updates below regarding the coming weeks.
First, here are a few captures of student experiences his week.
On Campus Reminders
& Updates - Ryan McFarland, Student Life Director
Earth Week
Today concluded our Earth Week activities, but AISC is committed to being responsible for our impact on the environment. More than 20% of the school's peal electrical needs are met with solar panels on our campus. we have high-efficiency LED lighting, make appropriate use of our food waste and even have a full water treatment plant om campus and reuses our water for flushing toilets and watering plants. None of those are new, but should recognized and celebrated for their long-term impact.
This week we started and will continue concerted effort to recycle paper from classrooms and offices and reducing water by installing aerators on our faucets. We're also starting to collect recyclables from homes like yours. For now we would really like to have e-waste, including cables, computers, phones, cameras, keyboards, headphones, and printers. We're also committing to offsetting the carbon created during next year's travel made on behalf of the school, so we'll make our sports, professional development, MUN, or other trips carbon neutral as well as our school's bus runs. We're making strides to ensure being environmentally responsible is embedded in our practices throughout the school.
COVID-19
At this moment there are 3 students and 5 parents that are COVID positive. It's still important to be vigilant. Best practices in prevention are still good masks, ample ventilation with clean air, and avoiding crowds. Vaccination is consistently demonstrating reduced severity. Delhi reported over 1,000 new cases of COVID two days ago, and over 950 yesterday, which is nearly 10 times the number they had two weeks ago. The first chart below is the last month in Delhi. The second chart is from January 2021 to now and shows that what Delhi does, Tamil Nadu does a little later and bit bigger. We are not done with this. Well, we might be so done with it, but it's not done with us,
Updated! Project Get
Back Update
In the coming weeks, we are phasing-in the following routines/activities while maintaining our RaptorSafe Protocols:
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 Nursery
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.
Next Week At-A-Glance
Health Office Update
Dengue
Update
We presently have one case of dengue within the school community, in spite of our efforts to keep our campus free of mosquitoes through regular pest control. We urge you to be vigilant and reach out to your doctor, if you have any signs of symptoms of dengue such as fever, rash, body ache and malaise. You can find more information here.
Reminder
- Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease (HFMD)
The city of Chennai is seeing a recent surge in the Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD). It is a common viral illness that usually affects infants and children younger than 5 years old. However, it can sometimes occur in adults. Symptoms of hand, foot, and mouth disease include fever, blister-like sores in the mouth (herpangina), and a skin rash in the hands and feet. More details on this disease can be found here in this link.
AISC currently does not have any cases of HFMD.
We request parents to be watchful and consult your paediatrician immediately should your child develop any symptoms. Please do not send your child to school if he/she has any symptoms of HFMD.
Reminder
- 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.
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 keep the COVID-19 curve flat.
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 322 confirmed COVID-19 cases in
our community since January 2022, with 8 active cases 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:
AGM Head of School Presentation – April 13, 2022 | 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