Dear AISC,
As you may know, Andrew and Kay Hoover had to return to the United States to tend to an urgent family situation. We keep them in our thoughts as they support their ailing and aging parents. With such a short time remaining, it is unlikely they will return before the end of the school year.
Andrew would want us to enjoy the energy on campus right now - AISC is teeming with engagement and gratitude and, of course, emotions! I invite all of us to “lean in” to the wild ride of these final days together, savoring each moment and cherishing the amazing community of AISC!
Before the updates below, here are a few captures of student experiences this week.
Futures Planning at AISC – We Lean Into the Future
On Thursday, May 12th, our Community Planning Team met in person on a day-long retreat to review work completed this year on year-three of our rolling three-year Futures Plan, 2022-2025. This was another extraordinary year in which so much of what we accomplished wasn’t in anyone’s plans even a year ago. Nonetheless, by exercising our flexibility and our commitment, school leaders presented work completed on 14 goals this year, and the Community Planning Team approved next year’s 14 smart goals by consensus. Interested in some amazing school improvement details? You can see the Retreat Update in the Futures Planning Blog as well as the May Report which outlines the action plans of the 2022/23 goals.
The AISC Futures Plan is a shared vision of the future of the American International School Chennai. Following the extremely successful completion of our five-year Strategic Plan, the Futures Plan was drafted in 2018 through a year-long community-wide process of conversation, reflection, envisioning, and prioritizing. Our processes included and continue to include, among many, faculty meetings, Inspiration Conversations, Futures Summits, and Community Planning Team Retreats and Workshops.
In short, big ideas – what we think – drive our school improvement efforts – what we will do. Our Strategic Pathways are three-year vision statements, which inform goal-setting and action planning. Interested in learning more or participating? Our Community Planning Team is always looking for interested community members to join the deep conversations. Do connect with Greg (cgreg@aischennai.org)!
This Community Planning Team, now in its tenth year as a central innovation structure of the school, continues to serve the school community as an oversight, input, and feedback forum on the work of the Futures Plan. The Community Planning Team is composed of 33 community members – faculty, parents, students, administrators, alumni, parents of alumni, and Board members. The 2021-2022 Community Planning Team members are recognized in Information and Reminders below. Many, many thanks to these community members for their service to the AISC community.
Futures
Planning - Blog Update!
The work of our Futures Plan for 21/22 has come to an end! Read all about the final May Retreat, explore the presentation celebrating accomplishments and take a look at next year’s goals on the updated blog post by Joelle Basnight and Greg Clinton.
Wednesday Early Release Review
Early release Wednesdays have allowed faculty to engage in meaningful professional learning and collaboration throughout the year, making good use of the uninterrupted and extended 2 hour block of time.
As
a reminder, this time was used for:
- Engaging
in all-faculty learning regarding Diversity and Equity.
- Engaging
in all-faculty learning regarding the social/emotional recovery from the mental
health toll of the recent pandemic.
- Participating
in professional development "strands" in topics such as:
o
Making
Thinking Visible,
o
Supporting
high ability learners,
o
Engaging
empathy for courageous conversations about diversity,
o
Curriculum
planning through Understanding by Design
- Developing
and documenting AISC’s Curriculum,
- Exploring
student performance data to enhance instruction and,
- Attending to sectional goals and initiatives.
We greatly appreciate the community’s support for this important structured time as it supports both school improvement and student success.
Thank you in advance for your continued support of Early Release Wednesdays throughout the 2022/2023 school year.
Board of Directors Update
Parent
Participation on Council of Advisors
Our Council of Advisors (CoA) is composed of parents who serve on Board committees and assist us with our annual priorities. Each of them is an integral part in how our school operates. Further, CoA members are advisors to Board committees and are informed and involved members of the AISC community. CoA members receive opportunities to contribute to the Board's work and develop a deeper understanding of AISC as a mission driven educational institution. This will also be an ideal preparation for serving on the Board.
Commitment
All
Council of Advisors members should be:
- likely
to stay in Chennai and have children at AISC for at least 2 more years
(2022-2023 and 2023-2024);
- able
to commit to the requisite time for committee preparation and meetings –
depending on the committee, approximately 1 hour of preparation per meeting,
and one two-hour meeting per month;
- willing to abide by the Board of Directors’ code of conduct.
Committees Seeking Council of Advisors
Futures Committee: Oversee and lead on
the advancement of plans for facility development and strategic planning.
- Seeking
1 or 2 members with background/experience in admissions, strategic planning,
marketing/public relations, or business development. Preference for at least one member to have
strong ties with AISC professional communities (education, business, social
sector, etc.).
- Meeting schedule: meets about once a month on Friday mornings September-May.
Governance Committee: Oversees and leads on
the development of the Board of Directors – specifically, Board calendar
planning, Council of Advisors processes and structures, elections, and policy
review.
- Seeking
1 or 2 members with background/experience in policy review and writing,
non-profit elections, and communications.
- Meeting schedule: meets about once a month on Monday mornings September-May.
Individuals interested in our CoA are asked to submit an “Expression of Interest” form. If after reading the information above you are interested in serving on the CoA, please email Angeline Mohan directly (mangeline@aischennai.org) at your earliest convenience to obtain an Expression of Interest form.
Campus Updates - Ryan McFarland, Student Life Director
Dengue - We currently have 3 cases of dengue among students or staff. The past month and a half we have had a total of 13 cases of dengue, compared to the 8 cases we had in our highest year in the past. During mosquito season, AISC usually fogs for mosquitoes three times per week. We have increased the frequency to every day. Recently we had professionals come to campus and do an inspection and they identified additional preventative and active measures, which we have been taking.
Dengue is transmitted through mosquito bites, though not all species of mosquito can transmit dengue. The dengue mosquito is active during the day and can be identified by white markings on the legs. Dengue develops about a week after being bitten by an infected mosquito. Here is more information about dengue from the US CDC and Tamil Nadu Health & Family Welfare Department.
Dengue symptoms may seem a lot like COVID. And yet, not everyone that has dengue will even notice it. About two-thirds of people do not have a significant reaction to the dengue virus. The remaining third may experience fever, body aches, joint pain, eye pain, rashes, nausea, headache, and fatigue. About 5% of those affected experience severe symptoms and should seek medical attention immediately. As there are 4 different strains of dengue, people that have a response to one of the strains can still contract dengue three more times. In Chennai there are many natural and chemical repellents available. As a preventive measure, we recommend families to use repellent regularly during mosquito season. If you have questions about dengue contact the health office.
Library hours on Saturday - The Elementary Library will be open on Saturdays for parents to come on campus and check out books. From 8:30-12:30, from tomorrow, May 21st, through Saturday June 18th.
Updated! Project Get Back Update
In the coming weeks, we are phasing-in the following routines/activities while maintaining our RaptorSafe Protocols:
Next Week At-A-Glance
|
Date |
Event |
Details |
|
May 16-27 |
MS Art Exhibition |
FAC Atrium |
|
May 21 |
MS Theatre Production |
FAC Theater 2:00 pm |
|
May 21 |
PROM |
|
|
May 23-27 |
Senior Week |
|
|
May 23 - 24 |
Senior Retreat |
|
|
May 24 |
High School Farewell Assembly |
FAC Theater 1:25 pm |
|
May 25 |
Alumni Brunch 11:00-1:00 p.m. |
Madras Hall |
|
May 25 |
Early Release 2:30 p.m. Faculty Meetings 3:00-5:00 p.m. |
|
|
May 26 |
HS Recognition Ceremony |
FAC Theater 1:25 pm |
|
May 27 |
SummerJump Registration Begins |
|
|
May 28 |
Graduation |
FAC Theater 4:00 pm |
Thinking Ahead to AISC in 2022-2023 - Our Commitments Are Here
We have been here all year – dynamic, engaged, structured, flexible and committed – and we will be fully here next year. Our RaptorSafe campus is ready for students and teachers. We also have plans in the works and will be making a number of changes to enhance our programming, our scheduling, and our learning model flexibility. Check out our Commitments for the 2022-2023 school year here.
Stay connected.
Have a good weekend and a delightful week ahead!
Joelle Basnight
Acting Head of School
bjoelle@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 323 confirmed COVID-19 cases in
our community since January 2022, with 0 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 80% 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:
Community Planning Team Members – 2021-2022 | 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