1 MINUTE OF YOUR HELP IS NEEDED!

Each January, international school directors all over the world must predict school enrollment for the coming year in order to determine the number of faculty and materials required and plan their school budgets. I am peering into the crystal ball now to try to see the future!

I ask your assistance to help predict this as accurately as possible. Kindly complete the 1-minute survey at link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1wfb6pjJ1KoifAfO53lzQtH8uLfkjzU-ELH5OkroK3hI/edit

As we head back to school and continue Semester two, the Board, Leadership and Finance Team will continue to meet to review school policies as well as financial planning and update where necessary. Our goal continues to be to ensure that AISB remains an outstanding educational institution with a focus on community and character values and a sustainable long-term financial operating plan.

We encourage you to share information about AISB with your friends, neighbors, contacts and associates. We hope that families who are new to The Congo choose AISB and would love to welcome new students from families who already live here, especially in our successfully expanding school program.

Thank you as always to the parents for your participation, guidance and support and to the AISB teachers and staff who are so committed to our students and to helping them excel. We look forward to a fabulous new year for the AISB community!

Sincerely,

Dr. Laura Viban

Ed.D in Educational Leadership & Management

Director

• Teachers are now wrapping up with assessments and report cards to be out soon. Parents whose students have missing assignments have been given a chance and reminded to submit all pending work.

• The 3rd Quarter and 2nd Semester will be begin on February 1, 2021.

• Secondary students will experience a change in some elective courses. Middle School Art and Technology classes will become Music and High School Music and Drama classes will switch to Art and Technology. A student list for these classes will be shared with them soon. Students in the Chinese, Spanish and ELL Support Programs will continue till the end of the year.

For parents, this means the deadline for second semester tuition is here. Any student with tuition balances should according to our tuition policy not attend classes as from February 1. Late payment penalty will henceforth be implemented at this time. We hope that you will ensure your child's education is uninterrupted by meeting up with your financial obligations.

We will identify students in need of support and provide a variety of ways to remediate such as providing after school support, preparing work packets to be done at home and during holiday periods, etc. We will need your collaboration to implement this program to further support your children, our students. This will begin as soon as all diagnostic tests are made available.

• The Spring break will be extended by a week.

• AISB will make up for the extended week by having 3 full Wednesdays and 1 full Saturday School in February (dates to be announced soon).

• This should give 5 instructional days to enable us extend the Spring break without altering the calendar.

• School will resume on March 29.

• Please plan accordingly.

AISB requires all staff and parents to comply with our COVID Mitigation Protocols to keep our community risk as low as possible. This includes quarantine when you or a family member tests positive. In addition, the consistent use of masks, sanitizing and social distancing measures will be enforced at school.

We understand that at some point, an AISB community member will contract COVID. We hope that these measures will help minimize transmission to other AISB students and staff to the greatest extent possible.

Masks

• Your child must have a face mask on at all times when on campus.
• S/he must bring an extra mask in a plastic bag as a back up.
• Students or staff who refuse to wear a mask will be barred from entry.

• No food sharing is permitted at this time.
• Send your child with a healthy snack and lunch or pay for school lunch along with a filled, reusable water bottle.
• No sodas or fizzy drinks should be sent, and fruits should be sent rather than cookies, cakes or candy/chocolate bars.

If your child exhibits COVID symptoms during the school day, s/he will be isolated immediately and you will be called to collect her/him. Ensure we have your current working phone number.

If you or any household staff or family member shows COVID symptoms or is confirmed to have COVID -- KEEP YOUR CHILD(REN) AT HOME and inform the Director. Close contacts of a confirmed case will be asked to quarantine and attend school online via Zoom. or Google Meet.

If your child shows symptoms or is confirmed to have COVID, immediately inform the Director so we can instruct his/her class to quarantine and move to online learning while we conduct contact tracing to identify Close Contacts.

1. AISB Faculty and Security Staff oversee students and dismissal until all students are collected. Students not collected by 3:30 p.m. will be handed over to the Director / office staff.

2. AISB students are only allowed to depart campus with the persons who are named/registered with AISB for pick up, including:

• the parent/guardian;
• a family driver/nanny who has been registered with AISB;
• hired transport company staff who have been registered with AISB.

3. For the safety of your child(ren), we do NOT allow any student to leave:

• alone;
• with a friend/classmate;
• with the parent/driver of a friend or classmate;
• in a hailed taxi cab / minibus....

4. Let us know who can collect your child:

• Email the Director the names and photos of any drivers other than parents/guardians who may collect your children;
• If using a regular hired taxi, email the Director the license plate number of the vehicle that will be used and send a photo of the taxi driver.
• Email the Director if you wish to allow your child to depart with the parent/guardian of another child.

• Email the Director if you wish to allow your high school child(ren) to depart campus unaccompanied.

And always state whether the permission is granted for only one specific date or for any date during the school year.

Faculty are ready to offer both Zoom/Google Meet and live lessons simultaneously while students quarantine. This should continue through January but will not be sustainable long term since teaching in person and online simultaneously quickly leads to stress overload.

You can Liaise with the homeroom teachers for any support materials.

Since we could not carry out the activities meant to celebrate this day in an all-school assembly, I am sharing these resources for everyone to explore and learn more about the ideals MLK stood for then, that still hold true today.

Have a pleasant weekend!

Sincerely,

Dr. Laura Viban

Ed.D in Educational Leadership & Management

Director

American International School of Brazzaville

director@aisbrazza.org / www.aisbrazza.org