An unfortunate event during Tet Holidays

Dear Faculty and Staff –

Just after we broke for Tet holidays, an incident occurred at ISHCMC. Attached is a letter which was sent to all SSIS parents informing them of the situation. This was sent during Tet to try and address a number of rumors and misinformation that were making their way through our community.

This year the admin team has been working on a major project regarding all handbooks, policy manuals and procedures at SSIS. We have been working to organize these, to write policies where none existed before (at least in a formal way), and to eliminate contradictions across departments or divisions.

One important part of this has been the SSIS Crisis Manual. While we have always had, and practiced, school building evacuations (think fire drills in the first and second semester), this manual was badly in need of organization, revision and updating.

In this we have have had help from other schools and from contacts in various organizations locally and internationally.

The events before Tet gave new urgency to have this published and available to faculty and staff. The admin team has one more scheduled discussion of the crisis manual tomorrow and then a draft version will be shared with you for comment and suggestions. I must remind you, as I will time and time again I’m afraid, that this document and its contents are not to be shared with anyone outside this community. To do so may reduce the safety of us all.

I’m sorry that we are coming back to this news. However, let us all remember that Vietnam is a very soft, very safe landing, that we have tremendous support from the larger Phu My Hung organization, and that our hosts, the Vietnamese people and their government, have been welcoming and supportive of this school.

Sincerely yours,

Mark

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Subject: Event at HCMC International School this week

Dear Members of the SSIS Community –

On Wednesday, 3 February 2016, SSIS began its Tet Holidays and I hope that each of you is enjoying your time with family and friends. Many of our teachers and students are scattered to the four corners of the globe. To each of them, we offer wishes for good travels and a safe return to Ho Chi Minh City next week.

While I do not wish to disturb your vacations, I need to make you aware of an incident which occurred at another international school on Thursday, 4 February 2016.

On that afternoon a bomb threat was telephoned in to the offices of ISHCMC (The International School of Ho Chi Minh City). The school buildings were evacuated, the students eventually dismissed for the day, and the buildings were searched, though no devices were found.

In recent weeks international schools around the world have received similar threats including schools in the United States, Norway, Hungary, Sweden, Belarus, the Netherlands, Finland, South Africa, Japan, and Australia. In no case have any devices been found in any of these schools. Thursday’s threat here in Vietnam, while serious, was not completely unexpected.

We hold the safety and security of your children at SSIS as our top priority, even above teaching and learning. We took steps on campus this summer to improve security and we appreciate the cooperation and support of our teachers, students and parents. While all security comes at the price of convenience, controlling the entrance to our campus is an essential first step towards ensuring safety for all.

The incident at ISHCMC has led us to audit our procedures and take additional steps of our own at SSIS. I am sure each of you can understand why we will not discuss the exact nature of those steps here in this communication, but they involve a revaluation of our practices, closer cooperation with security in District 7, and working with local authorities.

Should we ever experience something similar at SSIS, we, too, will treat it with the utmost seriousness and inform our community at the earliest opportunity.

There is a possibility that your children may hear of this unfortunate incident. Each of you knows best how and when to share this news with your children. While threats in this world are real, we are fortunate to live here in Vietnam with the good will of the Vietnamese people, the support of the Vietnamese government, and the hundreds of good people here in Phu My Hung and at SSIS for whom the safety of our students and their parents is of primary importance.

Sincerely yours,
Mark Iver Sylte, Head of School