61. Coronavirus Update: Update on DaNang Quarantine and New Faculty Arrivals

Dear Faculty and Staff,

As we start the last weekend of the holiday, I wanted to check in with you and provide you with a few pertinent updates. In this email, you will find information about our in-service days, the status of our new faculty, and those members of our faculty on self-quarantine. First of all, I want to wish you all a restful last few days of vacation. I look forward to the day soon when we are all back together on campus.

Opening of School

In case you are wondering, we expect to be opening physically on August 13, despite the recent tightening of health and safety measures in HCMC. However, we must all work together to ensure that we are ready to conduct a virtual school opening if that is warranted. We are fortunate to have added two professional development days into our beginning of year schedule this year to allow us to be really well prepared.

Faculty In-Service Days

Although much of our PD will be done virtually, anyone who is cleared for coming to school on Tuesday should be here. David Chadwell has shared the full in-service schedule, which you can find here. However, please keep in mind that this is a fluid situation and it may still change.

During the in-service days, there is also individual planning time, which some may use to help set up classrooms, and this time can also be used by teams to determine how to cover and support those teachers who cannot be on campus physically. Hence, it is critical that you report to school on Tuesday if you have been cleared by the nurse.

DaNang Update

Several of our faculty and staff who are on self-quarantine as a result of visiting Quang Nam province during the month of July, have been tested at the local CDC with the support of our nursing staff. Those who have not yet been tested will be tested next week and will need to remain in self-quarantine until their quarantine is completed and they have been approved to return by Lisa Chute, Nurses’ Office Manager.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Lisa and our nursing staff for the incredible work they are doing. None of us could have foreseen the extent to which this would affect us. However, we are grateful that it will not impact the start of school.

New Faculty Update

As I informed you in my last letter, 14 members of the new faculty arrived in Vietnam this past Monday, July 27. I have been in touch with them, and am happy to report that they are all doing fine. I’m impressed with their continued resilience and optimism. We can’t wait to welcome them onto campus.

Two more faculty members, arriving from Europe, are on track to land in Saigon, tomorrow Sunday, August 2, at which time they will begin their 14-day quarantine.

Dependent visas for new faculty dependents have finally been approved, so we are now working on flights for all of the remaining new hires and dependents (24 in all). As I’ve mentioned before, bringing in our new teachers and their families has been an extraordinarily complex and unpredictable undertaking. But, we’ve overcome many challenges this past year, and we’ll continue to work on finding a way to overcome this one too.

I appreciate the flexibility of the existing faculty, as we work together over the course of the next few weeks to ensure that our students experience the care and excellence that they deserve despite the many challenges.

I hope you have a restful and enjoyable weekend. I’m excited to catch up with all of you next week either in the virtual or the physical world.

All good wishes,

Catriona