Welcome Back!

Weeks Ahead: August 3-14

Welcome back!  Such a different summer for most of us. I think all of us who were here this summer were able to benefit from the 99 COVID free days Vietnam experienced. Like many, Andy and I found ourselves in places of incredible beauty and were able to relax and enjoy Vietnam in new ways. We found ourselves to be the only guests in a hotel from time to time, found ourselves the only tourists in places where there are usually throngs of tourists, and benefited from amazing deals in great locations. I’m struck by how much gratitude I feel.

That being said … the 2020-2021 school year will for sure be impacted by the pandemic. We aren’t going back to “normal.” We will still have to focus on heath and safety issues that we have previously not had to think anything about. Things won’t always be comfortable; we are all still concerned about loved ones located in other places; there are many unknowns that we don’t even know are unknowns right now. And we can still be grateful. Even as I am home in self-quarantine (yes, I traveled through the Danang airport recently and will be at home all next week too), I am grateful for the continued action of the Vietnamese government in trying to minimize the spread of COVID.

So another first: starting the school year during a pandemic. But based on how we handled the last “first” (ending the school year during a pandemic), I have nothing but confidence about how all of the next “firsts” will go.

Start of the Year Information

New Faculty Members: We are so excited to have 14 of our new faculty members already here in Vietnam. For the middle school, this includes Ana Maria Gomez, Kelley McKenna, Daisy Lo, and Andrew Ward. If all goes as expected, this group will leave quarantine on August 10. The next 2 new faculty members will depart from London on Aug. 1 (send lots of positive thoughts). For MS, this will include Craig Morris. If all goes as expected, they will be out of quarantine on August 16. We are still awaiting details on when the next group will depart. This includes the many dependents who have not been allowed to travel yet. For MS, this includes Tyler Banks, Hillary Banks, and Rebecca Lozano. We believe we will get dependent visas on August 3rd. Once those visas are in hand (they are approved, they just aren’t issued), we will get this last group in as quickly as possible.

Whether on site, in route, or in quarantine, all of these new faculty members are eager to get started! For those not on site, will be using the model we implemented in May/June for faculty members who were teaching from the US. I have been working to find subs to assist these teachers as they start the year remotely.

Faculty Inservice Days: Speaking of working remotely … I, alas, am in the group who must self-quarantine due to travel through / in Danang. Between new faculty off site and current faculty off site, we have moved all faculty inservice training sessions to happen in the virtual world. All faculty who can be physically on campus are expected to be on campus. Those who are not able to be physically on campus are expected to be online for the entirety of the work day (except for time set for individual planning and preparation). Please let me know as soon as possible if you have any questions about this.

COVID Measures: With the Danang situation, we are all reminded how quickly things can change. We will be using the same health and safety protocols that we ended the year with. All of them. We will review this next week, but I wanted to ensure you were all prepared for the full safety measures to in place.

Master Schedule: Okay … not the easiest thing to build. But major priorities were achieved. This includes meeting the vast majority of student first choice course selections, all grade level team members having a common prep. As with last year, I was only partially successful with department preps. This year, ELA (semesters 1 and 2) and Social Studies (semester 1) departments do not have all members off together. However, there are a few ways for these departments to group together.

You will also notice that we have several new high school faculty members assisting us this year. We are so thankful for their support as it helped us meet the priority of having all grade level team members on the same prep. Huge thanks to Lisa Swiercinsky, Anh Nguyen, Nathan Larson and Ted Barnwell for making a last minute shift in their course assignments.

We are bursting at the seams in the middle school. We are opening with 289 students. This means that student schedules are very tight. We tried very hard to keep class sizes at 24 or less. However, there are a few that crept to 25. There is nothing we can do at this point to adjust those. I owe those teachers a favorite treat or two 😉 The other thing that this will impact is the ability to make adjustment to student schedules. This will be very limited. The priority will be making adjustments to EAL and LS student schedules and to correct any placement mistakes (math and world languages). You can view the master schedule in the links below.

Important Docs and Materials:

• MS Faculty Handbook (check out new sections)
• Master Schedule
• Possible Timetables (we will discuss options)
• Grade Level Teams, Team Mtg / Dept Mtg
• MS Student Handbook

Student Orientation and Transition Program, Aug. 13-Sept. 4:  We will be using advisory time from Aug. 13 – Sept. 4 to continue with the orientation and transition program we put into place 2 years ago.  The incredible work of the team from the past two years will be built upon as we go through the in-service divisional sessions.  Here are links to last year’s program:

• Dragon Days 19-20 Program
• Dragon Days 19-20 Slideshow

Okay – so here is what’s up next two weeks:

Monday, August 3
10-12 MS Leadership Team Meeting
1:30-3  Admin Mtg (Molly attends)

Tuesday, August 4
All Faculty Report
Full Faculty In-Service Schedule

Wednesday, August 5
Full Faculty In-Service Schedule

Thursday, August 6
Full Faculty In-Service Schedule

Friday, August 7
Full Faculty In-Service Schedule

Saturday/Sunday August 8/9
9-3:00 Buildings Air-conditioned

Monday, August 10
Full Faculty In-Service Schedule

Tuesday, August 11
Full Faculty In-Service Schedule

Wednesday, August 12
Full Faculty In-Service Schedule

Thursday, August 13
1-3:00 Student Orientation

Friday, August 14
20-21 Opening Day Schedule

Upcoming (on the radar)

• Aug. 27  6-8:30pm MS Curriculum Night (format to be determined)
• Oct. 28 PSAT for G8-11

Sunshine Committee – The Sunshine committee is a group that focuses on the wellbeing of the division by planning events and providing support to faculty members at key times.   In addition to monthly birthday celebrations and organization of departmental breakfasts, Sunshine shows random acts of kindness, flowers and other items to celebrate milestone events in our lives.  We will be asking for a 500,000 VND contribution to be paid in the first weeks of school (you can give this to Hang) to help fund their endeavors.  If you are interested in serving on the Sunshine Committee, bringing joy and excitement to our division, be sure to sign up!