Week Ahead: March 7-11

The team work needed to get through last week and through this week has been and will be extraordinary.  There are so many moments where you as colleagues supported each other ensuring that learning continued and students could stay on campus.  It was and is inspiring.  I wish I could wave a magic wand and have this wave of COVID be over.  Since I can’t do that, I will just keep trying to support the faculty who are sick, on F1 status, or doing other important business/appointments.  We will communicate as quickly and efficiently as we can.

Just getting off the phone with Thao, confirming communication with ES and HS about subs … and have come up with this picture for Monday.  We have 12 people out, 11 of whom need physical coverage in the classroom.  That’s 19 classes to cover and 7 advisories.  We have 3 subs to help us which is wonderful (and better than I thought it would be).

I know when you cover for classes it means you cannot do the work you are supposed to do during that time.  We are working to find ways to minimize the coverage requests.  The fluid nature of who is out, sick, teaching virtually, and students attending virtually or not makes it a bit difficult.  BUT we are looking at a system to use the library for passive supervision when physical class size is small and the teacher is teaching virtually.

  Welcome Floren Sanchez!  Floren will be teaching Sonia Ortiz’s Spanish classes while Sonia is out on a medical leave (please note that she is okay but must attend to pressing health issues).  Floren will be with us and teaching virtually until April 4.  Floren is Gema Luque’s partner and a huge thanks to Floren and Gema for supporting the students during Sonia’s absence.

Here is what’s up this week:

Monday, Mar. 7
A-D

Tuesday, Mar. 8
E-H
3:15-4:30 MS Leadership Team (check in mtg)

Wednesday, Mar. 9
A-D
3:15-4:30 MS Divisional: Curriculum Documentation

Thursday, Mar. 10
E-H
*Happy Birthday Kelley McKenna!

Friday, Mar. 11
A-D
*Happy Birthday Ryan Butz!

Upcoming (on the radar)

• March 24-25: Student Led Conferences

Comments for Q3:  Comments and grades for Q3 are due March 21.  I cannot urge you strongly enough to write 3 basic comments for your course based on 3 typical levels of performance and use those in the comment bank.  Please, please, please do not spend hours on comments.  If more than 1 person teaches the same course, you could use the same set of 3 comments between the teachers.  If I can help you word-smith those comments, I am happy to do so.

When identified as an F0 or F1:  If you, or another person living or working with you, gets a positive rapid test result, follow these steps:

1. Notify the school via SSIS Nurse Hotline: 090 994 1100 to confirm next steps. You can call, text, Whatsapp, or Zalo.
2. The nurse will tell you if a confirmation test is required and let you know the quarantine requirements.
3. Based on the length of quarantine required, apply for the appropriate leave type on the SSIS HR Portal. Your first day of requested leave is your first date of absence from campus. Please see leave types, below:

 Sick Leave Day:  F0 – Use sick leave days if you test positive and are sick. If your sick leave balance does not fully cover your absence, please contact HR Manager, Ha Noi (hnguyen@ssis.edu.vn) for further support and guidance. Do not work if you are sick.

School Business Leave Day:
F0 – Use school business leave if you test positive but are not sick (i.e., don’t have symptoms) and you are approved to work from home by your divisional head. You must state clearly in the “Leave Reason” that you are F0 and working from home. You must contact your division head to notify them and to arrange a substitute, if needed. There will be no leave deduction and the school will pay the substitute fee, if applicable.

F1 – Use school business leave if you are identified as F1 and you are approved to work from home by your divisional head. State clearly in the “Leave Reason” that you are F1 and that you are working from home. You must contact your division head to notify them and to arrange a substitute, if needed. There will be no leave deduction and the school will pay the substitute fee, if applicable.