Weekly Update from the Secondary School

Dear parents, 

So, as some of you may know, I am a big fan of American Football. Being from Texas, this is something of a cultural expectation, and one that I happily rise up to meet. 

This past weekend I spent more than a fair amount of time watching college football. I watched traditional powerhouses plow over weaker opponents. I saw massive underdogs rise up to defeat traditional powers (who is Jacksonville State?). I also saw teams with amazing potential play horrendous football because they could not adjust to change. Unfortunately, this last example is best exemplified by my Texas A&M Aggies, but the season is still early. 

What sports taught me is that “potential” only matters up until the game starts, and what happened when this game started? We were forced by an injury to pivot to a new situation, and adjust our plans to account for change. The big takeaway here is that you can have all the best individuals, with all the talent in the world. You can have the best plan, with contingencies mapped out in excruciating detail. You can have the best intentions, and security in your ethical correctness. None of that matters until you are expected to improvise in the face of the unexpected. 

That is something we try to instill in our kids at AISL. It would be very straightforward to prepare them for their futures if this was 30 or 40 years ago. Things were more set then. Today we have to build in them the skills to quickly analyze and adapt to changing environments. One of the most prevalent cliches in education is that “we are preparing kids for jobs that don’t yet exist.” Too often this is interpreted as being simply a call for more STEAM education. That’s not how I read it. 

The way I see it is that we need to prepare our kids to decode, interpret, analyze, plan and execute in the face of constant and unrelenting change, the pace of which accelerates as technology advances. That is what traditional education lacks, and the big advantage of the IB framework. 

A few logistical items:

1. Students can have Excused Absences for the following circumstances:
   1. Illness
   2. Family emergencies
   3. Religious observances
   4. School sponsored activities
   5. Other reasons than those listed above, which are beyond the control of the student or the family. 
2. From the Secondary Handbook:
   1. “Parents are asked to report an absence on the day it occurs before 07:15. The best way to do so is via email to [email protected]. If no email was sent, when upon returning a student who has been absent must provide a parent note to the Secondary office staff explaining the reasons for the absence.  Students are expected to submit all missed assignments within two days of an absence.”
   2. “Special arrangements can be made in the case of prolonged illness, or family emergency to help students stay up-to-date with their responsibilities.”
   3. “Attendance is recorded each class period and students must be present for a minimum of 90% of the scheduled class periods for each course during a semester. Absences exceeding 10% of scheduled classes during a semester may result in loss of course credit for the semester as determined by the administration. Students may not be allowed to travel on school-sponsored trips if it will cause their total absent days from school (including excused absences) to exceed 10% per semester. This travel restriction may be waived by the principal based on strong achievement and ATL development or extenuating circumstances beyond the student’s control.”

 

1. Campus is still restricted. If you need to come to campus during school hours, please contact whomever you are meeting so that they can let the guards know to allow you in with a visitor’s badge. 
2. Please do not drop off lunch at the gate. It pulls the guards away from their duty to manage student lunches. 
3. If your child needs to move from Path 1 to Path 3, and it is not simply a temporary sick day or the like, that information needs to come from a parent. If you wish for your child to change learning paths, please send that request to [email protected]. After we receive a parent request, the Leadership Team will review each case and communicate with parents and their children. 
4. In a related note, excused absences: If your child needs to miss school for any reason, please notify us at [email protected] , as well as all your child’s teachers. Also, please let us know the reason for the absence. This way we can identify the absence as excused. Examples of excused absences include (but are not necessarily limited to): personal illness, family emergencies or religious observances.  
5. In another related note: remember that Path 3 is available for students who are in special circumstances which preclude them from joining us on campus. Path 3 is NOT available to students to facilitate a vacation/trip during school days. 

 
For further clarification please refer to the attendance policy in the Secondary Handbook. 


Thanks to you all. AISL wouldn’t be the same without you. Have a great weekend!
Dr. Rick Odum​