Dear Parents-
We are very close to finally being able to get back to school. We hope you and your children are as ready and excited to return to a more normal routine as we are. This letter is simply to provide details and clarifications about a few remaining questions.
Tuesday the 25th will be A Day. We will start as we always do, with Homeroom at 7:45 am, with no other modifications to the schedule. Athletics will begin after school as noted in emails that coaches will be sending to all students soon. Clubs will begin as previously planned and as noted in the bulletin the kids will see when they arrive on Tuesday.
In order to reclaim some school days we are doing the following:
We are canceling the two Parent/Teacher/Student conference days that otherwise would have been at the end of our first week back. If you would still like to meet with your child's teachers, please contact them directly and they will set up an appointment with you.
We are canceling the three exam days at the end of the year. This was something we had been planning for a while and I will send you more information about that at a later date. We will still be having appropriate summative assessments at the end of the year but we will do those within the regular school schedule. This will gain us back valuable teaching time.
The Professional Development day that was scheduled for teachers on April 3 that was a holiday for the students will now be a regular school day for everyone.
We will not be administering the CTP or WRaP standardized tests this year as we end up losing almost three days of teaching time as well as more than a week of homework.
All told we figure this gains us back close to nine teaching days. With what we were able to cover over the days we were closed, we feel confident we will be right where we always planned to be at the end of the year. In the first few days after returning to school all teachers will assess, both formally and informally, where their students are and, as necessary, we will offer dedicated extra help times to ensure we catch-up those students who are behind. The rest of the year will continue as scheduled with the Third Quarter ending on March 20. We want all students to know that we are going to do everything we can to be sure that their Third Quarter learning is not unfairly affected by the closure.
Please click on this link to read the set of protocols for entry into school, the use of masks, handwashing, and other safety concerns. Please read that carefully to ensure a smooth and safe return to school.
Please do not hesitate to let us know if there are any other questions you might have. Thank you for your ongoing patience and flexibility and I hope that you and your family are well.
All the best,
Josh Budde
Middle School Principal
Taipei American School