DOS Letter to HIS Families Feb 20

Dear HIS Families, 

The weather has been beautiful in Hangzhou and we are pleased to note the return of many liberties and services now available in Hangzhou. We commend the National, Zhejiang and Hangzhou governments for their leadership during this time of uncertainty and containment of the novel coronavirus.  In particular, we must appreciate the original Hangzhou-centered design of the Alibaba platforms, which have allowed Hangzhou to take a lead in containment and increased mobility. Currently, families completing the Alipay ‘stoplight’ application (or alternative platform such as WeChat) and with no prior travel to Hubei and having no flulike symptoms may access a ‘green code’, which allows for greater mobility within the city.  Today we see many people back to work, enjoying a walk along the river, and shopping or receiving deliveries as in the past.  The biggest impact on our community has been the closure of the HIS campus.  While there has been no official announcement by the respective governments, HIS will remain closed through March 08 and E-learning will continue until the school re-opens.  Again, to be clear:

HIS will be closed through March 08 due to administrative decision.

We want to share some further information with our families regarding school opening, quarantine, and calendar dates.  Below is a very basic summary of current contingency plans:
 

1. Campus Closure: while the campus of HIS is closed through March 08, E-learning and access to ‘schooling’ will continue until we are officially allowed to open or March 09, whichever comes last.  In other words, the campus will remain closed and E-learning will continue through March 08 even if allowed to open earlier.  We are suggesting that families who wish to have their students be present for the re-opening consider making their way back.
    
2. Returning: While most families are in Hangzhou already, some have elected to keep their students with a spouse or other family member outside of China.  The green-code system accessible through Alipay and WeChat has been used very successfully in the past few days by families entering Hangzhou from places outside of China or provinces within China except Hubei.  Hangzhou has taken the lead in its initial quarantine and with the Alipay/WeChat system is now a leading city in the containment effort.  When we re-open on a Monday, E-learning will discontinue the Friday before.  Therefore, we are giving families notice to begin with preparations to come back if they plan to continue schooling once re-opened.  Note: most cities and provinces are following the Hangzhou strategies for containment and use of Alipay/WeChat green-code systems.  You may learn of further school closures and quarantine measures in other cities, but we are confident that Hangzhou has taken the lead in this epidemic and will have openings of business and schooling before.
    
3. Quarantine: The Alipay and WeChat QR Code systems are short and fairly easy to use.  Some families will have a member with cold or seasonal flu, our advice is to stay where you are until at least 48 hours after symptoms are over.  There are green, yellow and red codes used for these apps. 
    
4. Calendar: We will be converting the Professional Development (PD) days and the Student-Led Conference (SLC) day to school days for students.  SLCs will occur after school as scheduled by Principals.  We will keep our Spring Break week as no school. We appreciate those who have suggested we cancel Spring Break or move it forward; however, there are enough families and faculty who have made significant plans during this period and the E-learning program does require at some point that we take a break.  Reports will go out as scheduled and the end of year will go as planned on June 18.  Our commitment to international families is to provide access to a quality education that can be transportable to wherever they go.  In addition, we have exams and end of year assessments that cannot be moved due to the requirements of other international standards.  We are tentatively planning to offer class on the Saturday make-up day of April 11.  Students leaving HIS and/or choosing to go on summer holiday will receive semester reports and any documentation that shows they completed the year.  Those Early Years I to Grade 11 students re-enrolled for the 2020-21 school year will have the option to continue with a ‘Summer Extension’ for 10 more days at no additional tuition.  This program will end July 03.  Only students enrolled in week 1 of summer extension will be eligible to continue into week 2.  A survey will be sent to parents of re-enrolled students to confirm if they will attend the summer extension.  In total, this represents 14 more possible school days for returning students in addition to the E-learning school days.
    
5. Re-opening: once we return, HIS will take additional steps to improve campus environment safety.  This will include increased sanitization and health measures.  Parents will need to conduct a health check and temperature reading of their children before sending them to school.  We will make some adjustments to operations procedures to ensure maximum environmental health and safety.  Parents will not be allowed on campus without appointment during the month of March and ASA’s will not resume until after Spring Break (or at a specified date) so we can focus on student learning.  We will share more about how the youngest students will be taken in at entry.  This is not unusual in China, in fact, only international schools are as open for student arrival and parent involvement.  We feel this is an important measure to maximize the health on campus, focus on students, and ensure the administration is most capable of addressing the objectives of the re-opening. The playground and facilities will be closed after school, except for pre-approved athletics and clubs.  Parents will drop their students off at the gate in the morning and pick them up at the gate after school until a date is specified to allow a more open campus.  We will be focusing our time with students and reserving after school hours to provide additional support to students who may have struggled during the E-learning period.  We appreciate your understanding during this time and we will continue to offer some community exchanges offsite until we are prepared to open the campus to the entire community.
    

In order to make the Summer Extension period successful, we have asked for a commitment from at least 50% of faculty and staff to go beyond their contractual duties.  The Board of Directors has approved for these faculty and staff to receive an additional stipend for their support but the tuition will be free for students re-enrolled for the 2020-21 school year.  The Summer Extension will not be required learning, but the program will draw on prior-learning, expand on our General Learning Targets (GLTs) and utilize a transdisciplinary or interdisciplinary “DragonWeek’ or innovation/creation/design type concept, depending on grade level.  Principals will be forthcoming about plans for this week once we have resumed classes on campus.

For those outside of Hangzhou and wishing to be prepared for the campus opening, we advise to consider that it is time to start heading students back.  After considering all restrictions and limitations, we have no reason to convey any concern about health, services, supplies or threat of any sickness whatsoever.  

Take care and enjoy the sunshine wherever you are.  And please consider including some time for students to enjoy this weather as well during E-learning time.  It’s very important students get out of their apartment E-learning environment and into the fresh air and sun, count the ducks on the river and fly something!

We will provide another HIS Community update by next Thursday, February 27 or sooner if we receive important updates from the government.  Take care and look forward to seeing more of you soon.

Sincerely,

Jeffry R. Stubbs
Director of Schools
Hangzhou International School