Important Survey
In the face of growing demand, we are currently planning for growth. To gauge our response to the upcoming midterm registration season and the potential for turnover during the winter holidays, we would like you to take our annual survey. But, we also want to know about younger siblings that will be applying for the next school year. You should know that current families of ASW are now allowed to apply early for admission of younger siblings for the 2019-2020 school year. If you are planning to apply for next year or are departing after January, please fill out our one-minute survey and we will contact you with more details.
Click here to complete the survey.
International Baccalaureate Global Conference
This week I wanted to share about my experience over the weekend with the International Baccalaureate Global Conference in nearby Vienna. This year marked the 50th anniversary of this organization and the experience of joining them for this celebration was all the more profound because of the recent verification visits in the prior two weeks. I wrote about that last week and enjoyed sharing with you the wonderful experiences of having strong practitioners in our midst sharing their reflections on our accomplishments.
All of this importantly points out the tremendous journey and accomplishment of the last two years. Our two coordinators, Ms. Rose and Ms. Swanson, presented this journey as a workshop at the conference. They shared the unique opportunity of building collaboration and cohesion around the core philosophy of the IB, and thoughtfully reflected on how staff came together to accomplish the work of changing our framework for learning. They shared, through stories and anecdotes, their reflections on the challenges and successes that were experienced along the journey. The many hours spent in highly engaged connected practice has developed a strong program that aligns our practice and our understanding of how children learn best. The mission of the IB is closely aligned to our own mission and our core values through their aims to “develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.” For us, this is about all of our core values, but especially the central theme of working together – because without us all, we’re nothing.
I’m thoughtful that the school today looks nothing like the ASW of 10 years ago. A recent article written by alumni of the school suggested that the school of that time was highly siloed and lacked cohesion around a set of core values that connect the community to common purpose. I value that their reflection of that time was likely accurate as the school grew into a new facility and started to become the mature institution of today. Many of the things that they suggested in their open letter to the board and the community now sit at the center of our goals and aspirations, and much of it has already been embedded in our practice going forward. The strong heritage of the school and its many accomplishments remain, but the opportunities of our collective purpose and commitment to tolerance is found in the aspirations that our core values and IB framework suggest. When one journey ends, the next begins. I want to thank all of you, alumni or current community member for continuing the dialog on mapping that journey forward. We are listening and we hope, like you, that our collective energies will serve the current and future students of ASW in equal and greater measure to the students who have already traveled our hallways. If you want to join the conversation, we encourage you to join our alumni network and share in the opportunity to help shape future generations of Warriors!
If you are an “alumni” of ASW, click here to continue your connection with this brave and courageous school:
Water Update
We’ve now received independent testing that has confirmed that our water Manganese levels have returned to acceptable levels. All other levels are safe as previously determined. We will begin the process of cleaning and clearing drinking fountain equipment in the building and will put these back into service after certification during the coming week. As a result of this issue, and for the foreseeable future, we will increase the frequency of our testing to ensure the safety of our water. We want to thank you all for your support during this time period and we appreciate the corrective actions of our neighbors and utility providers in response to our concerns.
Warning
We received information that last night, Monday, October 8th, around Zakamarek street, a young woman was assaulted by a man aged about 40. This message was sent to parents by all public schools in the local area and we ask for increased vigilance. We do not have any further information at this time.