Author: jzurfluh

Please join us this weekend for the PTO BBQ!!

Lots of “PTO – Join the Fun” enjoyment on tap.  Chances to win valuable prizes and also support the PTO in their main fund raising activity of the year.  This is family fun at its finest and we hope everyone will come out and join us!  Saturday, September 15, starting at noon.

Yours truly will be doing time as a target on the Dunk Tank at around 1:15p.  Principals, Teachers, and others will be before and after me.  Later in the day, we will have a tournament dodgeball game as well. Come join us for all of this!

If you can still help for a short time during the day, we have needs for additional adults on Raffle Sales and in the PTO Wear-House for a shift.  These online sign-ups are here:

• Raffle
• Wear-House

Please help if you can for just 30 minutes.  Or sign-up to do a couple of slots if you are able.  Thanks in advance for your assistance!!

Water Update & Hydration

Hopefully you received my message on Tuesday detailing our actions taken while dealing with our high Manganese levels in recent water tests.  We are waiting on the next round of tests after the application of remedies by GTC and will inform you of the results.

In the meantime, our protocols seem to have worked well with the deployment of bottled water throughout the building.  Our supplies seemed to be sufficient to the need and I appreciate all the flexibility of students and staff as we adjusted to these changes.

One thing that struck me, and I’ve been reflecting on this both before and after the current situation.  I’m concerned that children, in general, may not be hydrating enough.  I reminded myself of the health benefits of good hydration and would suggest that we could do better, both at school and at home, with encouraging good hydration habits for our children.  Children are much more prone to dehydration due to their size and body weight while growing up.  I know for early childhood, we often have to remind students to get a drink before continuing an activity.  Symptoms of dehydration are some or all of the following:

• Headaches
• Poor concentration
• Thirst
• Cracked lips
• Dry mouth
• Constipation
• Lethargy

Like sleep and good eating habits, good hydration habits are important for growing and learning.  We should all make sure that children have water bottles and that they use them effectively in making sure that they get the necessary fluids each day.  Recommendations for children under 8 is 4-6 glasses of water per day.  Over 8, the recommendation climbs to 6-8 glasses.  That means refilling the water bottle (depending on size) 3-4 times per day at a minimum.  Weather conditions and temperature can certainly affect this recommendation up or down a bit, but it is clear that all of us may need to rethink how much water we get per day just like we reflect on how important a certain am0unt of sleep is to our health and well-being.

At school, we will always make sure that we have necessary supply.  Even in this current situation, our supply will meet the needs of our kids.  Make sure kids have a water bottle and encourage them to make hydration a good habit!  By the way, it should be noted that the PTO Wear-House has a few remaining ASW branded water bottles available! They’ll be ordering more soon. 😉

PTO Mixer – FRIDAY!!

We are hopeful of rivaling the turnout of the prior two years for this successful traditional event!!  The PTO mixer is a wonderful opportunity to connect with other adult members of the school community across all boundaries and have a great time together in a social setting.  This year, due to the generous donation of the Marriott Hotel, we will be in the wonderful Champions for our gathering this year!! Come join the Fun!

Friday, September 3, 7:00p to 12:00a

Student Handbooks

We’ve developed comprehensive handbooks this year for both our Elementary and Upper School Divisions.  The first chapter of each handbook is common content that is the same for both divisions, followed by a chapter for the specific division.  You can find these two documents on our website and via these links:

   

Please refer to these documents for important information regarding the implementation of policy through systems and procedures.  It is an important first reference when any question or concern emerges.

General Data Protection

This week we continue to remind parents who have not yet completed their update of health information and stipulation to key provisions of data protection.  You only need to login to PowerSchool and we would encourage ALL parents to regularly login to PowerSchool to check attendance, review health room information, and to update contact information to assure we can reach you in the event of an emergency.  At the beginning of each year, we have a one time form that all parents must complete in order to grant us permission that is necessary to provide educational services to your child.  If you have not completed this initial process yet, expect that we will call you in the near future to make sure we get this important information.  We consider it a condition of enrollment that parents are able to access PowerSchool and that you check this portal regularly as part of our partnership.

Parent Survey Sharing

I’ll be looking for opportunities to share information from our Student/Parent Satisfaction survey that we completed in June.  With over 836 responses for the full school section of the questionnaire, here are some important highlights of the agreement on the statements in the survey:

• “When I have questions or concerns, someone in the school responds in a prompt and helpful fashion.”  46% Strongly Agreed and 48% Agreed for a total agreement of 94%.
• “My child is engaged and interested in learning at school.” 53% Strongly Agreed and 43% Agreed for a total agreement of 96%.
• “My child’s classes have helped her/him learn to collect, organize, analyze, and communicate information.” 37% Strongly Agreed and 57% Agreed for a total agreement of 94%.
• “My child has access to various up-to-date technology-based tools and resources.” 40% Strongly Agreed and 56% Agreed for a total agreement of 96%.
• “My child is developing digital citizenship to use technology in a safe and responsible manner.”  33% Strongly Agreed and 60% Agreed for a total agreement of 93%.
• “School facilities meet my child’s needs.”  54% Strongly Agreed and 43% Agreed for a total agreement of 97%!

In terms of the full school portions of the survey, the lowest scores were still all above 80% agreement, but the lower results suggested that work in the following areas was warranted:

• Assuring sufficient challenge for students in all their classes. (83%)
• Refine our reporting of student progress (already planned this year). (86%)
• Improving our ability to give timely and effective feedback (part of our PYP/MYP implementation). (89%)

As we continue analysis of the data from this survey along with your comments and the divisional statements, we will look for more opportunities to turn your feedback into action plans and enhancements in many aspects of the school.  We believe improvement is an ongoing, living process and your partnership in this regard is essential part of maintaining our cutting edge level of performance in service to your children and their educational goals and aspirations.

Last week, I made one note at the PTO meeting regarding safety updates and reminded all in attendance that they should be wearing their Parent identification at all times.  There was a mad digging into purses, but we had everyone wearing their badge in short order and after more than a few giggles.  My thanks to all the parents in attendance for their help in checking.  I reminded everyone that we would be asking all to be more diligent about this in order to assure that all adults on campus were authorized to be here.  Further, I suggested that I would hate to embarrass anyone when a student comes up to us to ask, “who is that?” when a badge is not visible.  Staff will rigorously approach you if they don’t see it in order to show students we are checking!

In addition, we have updated all of our records for safety and background checks.  This is also required for all non-parent class leaders and tutors for all of our various activities before, during and after school.  In order for these individuals to renew their badges for access to campus, they will need to provide a criminal background check and are required to stipulate to our Code of Conduct:Further, we have updated many of our manuals and procedures to assure that we are in full compliance with all standards in Poland as well as international standards on Child Protection.  We have identified Child Protection Designated Leads for this year and have chose a co-lead model.  Our two Designated Leads are Agata Kielczewska and Iza Skoczylas, both Upper School Counselors who work out of the Middle School office.  They will serve the entire PK-12 population in this area of Child Protection.  All potential concerns are reported to them and further action is taken based on our child Protection Policy and operations manual.  Parents, students, and staff are all encouraged to approach them if they have any concerns about the treatment or safety of any student at ASW.

Parking Lot Update

Finally, on the safety front, we have updated parking safety guides and we would remind parents again of our rules and regulations.  We are all doing very well for the start of the year.  New this year are reminders that we will send via email with pictures of your vehicle if you have broken any of our rules.  This will include a reminder that the Parent Handbook clearly notes that cars will be restricted from accessing the campus if there are repeat offences of parking or moving violations while on campus. Our new guides offer good advice. English version and Polish version(and other languages coming soon) are available on the ASW website and at the security desk.  Don’t forget also, when waiting, to turn your engines off and protect our environment.  Thank you!!

   

Welcome to a new year and I’m hopeful that Day 2 was even better than Day 1, as it almost always is!  Building successes one day to another is our motto and I’m looking forward to all the energy and enthusiasm turning into accomplishment and accolades in the weeks and months ahead.

Just so that you know we are working on it, continued adjustments are coming in the cafeteria to work out the “kinks” that I noted in an earlier message would likely be the case.  We are making the necessary adjustments and today was much smoother.  While lines have been a bit long due to the new financial system, the general reflection on the food and preparation seems very positive.  Based on conversations with students today, they are very happy with the new choices and there seems to be something for everyone in the new lineup.  Additional updates to the website and communication (e.g. menus) are all coming soon and will start rolling out next week, including the long sought banking and credit card initiatives for online account management.

We have one bit of sad news that has hit us during our opening that I need to share. Minh Anh “Anna” Nguyen, Class of 2017, passed away on Tuesday morning, August 21, 2018. She was the daughter of Hung Le and Huyen Thithanh Nguyen and sister of Quan Manh “Kevin” Nguyen, from the Class of 2013.  Anna, who entered ASW in Grade 7 was a ray of sunshine to everyone on and off this campus.  Her smile, wit, sense of compassion, and empathy will be missed.  For those who may be concerned, funeral services are this Friday, August 24, at 9:00 at ul. Z?otych Piaskow 27C, 05-504 Antoninów.  I know you all join me in keeping the family in our thoughts during this difficult time.  Students in High School who knew Anna are understandably devastated and we want you to know that our administrators and counselors are standing by to help all who need assistance in dealing with this sudden loss.

 

Everything’s getting ready for your return after our opening with staff this week.  We all gathered on Monday and Tuesday to start our work together.  We’ll have a holiday tomorrow and continue with our preparations on Thursday and Friday.  It’s been wonderful catching up with everyone as they return, hearing about summer adventures, new learnings from conferences and classes, and generally getting reconnected.

Our focus this year centers on the Board adopted strategic themes that we will begin our continued development work in the weeks ahead.  These broad themes form around a single significant goal that overarches our strategic design work and captures the work of our Core Values from the year before.

WE ENSURE EVERY STUDENT LOVES LEARNING AT ASW!

The initial take on our ongoing strategic process was received by the board, adopted, and is available here:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0thleA1n_fNQWZiM1lBTTlXYjg

Our focus this year revolves around the strategic themes articulated in this guide along with the examples of strategies that we may tackle.  The four broad themes:

1. Every learner knows exactly what they need to do next.
2. Our students define the way that we learn at ASW.
3. We break down silos and promote collaboration at all levels.
4. We make the financial and other investments needed to reach our long term goals.

I’ll have more to share at our Director’s Welcome Coffee next week on Tuesday, starting at 8:30a. Looking forward to seeing all of you!  Enjoy your final weekend and take note of the divisional directions below!

Welcome to the 2018-2019 school year, everyone!!  We hope the summer break was refreshing and renewing for all of you and that your travels are bringing you safely to our midst in advance of school opening. For those newly joining us, welcome to the family!!

It’s yet another  exciting year for the American School of Warsaw, building on the success of recent years as we refined our programs and employ the results of our successful re-accreditation award from last year.  We continue with our Core Values that will guide our work for the coming decade, the aspirational qualities of ASW and what we hope to become as the future unfolds.  We add to this a recently adopted strategic framework with key themes that will develop through work at all levels and across all of our stakeholder groups, aligned and consistent with the work defined by accreditation.  More about all of this after we get school open and students welcomed by their new classes and teachers.

We continue this year with our combined eNotes newsletter, which will come each week to your mailbox. Please click on the buttons to find your way to important sections, but be sure to scroll through the message each week to scan for all of the important information from each of our divisions and departments.

We have a wonderful team of educators and leaders ready to greet your children on the first day, ensuring a unique experience in the early days of the school year.  We open with an enrolment of about 990 students and are finishing our welcome of 25 new faculty and 2 new administrators, who will be joining returning faculty next week for our annual schedule of preparation meetings.

As usual, all of our summer teams have worked hard to assure that the facility has been prepared for your arrival and you will see a number of changes in rooms and common spaces as you explore the building.  We recently closed the building so that our work can be completed in open areas that make it necessary to protect everyone from potential harm. Facilities will reopen for after hours use when this exterior work is complete.

One important note:  Please be sure to become an active PTO member and look for welcome meetings to attend and committees where you can make a contribution of your time and talent toward enhancing our sense of community.  PTO is, by board policy, empowered to assure that we have a wonderful set of events and activities throughout the year to reinforce and enhance our strong sense of community.  This is an important time of year to build new relationships, renew collaborations, and enhance what we do to make ASW such a special place for all of us.

Here’s a summary of the key events in the first week:

• First Day of School, Tuesday, August 21, 8:30 am
• New Family & Student Orientation, Monday, August 20, 9:00a, Cafeteria
• Director’s Welcome Back Coffee, Tuesday, August 21, 8:45a, Cafeteria
• PTO Kickoff General Meeting, Friday, August 24, 8:30a, Multi-Purpose Room

School start and end times remain the same as last year.  Wednesday morning late start begins with the first week of school:

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, & Friday

• Student arrival – no earlier than 8:00 am
• School starts for Grades 11-12 at 8:20 am
• School starts for PK-10 at 8:30 am
• School ends for Grades 11-12 at 3:20 pm
• School ends for PK-10 at 3:30 pm

Wednesday (Late Start for students)

• Student arrival – no earlier than 8:45 am (cafeteria open)
• School starts for all at 9:30 am
• School ends for all at 3:30 pm

I encourage all families to subscribe and participate in the Director’s blog – Zimplicity! Please join the conversation here:  https://zimplicity.org  You have opportunities to add your comments and responses to my ongoing dialog with the community.  Each week’s newsletter will include the link so that you can easily find your way. All of the history since my arrival is there as well.  This year, in addition to each weeks newsletter article, I’ll be adding additional posts on general topics, strategic work, student interviews, and information about other educational topics between the Wednesday posts.  Looking forward to our dialog together.

Best wishes to all for your final time at home or in your travels, a wonderful first week, and a successful new year!

Mr. Z

Saying Farewell

In a home or domestic school, saying goodbye for the summer holidays is not as common as it is in the international world.  When you are in a neighborhood school, the chances are high that you’ll see that person the very next day on a playground or in a local market, or maybe just down the street while riding your bike.

But, in the international school world, saying goodbye in June can be quite profound.  We already know that many will be heading off to new adventures and will find new homes in far away places.  For some, it is a return home after living here and calling it “home” for some period of time.  Students know that our goodbyes, however measured each year, means that some of the people we are bidding farewell may not be near us again for a long, long time.

At least in this world today, unlike decades ago, there are many wonderful ways of keeping in touch.  Technology has helped us keep track of friends around the planet, making us feel at times like they have never left us.  For international students, it’s far more likely that they will experience how small the world is and cross paths with old friends again in their continued travels.  We are, after all, truly global citizens.

I wish you well in your traveling, hopeful that we will either see each other again in August, and embrace like we never left, or we will cross paths again when destiny decides, with powerful memories and a heart filled with joy.  On a distant shore, as you look into a night sky filled with stars and planets, wave to all of your friends, wherever they may be.  Somewhere, another Warrior will also be looking up, smiling, and returning the greeting!

Once a Warrior, Always a Warrior!!

Closing Ceremony Livestream

Friday, the last day of school, on June 22, we offer up again our closing ceremony starting at 10:45 a.m.  We will be Livestreaming the event at the following link:

https://livestream.com/accounts/15498644/events/8237556

Closing Ceremony Livestream

Next Friday, the last day of school, on June 22, we offer up again our closing ceremony starting at 10:45 a.m.  We will be Livestreaming the event at the following link:

https://livestream.com/accounts/15498644/events/8237556

Local Area Water Issues

We’ve had a string of water issues over the last week since our last eNotes.  Last week, Sunday, and again yesterday (Tuesday), the school and general area of Konstancin was without water for a short time in the morning between the hours of 5:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m.  In all cases, our systems alerted us to the problem in the early morning hours and GTC, the developer of the local housing area, informed us that a pump had malfunctioned causing reserve water to be depleted.  In all three cases, GTC called maintenance crews to the site which required a 45 minute response time.  Then, an additional wait time was required until the reserve sufficiently filled before the water could be turned back on.  In all three cases, this was another 45-60 minutes.  We instituted normal health protocols at school by limiting early morning access to bathrooms and close monitoring.  We also re-routed some restroom traffic to the annex building which is setup with its own rainwater reserve system that can be utilized even when external water supplies are shut off.  Given the timing and the estimates provided by GTC for repair time, we did not have any impact on other services and no consideration was given to closing school.  If we had received indication from GTC that repairs would push us beyond our 10:30 a.m. threshold, other measures would have been taken and additional communication would have been sent to parents, including the potential for mid-day school closure.  In these instances, those measures were not necessary.

We understand from GTC that they are in the process of making a final switch from the pump based system to a municipal water supply.  That switch over is planned in the coming days and this should resolve any further outages.  But, we continue to meet with GTC representatives to assure our water supply to the school as a priority with shortened response times when problems emerge.  For those who reside in the nearby area, we encourage your involvement in working with GTC to assure that we all have reliable systems in our local area and reaffirm our commitment to GTC as a partner in this work.

Departing and New Faculty & Administration

You will find today on Zimplicity a summary of departing and arriving faculty and administrators for the next school year.  It’s great to be getting to know our new Warriors and we’ll be saying goodbye to our current Warriors who are on their way to new adventures!  Please join me in thanking them for their service and in welcoming the new faces who will be arriving in August!  You’ll find the comprehensive summary here:

https://zimplicity.org/asw-new-facultyadmin-for-2018-2019/

A few items on the final horizon as we approach the end of the year.  Just a couple of bullets for your attention:

• Parent Survey kicked off with wonderful participation in its first weekend.  If you did not receive an email from the school requesting participation, please contact us as we have sent the invitation and the first reminder.  Check junk folders just in case the message accidentally found its way there instead of your inbox.  Contact us if you did not receive it and we’ll check the email addresses to make sure you receive your invitation.
• Closing Ceremony this year will be Friday, June 22 @ 10:45a in the Annex Gym.  We will be live-streaming the event as well as welcoming all to our standing room only assembly bringing closure to our year and including our parade of all nations.
• Summer School continues to accept registration through our CHQ system.  The Athletics and Activities office will be offering another year of wonderful activities during the first two weeks of the summer, June 25 to July 6.

Safety Note

There was a serious accident along the road behind the school property, Powsinska Street on Sunday. The accident included a bicyclist and vehicle.  The cyclist lost his life in the accident.  Our security team spoke with the officers responding to the incident and the causes of the accident likely included high speed of the vehicle, wet pavement and minimal sight lines.  The driver of the vehicle is in custody.  We do not believe any member of the school community  was involved.  But, as a safety precaution, I’m informing the community that we can no longer recommend Powsinska Street for bicycle traffic and we further recommend that cars entering our back entrance pay close attention to speeds on this road to and from the school.  Many parents have reported close calls on that road and, while it is a popular route to the school’s back entrance, we need to increase our awareness and caution on this stretch of pavement.

Later this week, you will be receiving and important email from the American School of Warsaw inviting you to participate in a schoolwide survey.  Similar to our last survey of this type conducted back in 2016, we begin an annual process for gathering regular and consistent data from parents and students about our programs and services.

In his book Visible Learning, John Hattie confirmed that data and research is one of our best tools for continuous school improvement.  One of the most important tools we have is our own action towards gathering feedback and developing action plans around these measured results.  The survey you are being asked to complete will be used annually at the end of each school year and progress will be monitored over time.  Only about 10-15% of the survey will change each year, such that we maintain a solid core of data that can be compared year after year.

Note that each parent will receive a seperate email for EACH student in the family.  Invitations include a personalized link to the survey that is associated with a specific child and parent.  Each survey is somewhat customized based on the grade level of the child, but many of the questions will be the same for each child in a given family.  Anonymity is protected in the application since responses are recorded in a database that is seperate and unlinked to our invitation list.

All parents are invited to interpret their child’s experience and their own understanding of that experience to contribute to the survey, potentially differently for each child.  In some cases, one parent or the other may choose not to participate.  A seperate link in the email will allow a parent to opt out of the survey.   If you do not participate and use the link provided, you will continue to receive email reminders from us until the survey closes on July 1, 2018.

We will compile the results and start sharing the findings in the fall shortly after the opening of school.  Thank you in advance for your kind attention to this important task!!

To all of our special guests, faculty, administration, parents, friends, and family members – we thank you for your pride and presence as we celebrate this, our 25th commencement exercises for the class of 2018.

First, my sincere gratitude to Rob Batchelder for your words and your friendship in our graduation ceremony today.  It is a testament to the longstanding relationship between the American School and the US Embassy in Warsaw.  But, more importantly, it will be my fondest memory of our time on this path together.

Mr. Sheehan, thank you again for confirming your deep bond to the students you serve along with your brilliant team.  As always, you are proud of them and, in return, they honor you with their trust and admiration.

Christina and Sara, thank you for representing your classmates so eloquently.  You both captured the experience brilliantly, each in your own special way.

Dr. Taylor, I thank you for your inspiration and wisdom.  As promised in our assembly yesterday you effectively juggled  your words, bringing a message filled with heart and promise.

Students, your teachers know you as engaged learners, empowered by your passion, caring of each other, and motivated to accomplish big goals. Faculty, counselors, and administrators seated before you are beaming with pride.  And they are a talented group who do not consider their work to be the filling of a vessel, but more the launching of a ship.  Their nurturing spirit has prepared you for your voyage and the many challenges on the horizon.

We know as an international community that many here on this stage have had other schooling experiences before joining us in Warsaw. Also, some stay with us for a time, leave for a bit, and then return. It is part of being an international school that we embrace this constant flux of change and transition.  But, as has been my tradition in many schools over a number of years, I’d like to recognize some special Warriors on this stage, nurtured from the beginning of their schooling experience entirely to graduation at the American School. As I call these names, please stand and remain standing so that we can recognize all of you as a group:

10? Students have been identified as having been here since either Pre-Kindergarten or Kindergarten:

Kindergarten:

• Alexander C.
• Matthew M.
• Maximilian O.
• Chan Woo P.
• Oskar P.
• Sarah H.

Pre-Kindergarten:

• Kashish K.
• Michal K.
• Iga L.
• Sara M.

Please recognize these students and their families as our Warriors of longest standing.

525,600 minutes – No that is not how long my speech is going to be.

525,600 minutes How do you measure, Measure a year – these are lyrics from a song entitled Seasons of Love from the Broadway Musical Rent.  It’s a powerful song that filled my ears recently and I’m always caught by how it’s one of those tunes that seems to bridge generations.

But, in particular, a key lyric buried in the song goes like this:

It’s time now to sing out,
Though the story never ends.
Let’s celebrate, remember, a year in a life of friends.

525,600 minutes.  A metaphor for our celebration today.

But I thought I would do a little math of my own…

Let’s see – 13 years of school times180 school days, 6 hours per day, 60 minutes per hour:  I know there is a math whiz on this stage that already knows the answer…

842,400 minutes – That’s the journey of your education.

Oh – but wait.  If you add a couple of years of pre-school, it sizes up to over 950,000 minutes.  Then, I started thinking, maybe there was also a bit of summer school and maybe some after school activities, homework time, extended essay research, a few weekend trips for school related sports or academics, some service time on the weekends at animal shelters, and possibly a lesson or two from a piano teacher.  So, since we are all friends here, let’s just round it up to a nice even one million minutes.  1 million minutes invested in your education so far.

Much of life is about perspective and there is a truth about this perspective.  Here it is:  You will never go to school as much after this day as you have already completed.  Even if you go on to complete a MA and PhD investing about 8 years’ of time, it will still pale by comparison to what you have already invested between the time you started walking and talking, and TODAY.  1 million minutes.  Job well done!  Putting it in perspective, the next learning journey should be a piece of cake!

I value that this last year, your 64,800 minutes, will be many of the most remembered.  As noted in our proceedings, you have been a powerful and capable class.  We watched you listen, learn, study, struggle, and dance.  I hope that the entire experience of your education has given you perspective that you too can take into life.  Value each other always, gather family and friends close at every opportunity and cherish the precious moments past, present, and future.

Two years ago was a special graduation for me, owing to my first born son crossing a stage very similar to this one, and I am now contemplating a similar moment for my daughter just one year from now.  My closing and traditional message is gleaned from my perspective as a father, privileged to have led the schools where my two children have studied and will have graduated.  This traditional message, I will note, is particularly poignant on Mother’s Day.

In these final words, I speak for the parents in the audience and I know this will resonate in their hearts as it does in mine:

To the children in the Class of 2018 — when we say we love you, as we often do, it is not because of habit or routine. It is because of how we really feel deep inside each time we utter the words.  The following has been and always will be true:

• you inspire us
• you complete us
• you give our lives meaning

While we will feel lost without you during the times we are apart, we are so proud of your launching, warmed by the anticipation of all that we know you are yet to become.

We love you so much!!

Go forth all of you — embrace your family and then life!!

At this time, I ask Principal Michael Sheehan and Chair of the ASW Board of Trustees, Mr. Rob Batchelder to please join me on stage for the conferring of diplomas…

A short note to herald the work being done by staff throughout the school in regards to the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that is coming into effect this month.  We are working diligently to implement all of the components of the new regulation and part of the process has been incremental changes to some of our agreements and systems that help us manage information that is processed on a daily basis.  We’ve done extensive data mapping and continue to work with an international working group on the topic.  Many of the systems at ASW were already compliant with the upcoming regulation and we are moving quickly to assure that all systems will be fully compliant in the coming months.  While we plan to have a more comprehensive campaign regarding this important new regulation, it’s a good idea to become familiar with the regulation and the stipulations therein.  You are likely already receiving notices from various online companies about your  participation in their systems and we will have similar as we return to school in August, if not earlier, via our PowerSchool system.  We presented our comprehensive audit on the topic to the board on Monday and clarified next steps in our process.  Policy was presented for first reading and we are well on our way to the next steps.  If you want to learn more about GDPR, you can go to the EU website on the topic at https://www.eugdpr.org

Other items of attention:

• Please come and join us on Saturday for the Warsaw Spring Cup, our first annual invitational track meet.  Along with visiting schools from Krakow, we’ll have guests from multiple schools here in Warsaw to join us for an event co-sponsored with local track club RK Athletics and our honored guest, Robert Korzeniowski, Poland’s Olympic Gold medalist race walker.  The opening presentation begins on Saturday at 9:00a in the Annex Gym.  Also on hand to help us in opening the ceremony will be John Armstrong, the US Embassy Economics Counselor and himself a former high school track participant.  Please join us!
• There will no longer be a printed version of the calendar. All events can be found at the online calendar on the ASW website https://www.aswarsaw.org/about-us/calendar. The Academic Calendars for next school years are listed on the websites as well. They can be downloaded and printed.
• This is a reminder for all interested ASW families to sign up for the ASW Summer Camp 2018. There are still some spaces available and we are going to open it to a wider Warsaw Community on June 4th.  The details are below under School Wide section of this eNotes.

Accreditation

It’s important to gather our key documents together and you can now access the entire accreditation report via the link below.  We’re happy to share this compiled version that includes the letters of accreditation from both CIS and NEASC along with the entire self-study and the visiting team’s comments.

http://bit.do/aswaccreditation

ASW Robotics Team

The ASW robotics team returns from the FTC World Championship in Detroit where the world was most definitely their classroom.  Out of 134 competing teams from all over the world, our team ended up 55th in their division. Bouncing back after numerous challenges, each of the member of the team pulled together and never gave up. The students had examples and were helped by many teams from all over the globe.  Friends were made and collaborations happened on many levels. Tips and technology that were shared helped us to get on our feet. Felix Morenc stepped up and became an FTC student ambassador from our team.  Shevy Gupts and Jack Kolenbrander spearheaded efforts for the tasks in the Fed Ex challenges. Juwon Park and Max Turner tirelessly coded and tweaked the mechanics of the robot during every minute of the pit time.  On a terrific side note, the boys had accommodations in the center between the home stadiums of the Detroit Lions, Tigers, Pistons, and Redwings. The team comes back in good spirits, more skilled, more knowledgeable, and eager to share and continue to develop the robotics program at the American School of Warsaw.

Campus Safety

A big thank you again to many of our community who assisted in arranging for the installation of our new road in back of the school.  We are still fine tuning this entry, but have a wonderful access for our families that depend on this entrance.  Thank you again for improvement in following all of our on campus rules and please note the new painting of lines and signage that should help you make the parking area safer for all of us.  A reminder that there is no parking in yellow areas and please also check your speeds on campus. We need to be going very slowly at all times and we appreciate your compliance with this important safety expectation.

High School Play

Students have worked very hard getting our last dramatic production ready for you this week.  It is a wonderful family friendly play that will offer both an evening and matinee performance.  Please join us for one or both:

The HS production of You Can’t Take it With You  is THIS Friday at 6pm and Saturday at 2 pm. Tickets for this hilarious, family-friendly comedy are 10 zloty, and will be on sale this every day this week outside the cafeteria, from 12:30 -1:50 or at the reception desk at other times. Some tickets may also be available at the door.

These students deserve a full house!!  Please join us!!

And, by the way, you can also cheer on our lady Warriors at the CEESA MS Girl’s Softball tournament before and after the play on both Friday and Saturday!

Limited Security Staff on Duty

During the vacation, we will have a lighter staff managing the facility.  You may find, during off hours, that the front metal gates will be closed.  We do have an intercom system installed near this entrance and you can call for assistance, but may need to wait for the guard to come from the building monitoring area.  For times where scheduled activities are booked, the normal procedure will be followed with guards greeting at the front entrance.  The back gate will be closed for the entire vacation.

We will still be hosting IB exams next week, so front entrance will be open in the morning and afternoon for students and staff who are on duty from Monday through Friday.  The admissions office will also be open next week for scheduled appointments.  If you have an urgent need, you can contact the direct Security Desk line at +48-22-702-8518.

Parking Lot Painting

Now that the weather has cleared, we will be refreshing the parking lot lines on the school grounds, including the crosswalks, arrows and general markers. Areas of the parking lot will be closed while this work is undertaken, further limiting access during the week.

As part of our work, we’ll also be adding yellow paint to curb areas that will now be clearly marked as “No Parking.”  These yellow areas required that drivers remain with their vehicle and much of this area constitutes our “Kiss and Go” zone for both pickup and drop off. You may not leave your vehicle unattended in these areas and any pause for more than a minute will require that you turn off engines while you wait.  If there is no space in the yellow area, you may continue to circle around the Elementary or Upper School zone, or you can park at your discretion.

Your attention to all of our painted areas is appreciated.  Currently, we are seeing great improvement in adherence to our traffic guidelines, which is making our campus safer for everyone.  I also appreciate the way that drivers are paying attention to turning their engines off while they wait in order to protect our environment.  Thank you for your cooperation with and collaboration in these improvements!!

Mark Your Calendar

Tickets for the hilarious comedy You Can’t Take it With You are on sale now outside the cafeteria from 12:30 -1:50 each day.

This family friendly HS production runs Friday, May 11th at 6pm and Saturday, May 12th at 2pm. Tickets are 10 zloty, so hurry and get them now!