ASB Bangna and Sukhumvit Update (March 18, 2010)

Dear Parents,

This letter outlines our status regarding instructional time, W.A.S.C, accreditation, and our on-going effort to meet our educational goals.

First, let us begin by thanking all of you for your patience and support through what has been a difficult time for both our school and the Kingdom of Thailand. Let us assure you that the children’s safety and welfare is always at the heart of our decision making. As a Management Team, it is our responsibility to ensure the safety of our most precious assets, our children.

As a school Management Team, we anticipate disruptions to our calendar for health and other eventualities. What is difficult to forecast are situations of political chaos and even possible life-threatening emergencies. Nevertheless, because of foresight we are in the enviable position of having planned for such possibilities; consequently, we have more than enough instructional time allocated in our academic year. In fact we had built in an extra three instructional days for this term.

Further, while the classrooms were closed for safety reasons, the school continued to operate as a “Virtual School” whereby students and staff were in direct daily contact regarding assignments and work. In essence ASB operated as an “on-line campus.” Still, the Management Team recognizes that this arrangement does not replace face-to-face contact. As a result, we are adjusting our calendar making allowances for each campus according to instructional days that each lost during the year. This arrangement also affirms ASB’s commitment to W.A.S.C.

a) The half day of instruction scheduled for March 26^th will become a full instructional day. Parent Conferences scheduled for the 25^th will continue as scheduled, and there will be presentations that evening by the principals and guidance counselors on preparing your children for high school and beyond. This program is open to all parents, and more information will follow.