MESSAGE FROM ASB SUPERINTENDENT, DR. BONNIE LARSON-KNIGHT
 What an exciting start we have had to the new school year! The Parent Orientations at both campuses were a huge hit! Thank you to parents and students for attending these events.
I would also like to thank the parents who attended the PTO meetings at the Sukhumvit and Bangna Campuses on September 7. At the Sukhumvit morning meeting, parents were treated to musical selections performed by ASB students, a presentation on Self-awareness by Ms. Gift, our School Developer, and Student Council members helped me explain the accreditation process that our school will be going through this year with WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges), our accreditation agency. The afternoon meeting at the Bangna Campus took a similar format, again with students performing and assisting with the WASC presentation.
During the WASC presentation parents learned the importance of the need to establish a clear statement of purpose that reflects the beliefs and philosophies of our school. Parents had the opportunity for input into our Vision statement which reads: The American School of Bangkok strives to excel in the international educational community. Our graduates are prepared to be critical thinkers, independent learners, effective communicators, and global citizens. Although this Vision statement was re-written two years ago, parents on both campuses felt that this is an appropriate Vision for our school.
The Mission of the American School of Bangkok is to foster academic excellence in a caring community, where diversity is celebrated, and mutual respect among adults and students is practised. We provide the foundation for life-long learning and the skills and values needed to become responsible leaders in the global community. Once again, the parents and students from both campuses ratified the Mission statement. We also discussed the Expected Schoolwide Learner Results, better known as ESLRs. In the past we have had four ESLRs which included: Effective communicators, Independent learners, Critical thinkers, and World class citizens.
During a PA day and a recent meeting with the Student Councils from both campuses, teachers and students felt that “World Class Citizen” may not be the best label for this ESLR. A suggestion was made that the ESLR be re-named “Global Citizen”. When students explained their reasons for this, parents at both PTOs agreed that “Global Citizen” was a much better label for this ESLR.
This is going to be a very exciting year for us as we continue to work on our “self-study” for WASC. In April of 2012, WASC will be sending a visiting committee to ASB. This committee’s job will be to look at all components of the school and to determine the length of our next accreditation period. Throughout the year, teachers will be working on Focus Groups which will be gathering data on various aspects of our program, and they will meet with the visiting committee to share their findings. Parents will also be asked for input at different times throughout the year, especially during our PTO meetings, and the visiting committee will want to meet with parents too. Please let me know if you might be interested in participating in any aspects of this process.
I am looking forward to another exceptional year at ASB.
Yours in Education,
Dr. Bonnie Larson-Knight
ASB Superintendent
bonnie.larsonknight@asb.ac.th
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