![page background](https://cdn.smore.com/_fr/bluelockers.346d1c3d.jpg)
AIS Friday Flash
Friday, August 20, 2021
From Mr. Jacques – C’est la rentrée ! Welcome back to school! ¡Bienvenidos al año escolar !
It was such a pleasure to welcome all of our AIS Owls back to campus this week! Knowing that so many children around the world have kicked off a second school year in virtual learning, I count our community as very fortunate to reconnect with each other in person. What’s more, we have many new friendly faces on campus this year, from teachers to students, to their families. Despite the challenges the world has thrown at us, we look forward to making many deep and meaningful connections this year and beyond. We have an action-packed school year ahead of us and I am excited to learn, live, and grow with all of you. Thank you for supporting us—and each other—in being informed, prepared, and safe both on-campus and off. If I can be of any help to you along the way, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Friday Flash, Family Portal, & Information Links
In case you missed it last week, welcome to AIS and to our weekly newsletter, the Friday Flash (FF). Please be sure to be on the lookout each Friday evening (when school is in session) for our newsletter, as it contains a wealth of information about upcoming events and needs for our school.
Friday Flash distribution emails (as well as PikMyKid and other resource apps) come from our directory contact information within the Family Portal as you submitted it during enrollment. If you are not receiving our FF, check your spam, social, or promotions folders. If it’s there, add the sending address to your safe sender’s list. If it’s not there, please verify or update your email in your Family Portal as shown below or reach out with questions. Remember that you are always able to find back issues on the school’s website under the News section.
Family Portal
In your Family Portal account, thank you for updating any important contact information including your email and phone numbers as they change. You may also access the family directory by class, find important documents like the Campus Opening Guide or Family Handbooks, Health & Wellness Forms, or Volunteer Background Check Forms. In addition, our Flash is saved in the Announcements section and you may use the Family Portal to sign up for camps and afterschool classes. Here are a few Family Portal menu paths which you may find useful.
- The School-Home Menu will display Semester Dates & Friday Flash Links
- The School Menu & Directory will access AIS Families and class lists if they are indicated shareable. (To modify your share settings, go to Family, Preferences, and edit with the pencil icon)
- The Resource Documents under the School Menu include saved items like the Campus Opening Guide, Health Forms, COVID-19 Forms, and Handbooks.
- To edit or update your contact information, thank you for updating under the Family, then Family Home menu
- The Financial Menu will link you to FACTS or allow access to incidental billings, camps, and other programs.
Current Health and Safety Protocols: Level 3
Please be reminded that due to local health circumstances in the Austin community, we are currently operating at Level 3 protocols in all three areas:
- Face coverings: Masks required indoors and outdoors.
- Physical distancing: At least 3’ of distance required, where feasible, with mask use.
- Cohorting: Reduced contact between classroom cohorts.
For more information about our adaptive health and safety protocols, please see page 9 of our AIS Campus Opening Guide for the 2021-2022 school year.
Pick-up Times and Pick-up Line
Thank you for your patience this week as we work on our pick-up processes and support new families using the PikMyKid application. Reach out to April with additional questions and we will follow up as soon as possible.
As we add more students and families to AIS, we also add more cars! Each day this week, things have improved, and we anticipate that next week, we will hit our stride with pick-up routines! The following are a few helpful tips so we can expedite a quicker and smooth pick-up process:
- Families with children in Cycle 1 only (PS/MS/GS). Cycle 1 students can be picked up from 3:15 pm to 3:45 pm. To avoid the campus traffic, it is advisable to arrive before 3:15 pm so that you can park and be ready to walk to pick up your children. If you arrive early, remember to announce on your PikMyKid app.
- Families with children in Cycle 1 (PS/MS/GS) and elementary school (CP/CE1/CE2/CM1/CM2). The Cycle 1 school day ends at 3:15 pm and the Cycles 2-4 day ends at 3:30 pm. To help traffic flow, it is advisable to arrive between 3:15 pm and 3:30 pm so that you can park and pick up your Cycle 1 child and then pick up your elementary school child under the portico.
- Families with children in Cycles 2 and up only. The school day for Cycles 2-4 ends at 3:30pm. It is advisable to arrive between 3:30pm and 3:45pm to pick-up your child(ren) under the portico.
- Families with Middle Schoolers. Middle School students are dismissed directly from their classes and may wait in front of the school. Unless they are enrolled in afterschool care, be sure to talk to your child about when/where you would like for them to meet you for pick-up. For Middle School families with younger siblings, check your inboxes for a RenWeb email with more information about Wednesday pickup.
- Afterschool Pick-Up. Parents picking up students in our afterschool care program, or if picking up after 3:45 pm should also enter and park under the portico after announcing in PikMyKid. Maternelle students will be in the foyer, and students in cycles 2 & 3 will be sectioned in the auditorium. Our Activities staff will bring your students out to your vehicle after gathering their belongings.
The PikMyKid app will allow you to announce when you are within 1500 feet of the school. If you’re waiting in the pick-up line, please go ahead and announce your arrival so that we can be notified as soon as you’re nearby and get your students ready.
Fall Afterschool Activity Sign-Ups thru 8/30
We have some fantastic Afterschool Activities this fall. Classes are offered in French, Spanish, and English and are segmented by cycle. Check out the course offerings on this fall schedule including basketball, soccer, toy engineering, coding, STEM club, yoga, chess, study hall, piano, and more. Registrations began on 8/17/21 and registration ends on 8/30/21, so sign up before the spaces are gone. The last day to change activities is 9/1/21. To register for a class(es):
- Log into your RenWeb Family Portal account using your credentials. The school code is: “ai-tx”.
- 2. Open up “Student” on Left Menu.
- 3. Click on: Course Requests
- 4. Register for your desired class from the pull-down menu.
- 5. The school will send you a confirmation email upon processing your registration.
If you have any questions, please reach out to our Extracurricular Programs Coordinator, Jhino Medrano who will follow up with you over the coming weeks to confirm registrations.
Virtual New Family Night-Fri., 8/27, 5:30 - 6:30 pm
Welcome to the following new AIS families: Abel, Alvarez, Archer, Arsan, Basciano, Bates, Biagioni, Bishop, Cayol, Collette, Combes-Djadane, Cooper, DiCesare, Dragomirov, Duenez, Elizondo, Escobar-Durand, Eugenio, Eulu, Floreani, Foley, Gilbert, Kanaan, Klein, Lillis, Liu-Anderson, Macmurdo, McCombs, Moens, Nagrosst, Nguyen, Nguyen, Olivon, Parkhurst, Pedetti, Pellegrini, Perez-Gavin, Reed, Richards, Santos, Shah-Patel, Stepanova, Strickland, Stubbs, Tsogbe, Vanegas Collec, Vaney, Vargas-Townsend, Verbeelen, Vishwanathan, Watson, Wilson, and Wingert families, plus a few new siblings and students coming back to AIS after some time. You are invited to our virtual New Family Night next Friday, August 27th from 5:30 - 6:30 pm. New families may join us via google meets here. We will give new parents and guardians a more in-depth welcome and introduction to our school and facilitate a brief Q&A. All families are encouraged to attend their corresponding Back to School Night as well on September 1st & 2nd as included below.
August School Spirit Night-Tue., 8/31
AIS is excited to partner with Phil's Icehouse & Amy's Icecream for our first monthly Spirit Night of the year on Tuesday, August 31st at their Lake Creek location on 183N. AIS patrons may actually go all day from 11 am to 11 pm, so order your business lunch and then grab dinner with other members of the AIS community from 4:00 - 8:00 pm for dinner or to go. Phil's & Amy's will generously donate a portion of sales back to the school for anyone mentioning AIS at either/both Phil's & Amy's at the registers for dine-in or when ordering for pickup! Thank you for RSVPing to the event link below to provide the restaurant an approximate headcount and thank you for participating in this fun community event and fundraiser.
Virtual Back to School Nights-Wed. & Thur., 9/1 & 9/2, 5:00 - 7:15 pm
Given current health data, this year’s Back to School Night events will be held virtually, as they were last year. Please mark your calendars for the following event. Our Back to School nights will include a school presentation followed by detailed virtual visits with classroom teachers to get to know the teaching teams, discuss an overview of the year, classroom expectations, and much more. More details and virtual links to come.
- Cycles 1 and 2 (PS - CE2/Pre-K3 - 3rd) on Wednesday, September 1st from 5:00 - 7:15 pm
- Cycles 3 and 4 (CM1 - 4è/4th - 8th) on Thursday, September 2nd from 5:00 - 7:15 pm
Head of School Virtual Coffee-Thur., 9/2, 9:00 - 10:00 am
Join our Head of School, Jacques Weber, for the first monthly coffee of the year. On the first Thursday of each month, the school and Parent Teacher Organization take turns hosting a monthly coffee. These are informal gatherings to chat with other school parents and staff or sometimes they are themed around a particular area of interest. This month's coffee will be a welcome coffee for our new Principal, Mark Rosenbaum. So, join us with this link, as we also welcome him to the AIS family!
Labor Day/No School-Mon., 9/6
The school will be closed in observance of the Labor Day holiday, and we will see you back on Tuesday, September 7th.
Save the dates
Mark these important upcoming dates on your calendars.
- 8/27 Virtual New Family Night
- 8/31 August Spirit Night-Phil's & Amy's Icecream
- 9/1 Cycles 1 & 2 Back to School Night
- 9/2 HoS & New Principal Coffee
- 9/2 Cycles 3 & 4 Back to School Night
- 9/6 Labor Day/No School
- 9/13 MAP Assessments Begin
- 9/15 Virtual Room Parent Coffee
- 9/25 AIS Board Retreat
- 9/30 AIS Medical Forms Due
August AIS Spirit Night
Tuesday, Aug 31, 2021, 11:00 AM
Phil's Icehouse/Amy's IceCream, U.S. 183, Austin, TX, USA
RSVPs are enabled for this event.
Austin International School
Email: info@austinis.org
Website: www.austininternationalschool.org
Location: 4001 Adelphi Lane, Austin, TX, United States
Phone: 512-331-7806
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AustinInternationalSchool
Twitter: @austinintschool