Dear Friends,
Our thriving summer school program is entering its final two week session, and we are continuing to prepare for the start of the year, especially teacher orientation, training, and team work on curriculum and planning in anticipation of our PYP authorization visit from the International Baccalaureate Organization. That visit will occur in December as planned.
Construction continues on schedule, and we had a lovely play date for new families at Sellwood Park last Saturday morning. I love the diversity of our families and students. This diversity, as much as the education itself, makes TIS such a rich environment for students and for all of us.
Enrollment is going extremely well and we will have some new second sections in some grades of the Chinese and Spanish tracks. Our only concern about enrollment is that we may have to ultimately place more students on the wait list. I was recently quoted a rumor that the Japanese track at TIS would be discontinued. I assure you this is not the case. If TIS were ever to take such a step, you would be the first to hear about it. Unfortunately, sometimes people who discontinue their affiliation with a school may promulgate such rumors. If ever you hear such statements and are concerned, you have my mobile number. Don’t be afraid to use it (before 9 pm, if you please but also later if a real emergency).
Having come from a highly competitive school environment in Shanghai, I am used to rumor tactics, schools sending “spies” to learn about operations, and all kinds of devious but humorous devices. As a PYP school, we don’t sink to such tactics, and as a thriving school with a successful 20 year history and an incredibly bright future, we don’t need to. We believe in collaboration and will again be collaborating with the other serious and established language immersion schools in a meeting this August.
Until next week, take care, stay cool, and as they used to say, “don’t take any wooden nickels.”
Alfonso
