Highro Glyphics Newsletter Week of August 13, 2020

CAC High School Principal’s Notes

Dear High School Parents,

Welcome back to CAC, and welcome to Highro-Glyphics, the weekly newsletter from the High School. This newsletter is released every Thursday to keep you informed of the goings on in our school.

Welcome especially to our new students and their families. If they haven’t received it already, new parents will receive an invitation to a virtual orientation on Sunday morning, and new students will be welcomed to orientation on Monday.

Thank you to the PTO for hosting a question and answer session today, and thank you for the great questions. We hope those of you who were able to attend were able to have your concerns addressed. We will continue to offer opportunities for you to learn more about our program in upcoming Principal Coffees (which will be virtual for now). The times and details will be announced in future newsletters.

Blended Learning

As has been communicated previously, the High School will start the year with a blended model, combining face-to-face instruction with online learning. Please click here to review the HS Blended Learning 2x2x1 Schedule.

Students will be divided into two groups. Students and parents will be informed of their groups via email on Sunday, August 16. As the Middle School students are also being divided into groups, we will make sure Middle and High School siblings will be in the same groups.

Modified Schedules, August 18-19

The first two days of the school year, August 18-19, we will run a modified schedule to orient all students to this new model, explain important health and safety protocols, and give students the chance to meet their teachers. Group 1 will attend August 18, and Group 2 on August 19. Click here to see the August 18 & 19 Schedule.

We will begin each of those days with a virtual assembly, which students will view in their Block A classes. So that students know their Block A class, student schedules will be made available on Skyward before the first day of school.We will cover some of those health and safety protocols, as well as welcome students back to campus and provide an overview of the coming year.

As our classes are spread throughout different buildings, teachers will take time on those first two days to explain how the protocols will apply in their particular buildings and classrooms. While we will be able to provide absent students with some of this information electronically, these orientations are important, and any student who is able to attend on their assigned day should plan to do so.

We appreciate that due to circumstances beyond their control, some families will not arrive in Cairo by August 18. If you are in this situation and have not already been in communication with me, please contact me at jduggan@cacegypt.org. Students unable to return to campus due to COVID-19 related travel complications have access to online materials and should contact their teachers after schedules are made available.

Supplies

Please take time to review the checklists for students and parents (click here) related to health and safety. Other than the items on the checklist, no other special supplies are needed for the first day of school beyond a writing utensil, paper, and laptop. Individual teachers will inform students of any special needs during the first classes. For now, students should bring a packed lunch. In the coming weeks, we do plan to allow students to order food deliveries to the back gate, as well as have off-campus privileges, but these privileges will not apply to the first two days of school.

Islamic New Year

Thursday, August 20 there will be no school for the Islamic New Year holiday. We hope your family enjoys a relaxing long weekend before the first full week of the 2x2x1 schedule begins August 23.

Welcome New HS Faculty

● Ms. Allinson – Visual Arts
● Mr. Benson – Math
● Mr. Brauchle – Science
● Mr. Kaufman – Science
● Ms. Mills-Ossman – Learning Support Services
● Ms. Salmawy – Visual Arts
● Mr. Saratsiotis – Math
● Mr. Semler – Counseling

School to Home Communication

We want to ensure that you have the information you need for you and your child to successfully begin the academic school year. To keep from overwhelming you with papers, our primary source of information is your CAC Dashboard. There you will find the CAC calendar, which is frequently updated throughout the year; the calendar contains information on all the happenings on campus and is a useful planning tool. Additional information will be sent through email, this newsletter, and the morning announcements.

The HS Morning Announcements are emailed to you every other day and list important information for students and parents.

We also invite you to visit “Skyward” Family Access, which lists your child’s attendance and grades in all classes. To decrease students’ focus on points and grades, the Skyward grading platform is only visible to students/parents over the weekend each fortnight. Students are encouraged to talk to their teachers frequently about learning, rather than continually looking for grade updates via Skyward. Skyward opening dates are announced in this newsletter and the HS Morning Announcements.

Finally, feel free to contact the Principal at jduggan@cacegypt.org or the Assistant Principal at rmccall@cacegypt.org. In addition, teachers can be contacted via email, using the first letter of first name followed by last name @cacegypt.org.

To communicate with the academic departments, please communicate directly with the Department Heads:

Ms. A. Gramolini – English
Mr. E. Dunham – Math
Ms. D. Shalaby – Arts
Mr. L. Paul – PE
Ms. D. Knox – Science
Mr. A. Knox – Social Studies
Mr. A. Pedrett – World Languages
Mr. N. Williams – IB Program
Mr. A. Gorman – Learning Support Services

This school year will be challenging, but we hope that our phased reopening will allow us to continue to provide an outstanding education while we keep our amazing CAC community strong. We are excited to welcome back students on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings!

Warm regards,

 

Jerry Duggan               Rachel McCall
                HS Principal                  HS Assistant Principal

 

Counseling Department Announcements

High School students and parents,

The counselors wish you a warm welcome back!

We have a new counselor this year, and here is the alpha split”

Mr. Simon- last names A-E

Ms. Bean – last names F-M

Mr. Semler- last names N-Z

All 9th graders: You will receive a link to the virtual 9th grader orientation on Monday. It will be recorded and the link will be sent to you for viewing starting Monday morning. Counselors will also be available for a real time q/a for a live session for a meet and greet on Monday. Look at your CAC email for that information soon!

All students: your schedules will be sent to you as a PDF and through Skyward on Monday. Once you get your schedule, if you have questions, we will be available on email once classes get underway.

All Students: New appointment system! The counselors will have a system by which student appointment can be made. Stay tuned for further information, and we are always available via email as well.

Claudia Bean, Kasey Semler, Cameron Simon
HS Counseling

General Announcements

New CAC Bus Application Form

The new Bus application form is now available on the parents’ dashboard.
Below is the direct link:
New Bus Application Form

CAC Transportation Office

 

Student Physical Reminder – 2020/2021

A physical is required to be completed and sent to the health office on or before the first day of school for the students in Grades 3, 6 and 9.
Forms are accepted either by email or hand-delivered to security at the front gate.
https://www.cacegypt.org/PDF/Student_Physician_form.pdf

CAC Health Office