Dear ACS Families,
First, I want to express my gratitude to everyone who completed the survey about your plans—staying in Beirut or leaving temporarily. We heard from nearly 80% of our families, which means we have good data to work with.
Based on the responses we received, we anticipate that approximately 75% of our student body is still in Beirut. With that said and barring any serious deterioration in the situation in Lebanon, we are planning to open on Monday for a normal school day. After-school activities will also resume.
For those students who are out of the country, each school division is developing a workable plan for online learning for the next two weeks. What is possible in terms of online learning differs greatly depending on the age of students. I asked the principals to provide you with details of what the online learning program will look like on Wednesday.
We know that we can navigate a short-term online learning program that will allow students to easily rejoin their classes when they return to Beirut. If the situation worsens and a longer-term separation is anticipated, we will have to come up with a different plan, which we hope will work for most students. The situation will determine our realistic options in this regard.
Despite the warnings of various embassies advising foreign nationals to leave Lebanon, the vast majority of our expat teaching faculty have decided to stay here for the time being. Only a handful of teachers (as of today, only 4) will be out of the country, and we will find the best way for them to continue teaching remotely with support on the ground here. This is wonderful news.
We are all hoping that the situation here in Lebanon stabilizes and the threat of involvement in a larger conflict diminishes over the next few days. That is the best possible scenario for our students and for the entire country.
Sincerely,
