Dear ACS Families,
I know we are all watching the news very carefully and hoping for peace and continued calm in Beirut and Lebanon. I am very pleased to report that we have more than 80% of our students back on campus and expect more to arrive over the weekend. Moreover, eight faculty/staff have returned already or are arriving in Beirut next week. If the situation remains static or even improves, we expect that both trends will continue.
Our Leadership Team continues to meet to discuss longer-term scenarios. We are doing our best to ensure that students who are out of the country are able to stay connected to their teachers and classes. This is easier, of course, with older students, and high school students who are away are attending classes via Zoom.
As the percentage of students who are on campus approaches 90%, we will have to devote most of our resources to serving this population. If families decide that they will be out of the country indefinitely, we want to encourage them to explore other educational options for their children. If you have questions about how to keep your places at ACS if you know you will return at some point in the future, please contact Najwa Zabad, our Director of Admissions, directly. If you have questions regarding the remote program in specific divisions or want to have a conversation about your longer-term plans and concerns, please reach out to our principals. We are planning to maintain the status quo until after the upcoming long weekend to celebrate Lebanese Independence Day and American Thanksgiving.
On a different matter, I know that some parents have raised concerns about mosquitoes and other insects on campus. I just want you to know that we are aware of these concerns and have been weighing different options. Unfortunately, we have a challenging situation because of recent rainfall and continued summer-like temperatures. This has allowed insects to persist a bit longer than they usually do. Moreover, there is a deserted lot next to our lower school, which is also a source of insects. We have been in touch with the municipality and are making arrangements with the owners of the lot to clean that lot later this year, but we need to do this when school is not in session.
We looked into the possibility of spraying, but we don't have a campus shutdown long enough to allow this to happen safely. In order to be effective, the chemical treatment must be administered for four consecutive weeks, and we simply can't shut down our campus on weekends to be able to do this. We have employed some mosquito deterrents in various classrooms, which have helped mitigate the problem temporarily. With cooler temperatures forecast for the next few weeks, we are hopeful that the situation will improve.
Sincerely,
