Month: June 2008

The office will be open today from 8:00 AM – 3:00 PM to the public.

Monday’s Accomplishments: We cleaned and organized the storage room #19 on the second floor. With increasing enrollment, we can convert one of the storage rooms to a classroom. In years past, the rooms were used as secondary classrooms. They are located above the art studio. We also checked out all of the expatriate teachers. In office news, we determined the Apostille process for students wanting to enter the Venezuelan school system, organized transport for the expat teachers to the airport, and sorted out keys and pay roll for June and July.

Expatriates Leave EA: The bus arrived on time this morning to take the outgoing expatriate teachers and their luggage to the Barcelona airport.

Summer School: Ms. Doreen, Ms. Lisa, and Ms. Ann will be holding summer tutoring sessions at the school during the month of June. This is good for the students to maintain their level of English during the long summer holiday. We encourage our families to use as much English as possible, and some ideas would be to watch English television programs and internet videos, read English magazines and books, etc. If you are interested in having your child come in for the summer, please contact the office and we’ll put you in touch with one of the three ladies.

I will be out of the office after 1:00 PM this afternoon.

This past Saturday evening, the parents surprised the outgoing expatriate faculty with a grand farewell party. They wanted to show their appreciation for the staff’s dedication to their children. It was a very special evening for me. The parents went to great lengths to express their gratitude. They had Jay’s mega-BBQ truck and plenty of delicious food and drink. There were many speeches, tears, gifts, and thank yous for each staff member.

Shown above is the mariachi band and you can hear a bit from their set. There was much dancing and merriment long into the evening. They had a karaoke machine and the crowd was so uplifted of my version of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” that they got out of their seats and begged me to stop! The students had a great time running in the gym and park, and riding the bicycles around the school.

I want to thank our community on behalf of the staff. Escuela Anaco is a special place and we’ll never forget your kindness and generosity. It has been very rewarding to work with the children and parents of our community. We leave much richer for the experience!

I uploaded many photos from the evening. You can see all of them in my flickr.com account.

The office will be open today from 8:00 AM – 3:00 PM for parents wishing to pick up report cards.

Happy Birthday to Anthony M. today!

Saturday’s Accomplishments: Thanks to the teachers for helping out Saturday morning. We cleaned out storage room #19 and the AV room behind the stage.

Teacher Check Out: Most of the expatriate staff will be flying out tomorrow. Before they go, they will need to have their classroom and home cleaned a secured, their mailbox cleaned, summer contact information, and the keys labeled and returned. We do a final payroll later this week.