The American International School in Egypt (AISE) looks forward to welcoming our students back to campus. Our Pandemic Response Team has worked diligently to bring to AISE research-based best practice in health, safety, and education. This document is published to provide you with the information you need to prepare for the 2022-2023 school year.

We will continually monitor updates from the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the World Health Organization (WHO) with data and information from our campus. We will share all updates with you as they are made.

Our Mission: The American International School in Egypt (AISE) provides a comprehensive and challenging American and international education that fosters informed and engaged local, regional, and global citizenship. We inspire students to be lifelong learners who contribute positively to a diverse and changing world.

In other words, we aim for our students to make the world a better place, by leading, learning, and creating. To do so, they need a strong foundation (learning), relevant and engaging application of learning (creating), and a strong social-emotional foundation and skills to lead their peers and the world.

This mission is just as relevant online as it is face-to-face, and AISE is committed to leveraging all the positives of digital connectivity to advance learning and teaching at AISE to be best aligned to this mission. We will use the current situation as an opportunity to grow, improve, and help our students make the world a better place by learning, leading, and creating.

AISE's Guiding Principles for the Pandemic Response:

• AISE prioritizes safety and health of its students, faculty, and staff.

• Planning must be grounded in research, best practice, and guidance from the world's most expert agencies.

• AISE will continue to provide a student-centered, high-challenge, high-support learning experience for all students.

• Engagement, regular formative feedback, and authentic assessment are critical for success with face-to-face, digital, and through a hybrid model.

Note: Families are required to report if close contacts of students test positive to ensure students are quarantining effectively.

With regards to health and safety, families play the most important role in keeping children and our whole school community safe. The number one safety measure is to keep a child home if they are sick. There is nothing that will protect our community more.

Some members of our community have loved ones at home that are at a particular risk. Some members of our community themselves are at a higher risk. As a community, we must support each other in keeping one another as safe as possible and adhering to all health and safety measures as our top priority. Moreover, there may be times when we ask families to comply with additional safety measures. We greatly appreciate your cooperation in this regard.

No one institution or person is responsible for health and safety. It is a partnership. Successfully reopening schools requires continual collaboration between administrators, staff, and teachers and ongoing cooperation among teachers, students, and parents. Everyone has a critical role to play.

We also expect you to have questions and are eager to listen to and help each family navigate any concerns they may have. Please feel free to contact us at ResponseTeam@aisegypt.com and a member of our team will be in touch.

With regards to learning, parents are the first teachers. Our kids learn values, character, and problem solving by watching and listening to us, as parents. The role of parents during this pandemic has changed for everyone. We ask parents to stay in close contact with their child’s teachers, counselors, and principals. Providing support while allowing students to be independent learners is a tough balance to strike. Working together, we will find that balance.

The AISE Main and West Pandemic Task Force will review the pandemic status every two weeks and assess changes that need to be made in AISE operations. The Task Force will use a holistic review of indicators and will base decisions on science and recommendations by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The following does not constitute a complete list, but is a visual representation of phases and decision-making criteria.

Communication and People Responsible

Pandemic Response Team: (Director, Deputy Director, COVID Officer, School Doctors, and Principals)

• Continue to review and revise the AISE plan to build on successes as needed and in relation to stakeholder survey results.

• Plan for and respond to health, safety and learning concerns of all constituents.

• Respond with agility to urgent matters and make well thought out decisions.

• Communicate decisions with all stakeholders.

Communication with Families

• Director - Update on the state of affairs, published as needed.

• Principals and counselors monitor students' academic and social-emotional well-being and communicate with families regularly regarding challenges and successes.

• Teachers - Regular communication with students.

Staying Home When Sick

Students, faculty, and staff with any symptoms of a cold or flu should not come to campus. Symptoms include cough, shortness of breath, headache, chills, elevated temperature, muscle pain, sore throat, the new loss of smell or taste, and nausea/vomiting. Parents should use the school’s regular systems to call in any child sick if necessary. Faculty and staff should also use regular systems to call in sick if necessary.

From the Acting Minister of Health in Egypt

1. Cases confirmed isolation time: 5 days for mild or no symptoms and absence of fever 10 days for moderate or severe symptoms

2. Returning to work does not necessitate the completion of the requisite laboratory tests. adhering to the application of prevention standards, the most important of which is wearing medical masks, especially in gathering places, while continuing to obtain the vaccinations that the state is eager to provide.

3. Simple Symptoms: In the case of a laboratory positive case with simple symptoms, the isolation remains for a minimum of 5 days and up to 24 hours after the fever has entirely disappeared and the use of fever reducers is discontinued, in the absence of fever, the isolation is for a period of 5 days from the date of the positive test, provided that the person continues in both cases, wearing a mask.

4. Moderate and Severe Symptoms: In the case of a laboratory positive case with moderate or severe symptoms, isolation continues for 10 days, provided that the last three days of isolation are not accompanied by a rise in temperature, coughing, or shortness of breath, but if the 10-day period ends and the symptoms persist, isolation continues until the symptoms disappear and an additional three days pass without symptoms.

5. Possible cases: In the situation of a possible case diagnosed with CT scans, laboratory tests, and clinical diagnosis, the aforementioned isolation periods are followed based on the clinical classification of each case, without conducting a confirmatory laboratory examination for the Coronavirus.

Notifying the School:

Please notify the School immediately if any of the following occur:

• a student, faculty, staff member, or a household member of the before mentioned has been diagnosed with COVID-19.

• a student, faculty, staff member, or a household member of the before mentioned has had contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.

Screening and Contingency / Emergency Planning

The school doctors are the designated health and safety ambassadors for AISE. They will monitor the implementation of our school plan and will lead training with staff and students.

Students who show any signs of illness at home may not attend school and the school must be contacted immediately to enable contact tracing. If any member of the household has symptoms of COVID-19, please inform the school and do not send your child to school.

Face masks are optional unless otherwise told on campus.

Safe Classroom Procedures

Hygiene Overview

To prevent the spread of COVID-19 our cleaning protocols follow guidelines established by the CDC and the WHO. These guidelines encourage institutions to consider the important differences between cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting, and recommend the best chemicals to use and how to apply them. We have different protocols for different circumstances. For example, if we have a student who tests positive for COVID-19, the classroom in which they study will be closed for a period of time for disinfecting. In addition, we will not allow students to enter spaces they are not assigned to for their classes. Robust cleaning protocols will be focused on high density and high traffic areas such as the school lobby, dining hall, bathrooms, gym, stair handrails, music rooms, art rooms, library and library books.

Preventive Hygiene

Everyday hygiene practices are another key to prevent virus transmission. As has been well documented, hand-washing many times daily with soap and water is critical. At AISE handwashing will be assigned several times throughout the day by grade level. We would like to see each student wash their hands with soap and water for a minimum of twenty seconds each time their hands are washed. Other preventative measures include coughing or sneezing into tissues or the inside elbow; avoiding touching your face especially mouth, eyes and nose.

Visitor Access

Visitors, including parents, will only be allowed on campus if they have a pre-approved appointment.

Parent Meetings

All Parents must schedule a meeting with their principal.

Faculty and Staff Childcare

• AISE’s co-op daycare (nursery) will be 100% face-to-face.

• There will be child care provided for AISE faculty and staff who have students attending AISE (KG1-Grade 12) during school.

  • There will be a room and outdoor space designated for these students.

  • Students will be supervised, provided a recess time, internet access, and a space to work.

  • This will not be a class, but rather childcare if you are not able to or choose not to provide child care at home.

  • You will be required to sign up for this benefit so we can anticipate the number of students we will need to supervise.