Message from our Superintendent
Back to the Future
Dear ASFM community,
Like most of us, I am thinking a lot about the Escamez family and the sudden passing of Monica Rojas Zertuche, an ASFM mother with three children at our school. Please keep this family in your thoughts.
I’m always on the lookout for well crafted sentences or paragraphs, and I think that among the most succinct and wise is written by Hippocrates:
“Life is short, and Art long; the crisis fleeting; experience perilous, and decision difficult. The physician must not only be prepared to do what is right himself, but also to make the patient, the attendants, and externals cooperate”
The applicability of this quote is universal. It’s simple but complete. Hippocrates was famous for taking notes of his observations. He reminds us you can’t learn from the past if you don’t record it. If you don’t record, then you will not remember and thus not learn. Knowledge is cumulative. Among our most important goals as humans is always to learn to be a better person and thereby make the world an even more beautiful place–if possible, everyday. Monica Rojas Zertuche would want us to remember that life is short, but the project of making the world a better place is long. Let’s not waste time. Please keep this family in your prayers.
On campus our students are in the sprint to the end of the school year. During the first two weeks of May, many of our high school students are taking their AP Exams. Some of these students will use their grades on these exams to earn credit at their colleges and universities in the fall. Most seniors now know where they will attend in the fall. Here’s a list of the universities where seniors have gained entrance so far–impressive list of schools!
The end of the year is the time where we collect evidence of our impact. Many of our other grade levels are taking the MAP tests, yet another indicator of how our students are doing. These tests help us not only understand how our students are doing at ASFM, but they also allow us to compare results to schools around the world. Our PCR testing program provides additional data about our health and wellbeing, also a point of comparison, data suggests that it might be the right time for testing to go away. With 10% random testing and gray water analysis set for just a few more Mondays in May, we are nearly done with this program. Our COVID positive rate remains low. Thank goodness.
We also have been closely tracking our students academic progress. We are a school that insists every student meet expectations and be given the opportunity to exceed their personal goals. Some students have not achieved the goal of passing and will require more time in school to meet expectations. We will have summer school this summer; Eagle Summer Programs will be open for business. For this school year, any student in grade 6 to 12 who earns below a 2.2 grade in a core course, which includes English, Math, Science, Social Studies, or Spanish will be required to attend additional school to remediate their failing grade. We will not move a student up in the curriculum if they are failing. From what I understand this is something that ASFM used to do, and we will be returning to this practice–a practice of holding students accountable for meeting expectations. On Monday we will be forthcoming with more details, but the general plan is that students with failing grades will have a choice of attending in-person summer classes at ASFM or taking a course online. For students failing non-core courses, they will be given the opportunity to do a project. There will be an additional cost for these course remediations. Time is ticking, so let’s put our best effort forth in the remaining weeks of school.
This weekend there are a few fun events happening on campus: Eagles on Wheels, the Market Place and the Miles for Smiles road race. I plan on running in the road race, so come join me! It will be hot, so bring lots of water! In other sporty news, there’s a ASOMEX Juvenil B basketball tournament in Guadalajara–Go Eagles!
Between now and the end of the school year will be busy, so let’s do our best to be fully present.
Onward,
George