Dear AL community,
As an educational institution, it is essential to take every moment, positive or otherwise, as a learning opportunity, not only for the children but also for families, faculty and staff. This week's incident should be used as an opportunity to discuss a few critical things with your students. Children need to realize that they play a critical role in the safety of their school, and that they should share anything of concern with their teacher, their administrator, and their parents. Additionally, they need to understand that joking about weapons or harming someone else is never acceptable, and can lead to severe consequences.
In this age of social media, we have to teach our children how to stay safe and how to protect their privacy. They should never share or forward inappropriate pictures. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and I believe that having those sometimes hard discussions with kids is a great first step. The website Common Sense Media
has extensive resources for parents regarding social media, cell phones, apps, online safety and more, from preschoolers to teens. I encourage you to check it out and start a discussion with your child(ren) today.
Have a great weekend,
Elimane Mbengue
Head of School
Parent volunteer, Olivier Griot, and Oak office manager, Jessica Wallace, worked together to create a pilot website aimed at making it easier for AL parents to find and purchase books and other materials in French. Right now, we are offering a selection from 3 publishers: Scholastic from Canada (like US Scholastic, but books are in French), Bayard/Milan Presse (French magazines) and Ecole des Loisirs (a French book publisher which offers yearly book subscriptions). We hope to add more publishers to the site as we continue to develop the site and find more options our community may be interested in.
Mark your calendars for May 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th for tryouts for the AL Middle School Girls Volleyball Team. We are looking for current 5th, 6th, and 7th grade girls wanting to take their volleyball skills to the next level. We play in a highly competitive league and are in need of players that have a desire to improve their skills, to be a part of a team, to work hard, and most importantly, have FUN!
