General News 

This Week:
• Important PTA meeting on Friday 14 May—3:30 PM in Allison Pagan’s classroom (behind Parent Room)

Emergency Preparations at ICS
Updated Phones and Emails
In recent weeks we have received new and updated phone and email information for many families. Thank you, parents, for keeping us accurate. We are preparing updated phone lists for all elementary classroom teachers and our middle/high school advisors. Please remember to keep us in the loop when any of your family information changes.
Next week we will have a practice phone tree “call down” to all families in the school. Teachers will be calling parents to touch base to make sure that our system is working, and that we do, indeed, have accurate contact information for all families. Thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation.

Keeping School Open in Difficult Times
Our ICS policy is that if it is safe in our neighborhood, we will be open for school. However, all parents and employees are asked to make their own judgments about the safety of their own neighborhoods or routes to
school. Students and employees will not be penalized for making the judgment to stay at home and not come to school or to work. We cannot make the judgment for you, we can only tell you if we are open or not.

Communication Protocol
In the event that we need to reach all ICS families in quick order, SMS and email messages will be our first avenues for contact. All of our ICS families have at least one mobile phone. If the SMS network is  functioning and the Internet is up, we will use both systems to get the word out quickly to all families. If SMS is not available, then we will initiate a phone call down.

Keep ICS Informed
Parents, as always, if you hear about or witness a security situation or event that we need to know about, please inform us as well as the appropriate authorities. You can call our reception desk during school hours, or you can call one of the school Principals.

Emergency Preparedness Tips
Please see the attached page of suggestions (or click here) offered by the US Department of State, regarding preparation for emergencies. These tips are useful in any type of personal emergency situation.
Thank you,
Jim Laney

Leaving ICS Early? Withdrawal Procedure
If your family will be leaving early for the summer, before the last day of school, please notify us at info@icsaddis.edu.et. This applies to both families who will be returning to ICS and those who will be  moving on to another school. All students who have notified us that they are not returning to ICS for 2010-11 will receive a withdrawal packet on 11 June containing their school records and a certificate of attendance, conditional on completion of the student checkout. If you have notified us that your child is leaving before the last day of school (11 June), we will prepare the checkout and withdrawal packet for the child’s last day. If you need any assistance in applying to the child’s next school, please contact the Registrar, Jessica Fortin, at info@icsaddis.edu.et. Elementary student checkout will be processed by classroom teaching assistants and middle/high school student checkout must be completed by the students. Please make sure your child returns all books, instruments and other materials that belong to the school and that your accounts are settled with the Business Office.

From Business Office
The tuition and fee bills for the year 2010-11 school years will be sent home with students on May 14, 2010. Please check with your youngest child for your packet. If you do not receive one, please feel free to contact the ICS Business Office and a copy will be provided. Please be informed that payment for the entire first semester tuition and fees must be made by August 25, 2010.

Use of ICS Community Email Addresses
The ICS Administration would like to remind parents that the email addresses of parents and teachers that are provided in the ICS Directory are to be used only for personal communications and not for mass mailings, including sending advertisements or for sale notices. We respect the privacy of our parents and teachers and it is not appropriate for the ICS email lists to be used for purposes other than school or personal, direct communications. You are welcome to submit “For Sale” posters to the reception desk for posting on the school bulletin board. Thank you for your cooperation.

Scholarship Club Garage Sale
The garage sale will be on Sunday 16 May in the gym. The ICS Scholarship Club sponsors the garage sale and all table and entrances fees, as well as a percentage of the proceeds, go to the club. Tables are available for 150 birr and you can sign up for a table at the ICS reception desk. Entrance to the sale will be 10 birr and priority will be given to ICS community members from 10:30 AM to noon. Others may enter after 12 PM, until closing at 2:30 PM.

ICS Book Fair
If you have any books you no longer need, please bring them in to the library for the ICS Annual Library Book Fair. For each book you bring in, you will receive a "Book Buck". Book Bucks can be exchanged for other donated books on the day of the fair. Any books left over will be donated to worthy local recipients.
The fair will take place on Thursday 20 May and Friday 21 May from 3:30-5:00 in the cafeteria. Used, but lovingly cared for, books will be available for book bucks or a small fee (10-20 birr). This is a very popular event, so come early and often to see all the books on offer.

The Grade 9's Are Collecting Plastic Water Bottles
The grade 9 class is asking for your help. They are collecting clean, plastic, water bottles with lids. These  bottles are then donated to a group in town who wash and refill the bottles with fresh water. These filled bottles are then donated to street people. It's a great cause and a great way to recycle your plastic, water bottles. Look for the yellow baskets in and around the cafeteria for people to place their bottles. Please feel free to bring your bottles from home. The more bottles, the better. The grade 9 class thanks everyone in advance for their help with this service project. We will stop the bottle collection the week before the end of school and will start again the 2nd week after school starts.

Linen For Women
We will be collecting Linen For Women again this year at the ICS Garage Sale, on 16 May in the ICS Gym. Please think of us as you are cleaning out your closets or getting ready to pack-out. We will have boxes for collection at the ICS Garage Sale. We would love take your blankets, sheets, and towels off your hands so we can donate them to women's shelters in and around Addis. Look for us standing outside the gym doors on 16 May.