NEW CIS TELEPHONE NUMBER: 704-455-3847

School Closing Information

With today’s rain and flooding, this UPDATE takes on a special urgency. We are working with area TV and radio stations to include CIS in school closing announcements. In the meantime, if we have inclement weather we will follow Cabarrus County schools’ decisions about school closing. When Cabarrus County schools have a delayed start, early dismissal, or cancel school due to the weather, we will do the same, until further notice.

CIS Communication UPDATE

After our long odyssey, we’re home. And now you’ll see our pace of progress accelerate on many fronts. Most importantly, we’ll establish regular channels of communication with our families, including:

• Tuesday Folders. Every Tuesday our teachers will send home both school-wide news and information specific to their class. We’ll ask parents to sign the Folder and return it on Wednesday.
• UPDATEs. This email source of information will continue as often as possible. It is our fastest way to disseminate information, along with our…
• Website. This will become an important focal point for long-term communication with our families: describing our academic program, calendar of events, and other school information. But with all the demands of getting into our facility, we have some catching up to do on our website. We appreciate your patience during this transition time. We’ll inform you when the new information has been posted.
• Voicemail. The technicians working on our information technology (IT) system inform us that they expect to have our telephone system functional by the end of this week. That will mean that each teacher finally has their own phone and voicemail account to facilitate communication directly with families. Again, we’ll let you know when the system is working.
• Parents Newsletter. Our newly named parents’ organization (see below) will also have its own newsletter, published either monthly or quarterly.

PIT Crew Established

Last week about 50 parents met to discuss the mission and name of our parent organization. The result was the Parent Involvement Team, or “PIT Crew” for short! What better name for a school located in the home of NASCAR?

But importantly, the name fits the mission of the organization. CIS encourages Parent Involvement, and we hope that we’ll all work together as a Team to fulfill the promise and potential of this school. There will be a committee chairs meeting tomorrow night (Wednesday, September 29) at 7pm. The next PIT Crew meeting for all parents is Monday, October 11th at 7pm at the school.

Full Speed Ahead

The activities at school are also accelerating. Here are some quick points—you’ll get more information in your Tuesday Folders:

• Enrichment Program begins. Our after-school enrichment program began last night with the Drama Club’s first meeting with the older students. In the weeks to come, we’ll schedule choir, chess, Tae Kwon Do, Little Ninjas, ballet, guitar, piano, and more. On October 12th we’ll have an Enrichment Fair at school so students can learn more about all the offerings. Some of these are free school-sponsored programs; others have instruction fees.
• Chess Club. The Chess Club will start Wednesday, Oct. 6, from 3:45-4:45. We’ll form groups according to level of experience, play some games, and plan for future activities. If you’d like to help, contact Sean McCloud at spmcclou@email.uncc.edu OR 704-687-2542.
• Choir is also starting next Wednesday.
• Book Fair. Our first Book Fair is October 4-8, with some earlier sneak previews. See your Tuesday Folder for more information. Parent volunteers are needed.
• School Pictures. Individual school portraits will be taken next week on Monday, October 4. Packets are being sent home in the Tuesday Folders. Students can wear any school uniform shirt. 
• Article about CIS. Yesterday a reporter and photographer from the Charlotte Observer were on campus to prepare a story about the school for this Thursday’s Cabarrus Neighbors section of the Charlotte Observer.

Looking Ahead to Our Permanent Buildings

We’re often asked, “When will we move to our permanent buildings?” Our response has been that as soon as we get onto our campus, we’ll establish a Long-Term Planning Committee to set that process in motion. Now is the time.

We are looking for members of our CIS community who can contribute time and expertise to this major undertaking. We’re seeking teachers, parents, and community members with expertise in school design, financing, fund-raising, and construction. Please contact Dr. Beall if you’d like to participate. We’ll select a leadership team and expect to have many committees that will need broad community involvement. We’ll provide regular updates on this in the weeks to come.

 

Dr. Richard Beall, Director
Carolina International School
8810 Hickory Ridge Road
Harrisburg, NC 28075
Telephone: (704) 455-3847
Email: info@CarolinaInternationalSchool.org
www.CarolinaInternationalSchool.org