From the School Director
Proverbs 3:5-6 reads, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Mr. Whitehurst has been sharing during staff devos on Tuesday mornings about Gideon. In many ways, Gideon was set up for battle but was required to follow God’s instructions. And to Gideon, the instructions made little sense. I’ve found over the course of the last nine months, there have been many situations that do not make sense in my temporal, earthly perspective. I know, though, because of God’s promises in his word that whatever happens, the eternal purposes of our current circumstances are for good. As I wrote in my letter yesterday, I challenge all of us – the entire community – to choose joy and thanksgiving through it all; even when, to us, it just does not make sense.
One challenging aspect of this season is that because teachers are required to submit their letter of intent to return in November. In seeking God’s will, Mr. Powers and Mr. Ernsberger have decided not to return and leave the following messages to the community.
From Mr. Powers:
I am grateful that I was part of the BAIS community for the past five years. I appreciate that I am not alone in being significantly affected by the covid virus but this past year put reality on pause and forced me to reassess what I want in my life. I have decided to take a “Jana Year” and return to the States (Texas) to reassess what I want to do with my future and life. I am lucky to have worked with amazing teachers/staff, administration, students, and parents. BAIS is a special school and I know I am leaving an amazing place. I am also affirmed that leaving this year is the best thing for me. I will specifically miss the best Homeroom at BAIS; they are very special to me.
From Mr. E:
It has been a blessing to serve BAIS the past four years. Our plans next year are in Arizona are continuing to teach and go to school there. We will miss the community and the students and teachers here. We really love BAIS. We have made a lot of wonderful memories with you.
Please pray for them as they begin the healthy transition process or, as we call it at BAIS, RAFTing:
- R – Reconciliation
- A – Affirmation
- F – Farewells
- T – Think Destination
I am also including here the important dates from my letter yesterday. I noticed that January 17 was mistakenly identified as the date of return to offline school. January 17 is actually a Sunday. The target date for offline school is January 18.
Nov. 24
- All BAIS staff were evaluated for COVID-19 via rapid test
- All of our staff members tested negative (81/81)
- Today marks day 7 of our infected staff member’s last presence at school (note that she left campus the morning of the 17th, and received positive test results on the 21st)
Nov. 30-Dec. 1
- The custodial and maintenance team will perform a thorough deep-clean of the facility
- No other persons allowed on campus on these dates
Dec. 2
- Custodial, office, teaching, and support staff will return to their normal work schedules on campus
Dec. 7
- Students who have been attending courses on-campus due to special circumstances (ILP, ELD, one-on-one, etc.) will be invited back on campus
- Despite previous plans for a soft reopen, TK will not be resuming in a fully offline manner until
January.
Jan. 11-15
- Semester 2 begins in an online format for this week
- Post-holiday Quarantine week: Teachers will work from home and no students will be on campus, allowing those who have traveled to remain at home for a full week as a safety precaution
Jan. 18
- TK, SD, SMP, and SMA will begin on-campus instruction per recently communicated government guidelines. (Pending final approval)
- TK – The national government announced a daily maximum of five students per grade, so there will be a rotation with final details determined in the next few weeks
Choosing joy,
Jeremy J. Thomas, MS. Ed.
Director
Angel Tree
The Build to Give club is helping organize the Angel Tree for Permata Bali Children’s Home! BAIS has a longstanding relationship with this ministry– for many years Mr. and Mrs. Paese facilitated our gift-giving and even though they’ve left BAIS, we have continued to share our blessings with the children, youth, and workers at Bali Permata every year at Christmas. This year, our club Build To Give will take care of this event. There are 27 children/youth and 13 staff/workers for whom we’d like to buy Christmas presents! Can you help?
This is a link to a Google Slides Presentation where all the information about the children/youth and staff workers are: Angel Gift Tree – Build To Give
We also have 14 children (5 girls, 9 boys) in Kindergarten, the TK Pelita Hati, in which we would like to provide goody bags for.
We need monetary donations by Friday, December 11th, so we can ship them to Bali in time for Christmas!
If you are willing to support this endeavor, please fill out this form. Once you have filled out the form, we will contact you with the details. Thank you!
If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Squiers (erinsquiers@baisedu.org), Sherin Chong (sherinchong@baisedu.org), or Melissa Budijono (melissabudijono@baisedu.org).
Yearbook Picture Day will be rescheduled to sometime next semester.
New Student Scholarship
Dear Parents and Friends,
As one of the Marketing initiatives to bring more interest in our school, we are punching to give scholarship to new students who qualify. These students have to follow the guidelines and meet the criteria stated in the Scholarship form on this link. In addition to this, we also have Finders Fee initiatives for families or individuals who bring new students to BAIS. For more information about these programs, feel free to contact us at admissions@baisedu.org or WA +62221012247
