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From the Elementary Principal

At BAIS, our preschool through 5th grade students are evaluated quarterly through a standards-based grading system. We are always looking for ways to improve how we communicate and report student achievement and mastery, so, as we look toward the coming school year, I wanted to present and answer a couple of frequently asked questions:

What is standards-based grading?

Our system includes:

What is the purpose of a standards-based grading system?

Will BAIS ever re-evaluate the O, G, N, U grading scale?

Is “O” similar to an “A,” and a “G” like that of a “B” and so on?

No. Though it may seem that standards-based grading performance scale scores are easy to translate tothe traditional A, B, C, D, F, it is actually quite difficult, and should be avoided in standards-based grading.

n traditional grading, letter grades report the number of points earned in a subject, and do not report muchabout what the student has actually learned or mastered.

At BAIS, our commitment to ensuring student reports accurately reflect learning and achievement remains strong. We will continue to work towards improving the clarity of our grading criteria so that teachers, students, and parents are of one accord. Ultimately, our goal is for each child to feel empowered and motivated in their own learning and to neither feel anxious nor pressured throughout the learning process.

Neil Cantrall, M. Ed.
Elementary Principal

Drama Annoucement

When: Wednesday, Feb 24 – 4:15pm

What: Scenes 11 and 11B (Roses of Success)

Who: Sound and lights crew; Inventors; Ezra; Mael; Josh; Mia; Simeon; Karen; Clarine; Ollie; Jinny; Elementary Ensemble*
*Elementary Ensemble only need to come from 5:15 – 6:15

REHEARSAL CHANGE:
Please note that we are changing our Saturday, March 13 practice to Saturday, March 6. We will send a reminder closer to the date.

Free Webinar: Food Matters!

Hello Everyone!
We want to invite you to a webinar about health and nutrition that will be hosted by Kelsey Cantrall, the wife of our Elementary Principal, Mr. Neil Cantrall, on Friday, February 26, 2021, at 3 PM via our YouTube channel.

Kelsey graduated from George Fox University with Bachelor of Science in Health & Human Performance; she is also a certified Integrative Nutrition Coach and Personal Trainer.

Join us as we learn more about how to prepare healthy and nutritious food for ourselves and our family during busy times.

See you there!
The Marketing Team

Tips and tricks for eating health. A free live webinar by Mrs. Cantrall.

Lower & Upper Elementary Game Time

February 23, 2021 starting at 2:50PM (GMT+7)

Hang out with your friends and play fun and interactive games with each other!

Game night includes sing-alongs, scavenger hunts, and may more activities! See you there!

Event is held through Zoom! Please use your real name in the call!

To join: Sign up Here!

News from the Finance Dept.

Dear parents,

This week we have sent out the tuition invoices for the 2021-2022 school year. Please check your email and let us know if you did not receive it. If you want to take advantage of the “Early bird” discount please remember the due date is on or before March 5, 2021, and there will be no refund for the early bird discount.

Thank you,
Finance Dept.

Elementary Art Competition

The Student Council excitedly presents BAIS’ first elementary online art competition!

Students from 1st to 5th grade are all welcome to participate. This year, our theme is “Draw Your Heart”, where students are encouraged to draw things that they love. They can draw anything they love including their favorite food, their hobbies, family members, or even their pets. Students can submit one work between February 23 – March 2.

By March 3, the submitted artworks will be compiled and graded based on a rubric. The artwork by the winners – 1st and 2nd – will win a considerable amount of points for their House, as well as a trophy. Moreover, the winning art will be displayed in the BAIS Buzz and on our Instagram account, @bais.stuco. But do not worry about winning- anyone who participates in the competition can still win their team points!

We hope to see your art soon!

Conteset Timeline

Guidelines for Artwork

Each student may submit one piece of artwork, in any of the following media:

Divisions

The contestants will be grouped into 2 categories: upper and lower elementary. There will be 2 winners from each category. There will be a total of 4 winners.

Judging Criteria

Example Drawing that meets all the criteria:
‘I Love Outer Space’ by Aisyah Nasywa Ula
(2nd place winner of KhaChiFA Art Competition)

Contest Rewards

Rewards for entering:

  1. 10 house points
  2. Student’s artwork posted on Student Council’s Instagram (@bais.stuco)

Rewards for winning:

  1. A Trophy
  2. Student’s artwork posted in the BAIS BUZZ and Student Council’s Instagram (@bais.stuco)
  3. 50 house points

Submit your art on the Google Form. (Maximum Upload: 1 Image)

Made to Change: Self-Inflating Balloon Experiment

Made to Change’s interactive science programs are back! Sign up to learn awesome science concepts behind chemical reactions in a fun, exciting way! By signing up, you and your child will receive the meet invites as well as regular updates for the event. Follow Made to Change’s Instagram for more updates: @made.to.change

Thank you so much,
Angel Gunaman

From the Director

The following was written by Ms. Elizabeth LaMertha, BAIS’ 12th grade Bible teacher to her students. It is a well-crafted response addressing the recently revealed misconduct of apologist, Ravi Zacharias. While the intended audience is her students, the response is beneficial for everyone to read. It is an example of life-long learning, Biblical application, and logical reasoning based on news that was very disappointing for the Christian community. I continue to be proud of how our teachers model what we hope our graduates will look like after walking the BAIS hallways.

With a grateful heart,
Mr. Thomas

Addressing the revelation of sexual abuse and misconduct by Ravi Zacharias

This Bible class is about answering the objections that nonbelievers, and sometimes even believers, have with Christianity — with God, with the Bible, with the Church, with Church teachings, and with Christians themselves. Unfortunately, one of the most common objections, the objection of hypocrisy — that Christians do not practice what they say they believe — is too often a valid objection, so how do Christians address this objection? What do we do when it is true that a Christian has sinned? What do we do when respected, prominent, trusted Christian leaders commit heinous sins? One thing we must not do is ignore or downplay sin, especially when it is committed by a Christian. If we call out sin among non-Christians, we had better call it out within the fellowship of believers. When we don’t, we add hypocrisy on top of hypocrisy. Heartbreakingly, I need to address this with a real-life example, not just a hypothetical situation.

On February 9, an independent investigation released its finding that Ravi Zacharias was guilty of committing the heinous sin of sexual abuse and sexual misconduct. The board of directors for Ravi Zacharias International Ministries has released a statement that abuse and misconduct allegations are true. This statement is on the RZIM website, so this is not hearsay.

I have respected and trusted the teaching of Ravi Zacharias for years, and I am devastated. I’m devastated for the victims, for his family, for his apologetic ministries, for all the people who have worked with him, and for myself because a person that I honored and respected as a wise, Godly man has committed such sins. I have used a lot of his resources and materials in this class and have encouraged you to use his ministry as a trustworthy source for your Bible thesis, so I want to make sure to address these findings and talk about how we can respond to this situation and unfortunately other cases like this.

First, God is not surprised at the heinousness of man’s sin. God is not surprised that men and women who claim the name of Christian sin. God is not surprised that He chose a sinful man to be a minister of the Gospel. God is saddened, but He is not surprised. God will bring justice, and He will also bring mercy, grace, forgiveness, and healing. As Joseph stated in Genesis 50:20, God can and does use the evil that men do for His good purposes.

Second, I am shocked and hurt by finding out this truth, but I am not surprised by the fallenness or brokenness of God’s people. God has graciously and honestly shown us the brokenness of humanity and of His own people over and over again throughout the Bible. The truth of sin and human sin nature is the starting point of the Christian faith. No one can understand the good news of the Gospel if they don’t understand the bad news of sin and that humans are desperately lost without God. And understanding this helps us answer the “hypocrisy” objection. We recognize that Ravi Zacharias and all other Christians who actively hide their sin are hypocrites. The Bible itself is honest enough to call out hypocrites, which in truth is all of us — Isaiah 64:6, our righteousness is like filthy rags; Romans 6:23, “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”; and Matthew 23:27, “woe to you religious leaders who are like whitewashed tombs.”

Third, how did this happen? I believe it happened just as every other fall into sin happens. I think the following verses help understand how someone who knows and understands God’s word and teaches God word can fall into horrible sin.

Every one of these verses reminds us of the dangers of sin. We cannot become so prideful that we think we cannot fall into any particular sin. Ravi Zacharias’s sin is associated with going to a massage parlor and getting a massage. The first time that experience turned into sexual temptation, he should never have gone back. He should never have considered that temptation as “no big deal,” which he obviously did until he was so snared into sin that he began justifying it and actively planning and preparing to sin and to keep it hidden. This wasn’t an accident. He didn’t just fall into a pattern of sin, and neither do we. A pattern of sin happens because a person does not resist temptation and the devil and flee.

Fourth, what can I/we learn from this?

One, sin is horrible and should be called horrible. There is no justifying or qualifying Ravi Zacharias’s actions, and yes, those actions now have undermined, at least for a while, the apologetics message associated with him. Our sins are never just our own. We have no control over the consequences of our sins, and our sins affect others. This is why God says that He has “steadfast love to the thousandth generation and forgives sins but will also visit the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation” (Exodus 34:7). He does, can, and will forgive sin, but the consequences of that sin are far-reaching, and God does not always remove those consequences. Remember this!

Two, as I still have my dad’s voice in my head saying, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” and “Don’t give the devil a foothold,” don’t put yourselves in situations that could lead to sin. Don’t go out drinking with college friends convinced that you won’t drink or that you won’t get drunk and do something you’ll regret. Don’t even risk it. Don’t skip church on Sunday morning and promise yourself that you’ll make it up next week or the week after or the week after or …. Our pride tells us that we will not sin as other people have, but we are all of the same fallen nature. We can and will if we are not disciplined by the presence and boundaries of the Holy Spirit and God’s word. Don’t remove them!

Three, we worship and follow God, not a prominent Christian leader or singer or movement or denomination or church or Christian organization like BAIS. Make sure your faith is personal, real, rooted in God’s word, and seeking after God Himself. When Christians and Christian organizations sin and let you down, the foundations of your faith will still be strong, but if you are following a leader or a movement or a place or experience, and the person or the experience fails, then all that you based your faith on fails, and this is one of the prominent reasons young people walk away from the Christian faith. Their roots were not planted in the soil of God’s word but in someone or something else that is not God Himself.

Finally, how am I going to respond to this personally? I am righteously angry. I am furious with Ravi Zacharias for the damage he has done to so many women, to God’s truth, and to the other men and women who are part of his ministry and now have their words and ministries compromised. Because of the vile, abusive, hurtful nature of Ravi Zacharias’s sins, I will no longer be using his materials in my class, and I ask that you not use him as a resource in your Bible thesis. I do this for two reasons:

  1. God is a holy God and expects His ministers and followers to be holy and not defile His word, His temple, His name. God does forgive and use fallen and repentant people, like David and Paul, but there is no indication that Ravi Zacharias was repentant before his death. You can use other sources for the same information; therefore, I do not see that using Ravi Zacharias’s personal books or talks will be beneficial to your learning or to supporting your understanding of God’s word or to answering the objections that non-believers have with Christianity. I actually think that using his sources makes your ideas and understandings questionable when sharing the truth with nonbelievers. The truth Ravi Zacharias taught is still God’s truth; therefore, using his books and talks for your own personal growth and development is up to you, but please do not use him as a source in this paper.
    I will continue to use other sources from other authors within his ministry because there has been no indication from the investigation that any of them knew what was going on and covered it up. You are free to use other sources, such as other authors and speakers, from the RZIM ministry if you desire.
  2. My second reason is to demonstrate understanding and compassion for the women who have been victimized. Taking a stance that “separates the sin from the sinner” does not come across as compassionate to those who have been abused by the sinner. They cannot separate the sin from the sinner. They cannot pick up a book or listen to a talk by Ravi Zacharias and separate the truth of God’s message from the actions of the person delivering God’s message. And, sexual abuse isn’t limited to one place or person or time. I do not want any person who has been abused to hear me say in word or action that I separate the sin from the sinner because that statement is such an impersonal response to one of the most personally devastating experiences someone can experience. I do believe that God forgives and calls us to forgive, but I also believe that the wounds caused by Ravi Zacharias’s actions are too new and too painful for forgiveness to sound like anything other than ignoring the evil and vileness of the sin he has committed.

This is a messy, complicated issue. I do believe that Ravi Zacharias’s mind and words have been used to bring about a good understanding of God and His truth. I appreciate the scope of the ministry that he started by training people in apologetics, especially because it was from an international perspective, not just in name but in the representation of apologists from all over the world so that Christian apologetics was not only from an American or Western perspective. I appreciate finding Nabeel Quereshi and Sam Alberry and other speakers and teachers through this ministry. I am so mad that there is now a horrible stain of sin over the good that came from this ministry. I know that God can and will restore that which needs to be restored, but for now, the Christian community is going to have to answer for this vile mess.

Sincerely,
Ms. Beth LaMertha

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