Start of the New Academic Year 2009/2010
The new academic year 2009/2010 started on Monday 28 September 2009.
Teachers and members of staff worked through the month of September
preparing for a fresh start. There were many changes

this year. The
addition of Grade 10 in the academic school was the most important one.
There were many challenges to overcome before the start of the academic
year. Mrs. Rita Chakrina, program coordinator of the academic school,
worked tirelessly with her colleagues in coordination with Mr. Joseph
Bou Simaan of the vocational school to prepare for this year. We shifted
from the seven-hour (45 minutes) daily schedule to the six-hour (55
minutes) daily schedule as a result of the rising numbers of students
which required us to have two sections for Grade 7. We were greatly
encouraged by the increase in student numbers in the academic school in
spite of the competition from newly opened schools in the region. Sadly
student numbers in the vocational school decreased, and this year we do
not have BP1 classes for industrial mechanics and carpentry. We will
analyze the situation and try to find out the reasons for this decrease
in order to address it.
The major worry this year was the H1N1 virus. As we have a boarding
school we could not take any risks, so various meetings were held to
prepare our teachers and staff to deal with H1N1. Strict measures were
taken,

and
no student or member of staff will be allowed in school if displaying
any symptoms of flu, cold, or influenza. Our school doctor attended the
various meetings organized by the ministry of education in coordination
with the ministry of health, and we complied with all the requirements.
We apologize to students, parents, teachers, and members of staff who
were asked to stay at home when they had symptoms of sickness. This is a
very necessary inconvenience that we need to take in order to protect
our students. We thank everyone concerned for their understanding, and
we urge all parents to comply with our requests to take children home
immediately upon notification. We hope we can soon laugh at our
unnecessary measures, but at the moment the policy is prevention better
than cure.
This year is also very special as it is the year of preparation for the
150th anniversary of Schneller schools in 2010. We hope and pray that
this academic year will be a happy, healthy, peaceful, and very
successful.