Bissell's Blog

Holidays mean different things to different people. In recent years in the US, I’ve noticed the emergence of a kind of genre in the popular press focusing on how stressful…

In December 2025, I provided an update on our strategy-making process, which you can find here. Since that time, our 35 member Task Force has completed five reports that have been…

As you know, our school is in the process of developing our strategy for the coming years. The timing couldn’t be more appropriate—it follows the move to our new campus…

More Music Opportunities at CAIS The critical work of developing our Strategic Vision for 2026 and beyond is a thorough, deliberate, and collaborative process that will stretch across the school year. While the…

This Sunday, September 28 marks the 2,576th birthday of China’s most impactful thinker, Confucius or Kǒng Zǐ 孔子. Confucius lived in a time that was even more chaotic and uncertain than what…

CAIS will forever have a special relationship with our predecessors on this campus—the community of Mercy High School, which closed in 2020. On Saturday, September 20 we were thrilled to…

These are but three examples of CAIS initiatives that were guided by the School’s strategic planning. There are many others. The point is, strategy matters. Over the years, the CAIS Board…

The other day I was scrolling through photos of our campus from around this time one year ago. As I look back now on where the campus project stood just…

There are more children in day care and preschool learning Mandarin than in college and graduate school. So you’d think there would be more research on Mandarin language acquisition in…

Regardless of their politics, all CAIS families willingly enroll their children in this school community with full knowledge of our Mission and Core Values. Our school’s five core values—Perseverance, Curiosity, Inclusion, Courage, and Kindness—were adopted…