ALKHOBAR, 23 May 2003 — “The International Schools Group (ISG) started in 1962 in Dhahran with 3 students. Now, with our 300 teachers, we help educate about 3,100 students at ten schools across Saudi Arabia. While we regret the abrupt ending of the current school year, the families served by ISG may be fully confident that we hope to open on time for the 2003-2004 school term. ISG intends to serve expatriate families in the Kingdom for decades to come,” said Fred Bowen, superintendent, ISG.

Since the attacks in Riyadh on May 12, Bowen and his immediate administrative support team have been at the ISG offices at minimum from 6 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily, and often long into the night, working to cover the requirements of all ISG students. Countering claims made by Arab News that ISG management was unavailable Bowen stated:

“Since Monday, I have personally spoken with fifty sets of parents at various ISG schools. I have also had 100 business contacts and listened to the comments of ISG staff members. In addition, my cell phone is on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Not only am I constantly available, but I and my staff have been in contact with parents to advise them of the arrangements we have now made to conclude this school year.”

A special ISG Board meeting was held on Tuesday night in conjunction with an already scheduled meeting of the ISG Facility and Finance Committee. At that meeting, on the basis of a great deal of pressure from both parents and the US Consulate’s Regional Security Office, the decision was made to close all 10 ISG schools 2-4 weeks early.

“At some schools, such as Dhahran High School, all the semester work was already completed except the final examinations. The school year was previously scheduled to end at Dhahran High School on June 4,” Bowen explained. “In every other ISG school more than half the semester’s work had already been done. We polled the teachers and they felt confident in awarding deserved grades based on assignments already handed in and tests already scored.”

According to Bowen, the Riyadh attacks affected ISG differently than the Khobar Tower bombing in 1996. There was no problem at that time as the attack took place on June 25, after the school year was over.

During the summer months ISG will be re-examining security at all its schools to put to rest some current issues and to try to ensure smoother operations in the future.

Discussing the situation at specific schools, Bowen said that the Dhahran Campus is a special concern because of its location beside the US Consulate compound, which is considered to be a potential terrorist target. At Rahima Academy, large numbers of students are US and Canadian passport holders and the Saudi police urged the upgrading of security at both Rahima and ISG Asir. In other small towns, such as Yanbu, Jubail and Abqaiq, ISG schools are easily identifiable locations where expatriates congregate.

“It was felt that we could not risk the life of any student or staff member and frankly the true risks are not clear at this time,” said Bowen. “Closing early for the year is the most prudent option. I would like to emphasize that most ISG teachers are preparing report cards and completing records at home. We are emptying student lockers, bagging belongings and delivering the bags to students at their compounds. We are also collecting books from students at their compounds and will be delivering report cards to them. For those students who do not live on compounds, we are making arrangements to have them either collect their belongings individually or to deliver them elsewhere. The bottom line is that we are avoiding having groups of students on ISG campuses at this time.”

For now, there are many sad good-byes. Three ISG teachers have already left Saudi Arabia and the majority of ISG staff will have departed by May 28. The ISG school in Asir is shifting to new management. A skeleton ISG administrative team will remain in Saudi Arabia during the summer. The intention is to have senior ISG administration return to the Kingdom in the first week of August and teachers would report for work around August 17. Classes would begin a week later.

“There is no panic here. Parents and security authorities are demanding that the schools be closed and so the ISG administration is cooperating,” commented Bowen. “I want to thank the Saudi police who are providing us with 24 hour security in addition to our own security at all ISG campuses. Parents are welcome to contact us at any time. Even from abroad, during the summer, they can reach us through the Internet at isgdh.org.”