Dear Partners,

I thought I would give you some personal thoughts on the turbulent
times that we have in many parts of the world, including in the United
States.

First, I know that a big majority of our partners have been super
helpful and trying to work with us to solve any student unhappiness or
repairing some miscommunications from various sources that are not accurate.

I wanted to send out a few thoughts as to what we are facing in light
of the Corona Virus.  These are the items that are slowing us down and
in a few cases making the situation even worse than it is:

-all schools are closed
-each day we are starting to see announcements that schools are
closing until the August semester
-some schools do not have online programs for students to follow
-we have been instructed by the  DOS to be as flexible as possible to
ensure student safety
-DOS understands that our reps can’t go into the homes of host family
-Due to the above, students are receiving second hand information
which causes misunderstandings
-A very small minority of our reps is not following our instructions
and saying things
that are not accurate-this is usually done due to their personal fears
and being in what we call a “panic mode”
-All of our stores are closed- food stores are open but empty shelves prevail
-unemployment continues to rise daily and many families no longer have
an income- one of the main reasons why some families can’t keep an
extra student in their homes
-in certain parts of the country, many families are simply afraid and
in panic mood- this is all they are hearing on radio and tv for an
entire day
-we are being flexible when we look anywhere for an extra family in an
area- families do not want to hear about hosting a new student at all-
I have spoken with other companies and heard the same lament.
-airports are not crowded any longer- virtually empty as of yesterday
-in some cases, flights can’t be purchased for an immediate return
-host families are reporting cases in their home of the virus-many of
whom are still waiting for tests to be done or reported back
-unfortunately, during this time of crisis, convalidation issues are
secondary- but mainly because we have no control over them since the
schools are the one who issue the documentation and they are all
closed anyway.  When this is over, we will try and help all such
students with this problem
-several of our host families are “at risk” and are  host families-
they are urged not to leave the house due to their age and medical
conditions-several of these host families have had to give up their
student.

I am sure that many of the above items are the same in your country.
I am hopeful that you work with us on helping to solve all student
issues.  Some of the issues may take a couple of weeks to remedy.  But
we won’t rest until all items are taken care of.  It is really greatly
appreciated how helpful and nice most of our partners are and you seem
to understand.  I am hopeful that the few who demand immediate action
and new host families can now understand the conditions which make
immediate results happen at a slower pace than what we all wish.

Indicators point to our virus cases peaking in a few weeks.  We all
look forward to having our restrictions lessen so we can work more
efficiently and productively.

It may seem strange but I did want to point out that September applications are
still coming in daily for ISE and our May 1 deadline still exists.
Since I don’t want to get into the “what-if” situations, I will
address our August/September cycle once we feel that we have all of
our immediate student situations in hand.

Thanks again for your patience, understanding and kindness.  I am
confident that this world-wide crisis will help us all learn how to
work with each other when such a negative situation occurs.  For those
of us working together in a positive spirit, I am confident that such
a positive will eventually come forth from this negative virus.

Wayne