Parent Newsletter #2 August 9, 2024

Website: https://phs.piedmont.k12.ca.us/
Location: 800 Magnolia Ave, Piedmont, CA 94611
Phone: (510) 594-2626
Instagram: @piedmonthigh

Principal: Dr. Yoshihara

Assistant Principal: Mr. Marik

Administrative Assistant: Ms. Valkonen

Dear Highlander Families,

It has been a busy week as we gear up for students to arrive in just a few days. On Wednesday we welcomed all our new teachers back to campus. On Thursday, we had convocation with Dr. Hawn and staff development for PHS. Staff received in-depth professional development on the Dimensions of Gender. It was followed by team building and a healthy discussion on academic integrity.

On Thursday, we also had orientation for our freshman students. Much appreciation to our Peer Leadership students for their hard work welcoming our freshman to Piedmont High School. They had team-building activities, provided a campus tour of sorts, and even did a scavenger hunt. What a great experience.

Later that evening our Athletic Director, Tyler Small, led a well-filled theater of new student athletes and their parents on all things related to sports. Kudos to Keri Elmquist and our boosters program. They have done and continue to do so much for our sports program and which gets stronger every year. We are anticipating a fantastic 24-25 season.

On Friday, our Parent Club continues the tradition of providing registration/walk through to all our students. With nearly 40 volunteers and hundreds of students coming through our campus to get schedules, books, photos, and learn about athletics; it was a well organized machine done though a lot of advanced planning and hard work.

Lastly, Friday evening concluded with a presentation to our new parents. This is a relatively new endeavor for PHS as we promote a culture to thrive and welcoming our news parents it key to building a relationship that will sustain.

This weekend, while many of you will be catching the finals and closing ceremony of the Olympics, many of our teachers (and counselors) will be busy at work doing final preparations in their classrooms. Their dedication to your children is unmatched. They are committed to sacrificing endless hours to arrange that last poster, straighten that last desk, make that final copy so that on Monday, it will appear as if they are the master of their craft. It will be amazing.

So, with 57 hours and counting. Let's ride!

Sincerely,

Dr. Yoshihara

Monday, August 12: First day of school! Bring your smiles and enthusiasm.

August 14: Witter Field Dedication (Starts at 5:15 pm). More information to follow.

August 16: Parent Club meeting (9-10:30 in the Alan Harvey Theatre). Come and join our highly supportive parents who make our school such a great place to be.

For the first week of school, we will have a modified schedule as follows:

August 12: Classes will be 40 minutes each and students will get out at 2:45 (not reflected below)

August 12: 8:00-8:20 am: Donuts for our seniors (MHS/PHS) at the amphitheatre

August 13 and 14: We will follow the Monday schedule below

August 15: We will follow the Thursday schedule

August 16: We will follow the Friday schedule. During Academy, we will also be holding an all-school assembly in the gym. We plan for this to be an opportunity for our students to see the "whole school". We will introduce new staff, go over some quick school announcements and ASB will present something fun.

Did you know that you and your children can access some important calendars related to PHS. We have 3 calendars that are actively maintained:

1. PHS/MHS Daily Schedule: This shows which bell schedule we are following each day. Clicking on the daily event will show the specific bell schedule being followed.

2. PHS Events Calendar: This shows all outward-facing events at the school, except sports.

3. PHS/MHS Academy: This shows what will be taking place in Academy each week.

You can add any/all of these calendars by going to this link.

The Athletic Games Calendar is maintained separately through a widget. You can access it through this link.

We have a new library schedule for this year. Please note that the library will not be available during periods 5 and 7 as well as period 3 on Mondays.

We wanted to let families know that PHS will continue to offer a nutritious breakfast and lunch every day at no cost. If you'd like to have extra entrees and/or snacks, please click the link below for more information.

The Parent Club is also asking for some enthusiastic volunteers to help serve food to our students. You can sign up at the link here or click on the picture to the right. We thank you in advance for the generosity of your time and commitment to our school. We could not do this without you.

If you been by the high school this summer, you know there is a lot of construction happening on the Magnolia corridor, particularly adjacent to the office and theater. At this time, we do not anticipate they will be done by the start of school. We ask that families pack their patience and build in extra time to get to school, if they are driving. Walkers should be less impacted aside from some possible detours. We know when it is all complete, our students will have access to a beautiful aquatic facility.

Also as a reminder, the white curb near the school is for pickup and dropoff only. Please do not park there and be courteous to your fellow parents by moving along promptly so we can get all students dropped off and picked up as smoothly and safely as possible.

The Yearbook staff is already underway in preparing an amazing tome for all your Highlander memories. Please visit this link for all the specific information relating to the purchase and deadlines for the yearbook.

Seniors have additional specific information that can be found here.

We had wonderful attendance from both our students and their families Thursday evening. Although this was designed for freshman and new students to our school, it may be beneficial to returning athletes as well. Much appreciation to our Activities Director, Mr. Tyler Small and all the coaches that were able to come that evening. I've attached the slide deck here for your convenience. Please reach out if you have any questions.

So you've looked in your closet, noticed that you are all out of clothes, and it is only Monday? Never fear, Highlander swag is here. Feel free to support athletics and style that big "P" or mascot proudly by visiting here. We have something for everyone, and it is never too early to start that holiday shopping.

Okay, Day 1 hasn't even arrived and we are already talking about graduation. It is never too early to plan for this big day. That being said, we have created a 2024-24 Road to Graduation document. This is a living document that will be updated throughout the year. Please bookmark the document if you plan to visit it often.

Did you know that attendance impacts student learning in so many ways? Our teachers deliver high quality primary instruction every day and when your child misses school, they risk falling behind. Also, when your child misses school entirely, we lose funding, which impacts our ability to operate the excellent schools. One day of absence at the high school level equates in a loss of just under $70. Just twenty absences in a day is $1400. Over the course of a year, that is a loss of a quarter million dollars. We ask that you consider donating to our school if your child is absent. This is already a (more) common practice at the middle and elementary schools. You can do that through the Stores in Infinite Campus.

I also wanted to clarify the types of absences.

• Excused absences are limited in scope. Some may require additional document for us to properly excuse them. These are outlined in the district's Board Policy & Administrative Regs. Please identify which reason your child is absent per this document.
• All other absences (aside from school-sanctioned events) may be considered unexcused.

• Teachers will be marking students tardy if they arrive to class after the bell rings.
• If they are more than 30 minutes late to class, without a proper reason, they will be marked as T>30.
• If they are late more than 30 minutes for three times, they will be considered truant.
• We plan to send out letters to notify you of this occurrence and may schedule a meeting to find out how to help your child get to class on time.

Attendance is audited annually so it is important that we maintain accurate records and maximize learning. Thank you for your support on this.

We had some late staffing changes resulting in some vacancies at the time of this newsletter. This is currently impacting counseling and special education. We have contingency plans in place as we continue to work diligently to fill the positions. We appreciate all our staff (teachers, counselors, custodial) for stepping up to do the best we can during these challenges.

For counseling, Ms. Carlson will do the last names of A-G and Si-Z. Mr. Hartford will do class names H-Sh. We ask for your patience and understanding, particularly at the start of the school year. Much more information related to counseling and schedules can be found here.

A special shout out to Kim (and daughter Juliana) of our Parent Club for helping with the staff lounge. In addition to the work of Pete and facilities over the summer, we are hopeful this new space will be well utilized by our staff in the coming year.

Much gratitude to Captain Monahan and the entire safety and service community (police, fire, ambulance) in Piedmont. I got to ride with Captain Monahan during National Night out on 8/6, and it was simply a treat.

PHS Staff greatly appreciates Mulberry's for providing delicious salads for our staff on August 8. We also want to express our gratitude to Arthur Mac's Tap & Snack for their generous donation of pizzas and chips. It was delicious and gave us all a second lunch the following day too.

A big thank you to Genevieve (Jen) for all her devotion and dedication to welcoming our new students. Her leadership in organization the freshman orientation with Mr. Marik was well received and goes to show the dedication and behind-the-scenes work to make this a success.

Heartfelt thanks to Oakland Green Dental for providing donuts to our seniors on their last first day at PHS. [Added on 8/10]

Thank you to all the new parents (and some of their children) who came to the orientation earlier this evening. We hope you found it worthwhile. We know it was a lot of information to absorb. We have linked the slide deck from this evening's presentation for you. The presentation was also live streamed, and we will provide that link for families that were not able to attend at a future date. The link for the new parent orientation can be found here. [added on 8/12]

Thank you all that participated in last weeks' Highlander Trivia.

The question was: As of August 1, how many students are enrolled at PHS (grades 9-12 only)?

The correct answer was: 742 students

The closest answer was 735 students provided by Stephanie Dang. Congratulations. If Stephanie or her child would like to claim their prize, please report to the principal's office.

Thank you to all our families who did the one question poll last week regarding what day to receive the newsletter. It was pretty close between Friday and Sunday, but since Friday was the top getter (aside from "Does not matter"), we will keep the delivery of the newsletter to Fridays. Starting with Newsletter #3, I will offer a link to view all prior newsletters.