Parent Newsletter #36: 5/1/26

Website | Phone: (510) 594-2626

Location: 800 Magnolia Ave, Piedmont, CA 94611
Instagram: @piedmonthigh

Bell Schedule (Regular) | Library Schedule

Road to Graduation | Athletic Newsletter

College & Career Newsletter | Yearbook Info

Nutrition Services Newsletter

2025-26 School Profile | Student Handbook

Principal: Dr. Yoshihara | Asst. Principal: Mr. Marik

Dear Highlander Families,

Welcome to May, our last full month of the year. Okay, hacky sack is not a "new" thing. It was popular when I was growing up. Not sure why it is popping up all over campus, but I leave it to my 80's music and Yacht Rock Fridays that are bringing back generational activities. So, if you start seeing double dutch or marbles happening around campus, you can draw your own conclusions (smile).

AP Testing starts Monday. With around 900 tests being administered over the next two weeks, we know this can be an anxious time for many students. We remind students to be well rested and to be nourished before the exam. Also, students should return to class after AP testing or go to class until they need to report for AP testing. Thank you.

Warmly,

Dr. Yoshihara

May 1: S2, PR3 Ends

May 4-8: Teacher Appreciation Week

May 14: Highlanders Athletics Awards (7-9 pm, AHT)

May 15: Parents' Club Meeting (9 am, AHT)

May 17: Maker Faire (11-3 pm, PHS)

May 18: Open House (6:45-8:15 pm, PHS)

You can view the original letter here. A big shout out to Parents' Club, students who participated, and all our amazing staff for their time and dedication. A special Thank You to Ms. Black for chairing the WASC process. We couldn't have done it without you!

Happy Principals' Day! Today, 5/1, is National School Principals' Day, and the PHS Parents' Club recognizes Dr. Yoshihara and Mr. Marik for their dedication, hard work and commitment in leading PHS and supporting our students each and every day. Next week is Teacher Appreciation Week so we will be celebrating all of our wonderful educators.

We heard that Prom 2026 was fabulous and that the seniors had a blast. Thank you to PHS Parents' Club Senior Class Representatives Barbara Dickason, Michelle Heafey and Jenny Osman for their leadership throughout the year and for recruiting the amazing Prom Committee of Sacha Grippando, Carrie Lee, Nadja Olson, Dawn Riordan, and Melissa Wilk. Congratulations on a great job and many thanks to you and the many other volunteers and staff who made the night so special!

In case you missed it last week...

Have you seen the cool new furniture at PHS? We are thrilled to inform you that indestructible, yet attractive and comfortable picnic tables (7 rectangular, 2 circular, 1 ADA-compliant and half with umbrellas) have been assembled and placed around campus. These wonderful additions are gifts from the Parents' Club to the entire student body through a thoughtful planning and decision making process using accumulated funds. PUSD Facilities Director Pete Palmer said that the picnic tables look amazing and that students immediately filled them minutes after his crew assembled them.

The next and final PHS Parents' Club meeting of the school year will be on Friday, May 15, at 9:00 am in the Alan Harvey Theater lobby. Please join us as we thank departing board members who have graduating seniors, and transition to the new board for next year.

Happy Weekend,

Sally Baack and Dana Lung

Co-Presidents, PHS Parents' Club 2025-2026

A warm thank you to everyone who helped make Prom such a special evening. Thank you to the Ferguson family for supporting the casino activities and to the Colberts for the photo booth — both adding so much fun to the night. Thank you to George White for the fantastic graphics and to Steven Thai for his beautiful watercolor sketches. We are grateful to Sabrina Casey, Frannie Cooley, Gisela Delventhal, Lara Dickinson, Venus French, James High, Catarina Rodrigues, Emily Shoop, and Pui-Wing Tam for their contributions, and to Arjan Flowers for the beautiful floral arrangement. We also extend our sincere appreciation to PEF, MHS, and PHS for their generous support — this evening would not have been possible without you. We truly appreciate the time, talent, and generosity of all involved.

2026 Senior Prom Committee -

Carrie Lee, Dawn Riordan, Melissa Wilk, Nadja Olson, Sacha Grippando

Please encourage your student to complete the pre-registration form for the May 18th Essay Workshop. It will start at 1:30pm and end at 4:30pm. This workshop will give rising seniors (current juniors) the opportunity to learn more about the Common App Essay and the Supplemental (Institutional) essays. There will be time for students to get started on these essays prior to the end of the school year. The workshop will be led by two RACC admission reps. Thank you in advance.

While this event is still scheduled for May 18th and provides a free-flow timeframe for families, I wanted encourage families to use this time to talk with the teachers and students about the learning that is happening. As such, this should not be a time to discuss individual topics (e.g. grades, attendance, classes, etc.). Please schedule an appointment with the teacher/counselor or follow the communication protocol below for these particular topics.

Parents of Rising Seniors,

Please check your email for a message about the UC ELC program and authorization form that was sent to all parents of Rising Seniors. Parent authorization is required in order for your child to be considered for the program. If you haven't already, the deadline to respond is Sunday, May 17th.

The UC Eligibility in the Local Context (ELC) program ensures that top-performing California students - drawn from the top 9% of each participating school - have the opportunity to attend a UC campus. ELC requires participating schools to submit student contact data and record information for the top 15% of rising seniors after final junior year grades are confirmed. We cannot release this information to UC without your permission.

For more information about the UC ELC program go to: UC ELC Program Information.

We have released the final master schedule to staff earlier this week. Departments are now reviewing course assignments for possible changes. Are are also hiring a few staff that will take their places within the master schedule. Counselors will also begin calling in students with critical gaps (e.g. missing biology in 9th grader) in their schedule. This does not affect many students, but it important in ensuring students requests are met.

It's Teacher Appreciation Week May 4-8! We are planning a delicious breakfast early in the week and a special lunch on Thursday, May 7. We will be catering the lunch and would appreciate your contributions of drinks and dessert. No time to contribute drinks and dessert? Please consider donating to the hospitality fund which will help fund this event. Thank you!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/508044CA5AD2DA20-63629242-phsteacher#/

Winners of the 2025-2026 National Urban Plan Competition

Team Members:

Meher Bachher- Environment and Equity Director

Karina Patel- Site Planner

Rachel Young- Marketing Director

Chloe Koh- Neighborhood Liaison

Elisha Bell- Financial Analyst

They beat out 8 other teams from across the country, NY to Hawaii, to win. Each member of the team won $1,000. Piedmont Parent Jane Lin worked to support the students along with Economics Teacher Gabby Kashani.

Attendance Reminders:

• The office will take care of attendance for students scheduled to test.
• Students are expected to be in class before or after exams, even if that means reporting late. Absences will not be excused if you are not scheeled for an exam.

This weekend students should:

• Restart their Chromebook, so that any OS updates will install
• Launch the Digital Bluebook App from their login screen to test it
• Sign into the Digital Bluebook App using their College Board login credentials

Before Test Day:

• Students should take the sample exam to familiarize themselves with the online format of the test (Note: World Language and Music Theory exams are not digital and will not show up in the Bluebook)
• Get Chromebook serviced if having issues - in the PHS Library at lunch or at PMS any time or email help@piedmont.k12.ca.us
• Test locations will be posted around campus
• Test locations for students with accommodations will be sent to them separately in class.
• Review What to Bring to your AP Exam

On Test Day:

• Write down personal College Board login information on a piece of paper for access during testing if needed.
• Make sure your Chromebook is fully charged
• You can bring a water bottle and snack
• Bring layers of clothing for temperature fluctuations

If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Marik (jmarik@piedmont.k12.ca.us) or Ms. Low (dlow@piedmont.k12.ca.us)

I am excited to announce that our library should be fully staffed next year. We are still working on the details, but got permission to increase staffing to make sure that our students always have a quiet place to go to each day. In addition, we will also have a 0.2 FTE certificated librarian. We are working with the middle school on the details, but are planning on that person to be available on Mondays.

A special shout out to Karen Bird for leading the volunteer efforts to open our library this year. I know it was a lot of work, and we truly appreciate you for doing that!

The District has developed a Communication Protocol for Concerns. It can be found at the link below. This has been shared with staff and Parents' Club. Please reach out if you have any questions as we look to standardize how we address concerns from students and parents.

Communication Protocol for Concerns

How can you support the fundraiser? Purchase tickets using this link and promo code!

Juniors! Over the next few weeks, counselors will be doing a short check in with you to discuss:

Transcripts, summer plans, questions about Fall college applications, review of Naviance and encouraging students to add to their "Colleges I Am Thinking About" list, SAT/ACT, asking for Letters of Recommendation, awareness of Common Application and UC/ CSU applications.

Please sign up using these calendar links:

• Ms Hoang ( Last names C, P-Z) https://calendar.app.google/L6wJ4hNMG47HZZ7UA
• Mrs Carlson ( Last Names A & B) https://calendar.app.google/CzNjPgCTipv5F69N6
• Mr Hartford(Last Names D-O) - will schedule students individually

AP Exams are just around the corner! Please have your student review the AP test schedule below.

Students who have a valid schedule conflict should email Darlene Low (dlow@piedmont.k12.ca.us) ASAP so that they can be signed up for the makeup test session. Students will NOT be automatically signed up for makeup tests.

Only tests offered at PHS are shown.

Questions? Contact Joe Marik (jmarik@piedmont.k12.ca.us) or Darlene Low (dlow@piedmont.k12.ca.us)

This short, anonymous survey asks about your experiences as a parent at this school. We want to better understand your perspective, and your thoughts on the phone policy at your child’s school. If you have more than one child attending this school, please answer with your oldest child in mind.

This survey is meant to capture a wide range of parent perspectives — not to judge or evaluate any particular choice. Your honest input will help us better understand the values, needs, and strategies that families use to navigate phone use. The survey will take about 5-8 minutes to complete.

Link to Phone Survey (Parents)

Link to Phone Survey (Students)

We would like to remind all our student walkers to please be alert as they are crossing intersections. Our crossing guard at Magnolia and Bonita has shifted to a new location. We have received several reports of close calls of our students as they cross the streets, especially Oakland Avenue, without giving traffic their full attention. Being on the phone is dangerous and distracting. Please be safe getting to school.

This is a reminder that we are still monitoring tardies, unexcused absences, and grades during Quarter 4. Eligibility for Quarter 1/Fall 2026 will be determined based on the remainder of this school year. Please work with your student to finish the year on a strong note and reach out to Mr. Marik if you have any questions.

Given the passing of Ms. LT, for the time being please direct all attendance related questions or updates to Michael Bell. We will provide updates to the community on any news related to the front office as they come up.

This is a reminder that college visits are not excusable absences. We ask that you visit colleges during scheduled breaks. If a trip does require a student to miss school, please apply for Short Term Ind Study. Reach out to Mr. Marik if you have any questions.

The Play Like a Girl+ event is less than a month away and we are getting excited for an even bigger and better event than last year. We expect more than 1,000 girls+ from around the Bay Area ages 2-18 to come out to jump, throw, kick, punch and play like a girl+!!! With an event of this size, we simply couldn’t do it without the help of our amazing volunteers (that’s YOU!). We need help from 7:30am until 2:30pm – please sign up for the shift that works for you.

Event Date: Sunday, May 3rd

Event Time: 10am-1pm

Event Location: Piedmont High School Witter Field Complex

To sign up for a volunteer shift, please click HERE. Volunteering is WAY more fun with a friend…please feel free to share this link.

For event details, including a list of participating sport vendors, please visit Play Like a Girl+ Piedmont.

We can’t thank you enough for once again supporting this impactful event!

This week's report was run from 3/16-4/17 (4 weeks). 116 students had perfect attendance during this period. This includes:

• No tardies (of any type)
• No absences (of any type)

Congratulations to Celeste for such great attendance. Please email the Principal with your Crumbl cookie choice, and I'll personally deliver it to your class.

4/27: 20 tardies to period 1 (4/5/1/10)

4/28: 22 tardies to period 1 (3/3/3/13)

4/29: 8 tardies to period 2 (2/2/4/0)

4/30: 14 tardies to period 1 (3/4/1/6)

5/1: 14 tardies to period 2 (3/4/1/6)

Our seniors pulled it off on Wednesday. I'll have to find a day for them to have open campus--will probably be after AP Testing. Juniors came so close with one student tardy three times last week! Still waiting on the sophomores to have their first "no tardy" day. Maybe next week?

Thank you to everyone who has attended our meetings this year - it has been such a wonderful space to share ideas and feel supported. We look forward to our final meetings in May!

12th Grade:

Last Meeting of the School Year: Tuesday, May 19: 7:30-9:00 pm

Facilitators: Sara Ironside, Jen Ferguson

RSVP: jen.c.ferg@gmail.com for more information

10th Grade

Last Meeting of the School Year: Tuesday, May 26: 8:00-9:30 pm

Facilitators: Sarah Puckett, Maggie Mittan

RSVP: maggie.mittan@gmail.com for more information

9th Grade:

Last Meeting of the School Year: Tuesday, May 19: 7:00-8:30 pm

Facilitators: Judy Lin, Yoko Ichikawa, Anne Hawkins

RSVP: hawkins42@gmail.com for location information

• Kudos to our Parents' Club for the benches that are being placed around campus. They are a wonderful (and needed) addition to seating options for our students.
• Amazing work by our student speakers at the I Am Here Assembly: Zoe and Hunter, Ilias, Mr. Kight, Elisa, Karina, Dahlia, Colin, Mehrad, Kate and Allyson, Ali, Aava, and Meher