Parent Newsletter #4: 8/15/25
Highlander News from the Principal's Office
Website: https://phs.piedmont.k12.ca.us/
Location: 800 Magnolia Ave, Piedmont, CA 94611
Phone: (510) 594-2626 | Instagram: @piedmonthigh
Parent Newsletter: Archives
2024-25 School Profile | Bell Schedule (Regular)
Road to Graduation | Yearbook Info | Student Handbook
College & Career Newsletter | Athletic Newsletter
Principal: Dr. Yoshihara
Assistant Principal: Mr. Marik
Please share your "First Day of School" and "Summer" photos with the PHS Yearbook Staff. These photos and any other photos throughout the year you would like to share can be sent to the following email and/or google form. Thank you!
piedmonthighyearbook@gmail.com or 2025-2026 Photos & Activities
Yearbooks and Senior Recognition Ads are only available for purchase through Jostens. Please use this link:
PHS Yearbook_Jostens Senior Recognition Ad_2026_discount
*discount pricing for yearbooks and ads applied through Oct. 31, 2025
Any questions? Please email Melanie McCauley, PHS Yearbook Adviser at mmccauley@piedmont.k12.ca.us.
- ASB Activity Card ($40): Access to all regular season home sports games, during school hours food giveaways, club grant support, rally giveaways. (Does not include dances or any playoff games.)
- Class Donation ($30): Donation to the class of 26, 27, 28 or 29
- Class T-Shirt ($20): Will be given to students in time for the spring rally
- TPH Subscription ($60): The ASB student package also includes a year subscription for 8 print copies of TPH ( the student news magazine) that will be mailed directly to families. Along with the print subscription, we will send email updates when new stories are published online for subscribers to read.
This package will be available in the Infinite Campus store. ASB stickers will be available near the start of the school year to affix to your child's ID card.
A shout out to our students for great work on not using their phones outside of lunch. Just a few clarifications and expectations:
- Open/free periods: If students remain on campus during their free/open periods, they should not be on their phones. We realize this may cause them to leave the campus, but it also reinforces our message that we are phone-free outside of lunch.
- Earbuds: Students are reminded that using earbuds generally means they are connected to a devices. They are welcome to bring an old school discman or even a walkman but being connected to their phone for audio/music is not permitted outside of lunch.
We have had a few inquiries regarding student planners for this year. At the start of last year, we learned that student planners were funded from an inappropriate funding source. As the planners were already purchased and the year had started, we did not change anything.
We also did an informal assessment of planner use around this time. While students used their planner earlier in the year, it trickled down to a much smaller number later in the year. We found numerous planners around campus and had many extras, signaling that students chose to not get one, since we had ordered one for every student.
As such, we made a decision to digitize the student handbook and allow students to purchase a planner that best meets their needs. Important announcement, bell schedules, and such are always available in Schoology as well. This was a challenge with the planners as schedules changed and QR codes stopped working.
We apologize for the late notice and any convenience this may have caused.
Thank you to all our freshman families to were able to make it to the orientation--students in the afternoon and parents in the evening. We are so excited to welcome you officially on Monday. I have attached the slide deck and other resources below. We will have folks available on Monday to support and your freshman can get donuts (or donut holes) at the main entrance on Monday morning starting at 8:10 am. Please reach out if you have any questions.
Piedmont Community Service Crew is a youth-led organization in Piedmont that hosts a variety of service events every week from cooking to building tiny houses to environmental work. They are hosting a Kickoff on August 23rd from 4-6pm. Interested students (and parents) can fill out the form below or email Elena (26elenaoc@piedmont.k12.ca.us) or Stephanie (26stephaniele@piedmont.k12.ca.us) for more information.
We have attempted to synthesize all of the start-of-the year donation requests in a single location. We know that the Education Foundation and Parent Club do yeoman's work in providing resources above and beyond state-allocated resources. We are truly grateful for their support. We also have exemplary programs that exist from additional donations.
Our teachers and respective programs (Athletics, ASB, TPH, etc.) truly appreciate these additional donations. They can be made within the School Store of Infinite Campus. Each of these items have specific account strings so they will go directly to the program/item(s) for which you've made the donation.
We have provided a brief description of what the donation will be used for without being overly detailed. We invite families who may have questions related to this to come to Walk Through registration where we will have people who can provide further information.
I plan to offer student generated music on Fridays at lunch near the student center. Students may submit song requests using the following form. I will compiled the list by Thursday each week and play the top 20 or so submissions each week. Some guidances for songs:
- The "playlist" will contain 20 or so rotating songs each week, based on student input.
- Songs may not contain explicit lyrics.
- Entrants must be current PHS/MHS students.
- Students are allowed to make one entry per day.
- I plan on the list to be "rolling" so songs can move up or down, based on demand/submissions.
- I reserve the right to add yacht rock (e.g. Doobie Brothers, Christopher Cross) if the list is not filled out. 🤐
We will offer the following college entrance exams next school year. The dates are still tentative but we want to get information out to you know for planning purposes. All orders will be made through Infinite Campus School Store which can be done when the school year starts next year. If you have any questions, please reach out to Mr. Marik
- Pre-ACT - Saturday, 10/4/25 (confirmed)
- PSAT - Saturday, 10/18/25 (new date)
- SAT - Monday, 3/16/26 (still tentative)
The California Education Code requires the school site council to develop a Single Plan for Student Achievement. The purpose of the Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA) is to create a cycle of continuous improvement of student performance, and to ensure that all students succeed in reaching academic standards set by the State Board of Education.
The PHS Site Council serves as a forum where school staff, parents, and students can discuss a variety of issues that affect student performance at Piedmont High School. To support focus in the area of curriculum, agendas are typically developed in order to coincide with the curricular areas that are up for adoption.
If you are willing and able to join us on the school site council for this coming year, please email me. We meet roughly four times a year (fifth meeting may be added). I will then see if an election is needed and if so, put that out in a future newsletter. Parents and students are welcomed to apply.