Parent Newsletter #36: 5/9/25

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

College & Career Newsletter | Athletic Newsletter

Principal: Dr. Yoshihara

Assistant Principal: Mr. Marik

Dear Highlander Families,

We're halfway through AP Testing with over 1,000 tests being given this year. Finals are close on the heels of AP testing so we know this is a time of focus for our students. On top of that, spring sports are in the WACC tournament and NCS finals. Baseball and softball are wrapping up and our Lady Highlanders Lacrosse team continues their NCS quest this coming Tuesday in the semifinals.

This coming Wednesday (5/14), the Board will have the first reading of the cell phone policy. If this is important to you, please consider attending virtually or in-person.

The important dates below now include most of the information through the end of the year and the days are counting down. Please read through relevant items as I continue to use this newsletter as a primary means of communication to our families.

Lastly, a special THANK YOU to all the mothers out there. You are special and none of us would be here without you. If you have 6 minutes of your life, this is worth a watch. Warning: grab some tissues!

Best,

Dr. Yoshihara

May 11: Mother's Day

May 14: Board Meeting (7 pm, cell phone policy to be on the agenda)

May 15: Guitar Exhibition (5-7 pm, engineering lab)

May 16: Highlander Athletic Awards (7 pm, AHT)

May 17-18: Makers Fair

May 19: PHS School Site Council (3:40 pm, Rm 117)

May 19: Senior Awards Night (7-8:30 pm, AHT)

May 20, 22: PHS Instrumental Concert (7-9 pm, AHT)

May 23: PHS/MHS Day on the Green (1:30-3:30, baseball field)

May 26: Memorial Day

May 28: Community Education Event on Opioid Use/abuse and Naloxone (Narcan) Training and Distribution (6:30 pm, Student Center)

May 28: Student Athlete/Parent Orientation (7 pm, AHT)

June 3: Senior Sunset (6:30-8:30 pm, Witter Field)

June 5: Graduation (5 pm, Witter Field)

June 5: Grad Night (7 pm, Front of PHS)

Wednesday and Friday will be Academic Support for all. Remember to tag a teacher!

Link to FlexiSched: https://piedmont.flexisched.net/

Did you miss Phantasmagoria? Well, you can now watch the great performances that took place that evening. We'd like to thank Ms. Taylor and all the Advanced Acting students for putting this wonderful event on.

Phantasmagoria Pt 1

Phantasmagoria Pt 2

The stories contained here were written by PUSD 9th grade English students about their experiences. Their short pieces, modeled on the themes and literary techniques of Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango St., each emerge from a sense of place, and you'll find access points in the form of QR codes to these stories all over PHS, PMS, Havens, and beyond! Each QR code will be unique and link you to the stories that are set around that particular location. Our hope is to unconceal the experiences that might otherwise be irretrievably lost with the passing of time and to thicken the environment with the stories of the students who live them.

Dear Piedmont families,

Thank you for supporting our first Exchange Program this year. Now it is about time to know how many families are interested in participating in any of these exchange programs next school year. Please fill out any of the forms if your student will be in level 2 of a language, available to travel to Spanish/France/China during Spring Break in 2026 and host a student from any of these countries for about 12 days.

Thank you,

Exchange Program Leaders (Deysi Sahagon, Bryan Smith, Xinjia Xia)

Spanish

French

Chinese

Don’t Miss the Ultimate Send-Off!

The countdown to graduation has begun, and there's one tradition you absolutely can't miss - GRAD NIGHT 2025! This legendary celebration is your final chance to come together as a complete class before you all head off in different directions.

Why join the nearly 100% of your classmates who make this their last high school memory?

• Create lasting memories with ALL your friends in one place

• Exclusive access to amazing activities, dining and surprises (we're keeping the details secret!)

• A safe, supervised environment where you can truly celebrate

• The perfect bookend to your high school journey

Event is entirely self-funded. If you have not already, please purchase your ticket by May 15th!

Every year, nearly every graduate attends—be part of this tradition!

https://piedmontstore.org/products/grad-night

Questions? Contact the Grad Night Committee (details in link)

Note: If you have any special considerations around your student joining in the Grad Night fun, please reach out to the Grad Night committee [follow the link to Grad Night in piedmontstore.org] and we will do our best to accommodate your needs.

One of the traditions of Piedmont’s graduation is to have a senior speak on behalf of their class.

We invite you all to audition to be the speaker at this year's graduation ceremony.

Auditions for Senior Speaker are Tuesday, May 20 from 3:45-5:00. If you'd like to audition, first sign up for an audition spot here. Then prepare a 3-5 minute graduation speech that shares your thoughts about the graduating class and your own "words of wisdom" to your classmates. At the audition, you'll present your speech to a panel of teachers and staff who will select the speaker. The panel is looking for confident speakers who present unique speeches that are inclusive to the class of 2025.

If you have any questions, please email Kim Taylor or Beth Black. Thank you for your interest.

Wednesday, May 28, 2025 @ 6:30 pm - Piedmont High School Student Center, 800 Magnolia Avenue, Piedmont

April Rovero of the National Coalition of Prescription Drug Abuse and the Naloxone Distribution Project will join the Piedmont Unified School District Nurses for an important discussion regarding prescription/illicit drug use and abuse, fentanyl awareness, and how to recognize and respond to an opioid overdose. Overdose rescue training utilizing the opioid-antagonist naloxone will be provided, and free naloxone will be given to adults at the conclusion of the training.

All community members welcome: please bring your middle and high school students, and learn about the dangers of fentanyl and how to possibly save a life.

For more information, contact the PUSD Nurses at: nurses@piedmont.k12.ca.us.

The Wellness Center will be providing snacks on the quad for Mental Health Awareness Week Tues, May 20 - Thurs, May 22.

Please consider donating allergen free granola bars, popcorn, oranges and string cheese by Mon, May 19.

Mental Health Awareness Week, May 19-23

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C044EA9AD2EA1FC1-56388406-mental

Thank you so much for supporting student mental health in our community.

Take care,

Wellness Center Support Committee

The library will be closed the week of 5/5 and 5/12 during AP testing. The student printer will be available outside the library for student printing needs during those two weeks.

Tech Support Services will be available during its regular lunch time hours on Mon-Wed-Fri in front of the library doors. For additional tech services, email help@piedmont.k12.ca.us or go to the Tech Office at Piedmont Middle School on the side door at the bottom of the ramp.

Students - Please have your community service hours into Track It Forward by May 10th to be considered for honor roll. For this school year, your hours can be from May 11, 2024- May 10th , 2025.

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 on April 18th. 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 Friday, May 9th.

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 had our annual Spring Dance Show back on April 24. If you did not get to see this event, you may watch the video here. It was a nice show allowing our students to showcase their hard work this year. They were amazing!

We have some important updates for Dual Enrollment.

Course to be offered: Math 3C: Calculus III (course code 43555)

Offered by: Peralta Community College District, Berkeley City College

To be taught on the PHS Campus (Room TBD)

Number of Weeks: 17.5

Day & Times: W/F: 1:20-3:35 pm

Peralta Units: 5 units

First day of course: August 20

Last day of course: December 12

FInal Exams: December 7-13

Peralta Calendar

Note: Class on 11/26 will be via Zoom

Last day to Add/Drop: 8/29/25

Last day to withdraw w/ a "W": 9/12/25

Final grades due by: 12/20/25

Instructor's Policy (subject to change):

Exams: Weeks 4, 8, 12, and 16

Finals during finals week

Professor will drop lowest test score (not the final)

Have 1 week to do homework

Missing or late work policy: Usually no makeups as lowest exam scored is dropped

Final grade: 20% HW, 10% Quizzes (4-6 quizzes) & group work (at least one activity/week), 45% tests, 25% final exam

Materials:

Basic scientific calculator

Students will be using Mathematica for analysis (free to college students)

Textbook will be OpenStax, Volume III

Please see your counselor if you would like more information about this offering. We do also plan to offer dual enrollment in the Spring of 2026. More information will be provided once we have definitive information.

This week's student is Bennett White. Thank you for getting your responses to me so quickly. We start off by having Mr. Peters share some thoughts on Bennett.

1. What quality(ies) best describes this student? Though Bennett is quiet, he is just great to have in class. He's always friendly, good natured, and is a very hard working student. He has never once complained all year and is a delight to have in class. An awesome kid all around.
2. How long have you known the student? One year, his freshman year here at PHS.
3. What is the most memorable event you have of this student? Every day Bennett challenges himself in class and strives to do his best. His behavior is always exemplary.
4. How does this student Achieve the Honorable? Bennett is an upstanding student and I feel privileged to have him in class. Day in and day out, he is always consistent in his effort, character, and attitude.
5. If there was one word to describe this student, what would it be? Dependable

And from Bennett himself:

1. So far this year, what has been your most memorable experience? Joining an FTC robotics team was very fun and I made a lot of friends.
2. If you were to describe PHS to someone who is thinking about coming, what would you say to them? PHS is a great high school opportunity wise. I recently moved, and my old high school had no real robotics or coding classes but PHS has a great focus on technology. It also has a great community and almost all its kids are very nice and welcoming.
3. If you were in charge at PHS, what is one action you might take to make it better? There are many things that can make PHS better such as juice boxes could be a good addition for people that cant drink milk because it would let them get more energy than water, but also I think a school wide treasure hunt would be fun, similar to the current highlander hunt where you have to find an item based on images, this hunt would feature codes, questions and coordinates instead of images and people could join teams and work together to decode the message or coordinates, it could also include questions about events at PHS, for example the score of the most previous football game would be unlock a lock that contains the next clue and so on.
4. If you could share one sentence with your parents/guardians, what would you say? Thanks for always being there for me.
   
5. What is your favorite word? Assuming I can't pick a Pokémon, my word would be Frazzled.
   
6. What is your favorite song? Radioactive by Imagine Dragons
7. What is your favorite food? Watermelon
8. Can you share a photo of something from your summer and why it is special to you? This photo if special to me because it has my dog.

• Kudos to Juliana for helping with the social media graphics for Grad Night. You have great skills!
• I cannot say "Thank You" loud enough to our Parent Club and all the volunteers for Teacher Appreciation Week. Our teachers and entire staff were truly spoiled (and blessed) this week with sugar, carbs, and all things yummy!
• A Shout Out to all the parent volunteers thus far with AP Testing. We are administering over a thousand tests over these two weeks, and our parents have made such a huge difference in test administration.

Thanks to all those that participated in the Highlander Trivia question in the last newsletter. We had great participation with the extra time.

The question for last week was: This year, we have 226 seniors and a potentially large graduating class. For my high school, who many students were in the graduating class?

Well, I went to Merced High back in the stone age (class of '90). At the time, we were a one high school town. Actually, we had a school called "East Campus" where all freshman went. Then 10th-12th grade went to North Campus. As such, we were a large school with close to 3,000 students. Our graduation class had 690 graduates.

Congratulations to Annalise who got the closest with her answer of 424. Please come to the main office at your convenience to claim your prize!