Parent Newsletter #39: 5/22/26

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,

What a great conclusion to our last full week of the school year. We begin various special schedules for the rest of the year with just 8 days left before we say goodbye to the 2025-26 school year. I encourage everyone to enjoy the extra day off, and we will see everyone on Tuesday morning. Please note that we are on a special "Monday" schedule with all classes meeting.

Warmly,

Dr. Yoshihara

May 26: Monday Bell Schedule

May 26: Athletics Incoming Freshman / New Student Info Night (7 pm, AHT)

May 27: Cap & Gown Day (Academy)

May 29: Special Finals Bell Schedule (image to the right)

June 2: Senior Sunset (6:30 pm, Witter Field)

Hello PHS Families!

I'm Andrea Zambrana, and I'm thrilled/nervous to be stepping into the role of Vice-President of the PHS Parents' Club for the 2026-27 school year. You would normally be hearing from the Parents' Club president but alas we don't have one for next year. Until and unless someone fills that role, I will be filling it. This is only possible as a result of our amazing, outgoing co-presidents Dana Lung and Sally Baack. I am grateful for their incredible leadership this past year, and I'm excited to build on everything they've put in place to support the students, teachers, and you, of course!

There are a couple of ways to get involved right now — please be on the lookout for opportunities to help with Chromebook collection at the end of this school year on June 3rd and 4th, as well as sign-up going out near the end of this school year to help with Walk-Through Registration the Friday before school starts in this Fall.

Looking ahead to next year, watch for future Parents' Club meeting dates and other volunteer opportunities. We'd love to see more familiar — and new — faces involved.

At our most recent Parents' Club meeting, there was robust discussion about PUSD's proposed bell-to-bell cell phone policy, which would restrict mobile device use during the entire school day, including lunch, on all PUSD campuses. The Board is expected to vote on the new policy in June. If you have thoughts on this topic, we encourage you to write to the board or attend an upcoming board meeting.

Thank you for being such a wonderful community to be a part of — I can't wait to work with all of you next year! Visit The Parents' Club website for helpful information and resources, and to learn more about what we did this year.

Warm regards,

Andrea Zambrana

PHS Parents' Club, Incoming Vice-President

Signup to get students on buses

Signup for grad nite setup or to be a chaperone

A special Thank You to Mr. Chaix and all his music programs for their amazing performance on Thursday night. In case you missed it, or if you want to watch it again, we have a recording. They get better every year and the A Cappella Choir--amazing!

PHS Music Performances (large file)

Seniors have received a spreadsheet and email with specific information on what they need to return before graduation. Please ask your senior if they have a plan for any missing items! Diplomas will be held if students have outstanding fees or items to return. If you have any questions, please reach out to Mr. Marik directly.

As we transition into the summer break, we are re-establishing our practice of collecting student Chromebooks. This allows our technical team to provide essential TLC and repairs, and reinforces the role of these devices as dedicated tools for academic growth. Devices will be collected during finals week June 2nd and June 3rd. Students are to keep their chargers; we are not collecting them.

Families who wish to keep their child's device for the summer may do so by completing this Chromebook Summer Check-Out form and have their child bring the completed and signed form in during the collection window announced later next week.

Unless a summer check-out is requested, devices will be repaired, safely stored and reissued to your student during fall registration. Devices that are not officially checked-out for summer use, will have their access blocked for the summer.

Thank you for your partnership in maintaining these valuable learning resources.

Parents' Club is soliciting volunteers to help with the Chromebook. Please sign up below:

Chromebook Volunteer Signup

Thank you to all the families that came to open house this past Monday. The feedback from all involved was very positive. We look forward to continuing this again in the future. The slide deck linked here shows some of the highlights from the evening.

Senior Sunset tickets

Permission Slips

Thank you for all the students and families that attended Senior Awards Night on Monday. As promised, here is the video for the event. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Some great speeches once again this year.

Senior Awards Night Video (large file)

Our graduating senior student panel took place on Tuesday night and was well received. A special thanks to all our seniors who gave of their time to make this possible:

• Elias Reed-Miguel
• Sparrow Lieu
• Maddox Ma
• Naia Humphrey
• Saniyah Johnson

I would also like to thank our parents as well: Sabrina for moderating and organizing, along with Kim, Becky, and Linda. Also a thank you to PPN for sponsoring the events.

Parents and Students--Progress 3 is now available in Infinite Campus. Please check in your student and review the latest grade in Schoology if you have any specific questions. Also remind your student that we have a few more Academy days to connect with teachers if needed.

We also understand that these last few weeks of school can be stressful. We continue to ask students to take care of themselves and ask for help when needed, and come to see their counselor.

Yes, it is about that time as we are 13 days from saying goodbye to our class of 2026. You may view the full Parking & Seating directions for graduation here. Infographics are below.

Graduation will be livestreamed again this year. Because of the technical setup, we can't provide a direct link ahead of time, but there are two options to view it:

1. Viewers will need to search for the title “2026 Piedmont High School Commencement Ceremony” once the event goes live.
2. Visit the PUSD video channel live page. https://www.youtube.com/@piedmontvideo6138/streams

For nostalgia, here is last year's graduation ceremonies. We will provide an archive for families after the ceremonies this year as well.

On Wednesday night the Board provided direction with regards to personal, internet-connected devices (cell phones, smartwatches, etc.). The direction is to become free of internet-connected devices for all schools during the instructional day (bell-to-bell). The policy related to this will come to a future board meeting, and we will update guidance for current and future students to align with this.

The Wellness Center needs your help with donations of allergen free granola bars, popcorn, oranges and string cheese.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C044EA9AD2EA1FC1-63542866-mental#/

You can drop the items off on or anytime before Tuesday, May 26 between 8:30am and 12pm at the Wellness Center, located in the Library/30s building at the high school. Marking donations with a note that says they are for Mental Health Awareness week is greatly appreciated and extremely helpful.

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

Take care,

The Wellness Center Support Committee

We are very excited to see students connecting off of their devices and playing Hacky Sack! However, this should not happen during class time. Groups of students out of class are distracting to classes that are in session. Before/after school, passing periods, brunch, and lunch are all great times to play.

This week's report was run from 4/13-5/8 (4 weeks). 151 students had perfect attendance during this period. This includes:

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

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

I will stop reporting daily attendance for the reminder of the year. We have AP Testing which skews the data and then just a matter of days left after that. We will continue to work on tardies and absences next year as well.

Thank you to everyone who has attended our meetings this year - it has been such a wonderful space to share ideas and feel supported. Just one more meeting on the calendar. We wish all our 12th grade parents a congratulations with our sincere gratitude for the support through the years. Everyone else: we'll see you in August!

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

• A special thank you to our facilities staff for the extra cleanup work that took place this week. You are amazing and willing to tackle whatever comes your way!