Parent Newsletter #5: 8/22/25

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 | Student Handbook

College & Career Newsletter | Athletic Newsletter

Principal: Dr. Yoshihara

Assistant Principal: Mr. Marik

Dear Highlander Families,

It was a great week as we have a relatively "normal" schedule. We had two days of Academy this week giving all students an opportunity to learn how that process works. As a reminder, during Academy, students can request a teacher, teachers can request a student, or the student may remain in their "homeroom".

We culminated the week with Senior Sunrise. I as impressed with how prompt our seniors were this morning. Over a dozen students were there before we arrived. I guess they wanted the first pick of donuts (smile). We had a great gathering of seniors who had a chance to hang out, have some food, and enjoy the morning. Very special indeed.

Next week kicks off with a special schedule on Monday (more info below), first home volleyball game against Head Royce on Tuesday and ASB Friday fust at lunch on 8/29.

Warmly,

Dr. Yoshihara

August 25: Map Growth Test (special schedule)

August 29: ASB Friday Fest (Lunchtime in the quad, outside Student Center)

September 3: ASB Club Day (Lunch)

September 4: Back to School Night (7-9 pm)

September 5: Senior Picnic Fest (Hampton Field)

September 9: Senior Parent Presentation (6:30-8, AHT)

September 10: Photo Makeup (9-3:30, AHT Lobby)

September 15: School Site Council (3:40-4:40, ST 117)

We have an adjusted schedule on Monday, 8/25 to support all students to complete the required MAP Reading Assessment. The testing period is at the end-of-the day, after all shortened periods. Juniors and Seniors are expected to be here, even if they have an unscheduled end-of-day. Missing this assessment will count as an unexcused absence and impact Extracurricular and Sports eligibility.

Also, since this is required for all students, you may be pulled from other important classes for makeups if you are absent on Monday for this exam.

Interested in getting to know new parents in your child’s grade, learning tips for parenting teenagers, and discussing helpful resources in the community? Come join the monthly grade-specific Piedmont Parents Network meetings!

What is PPN?

The Piedmont Parents Network (PPN) is a parent-run organization that holds monthly meetings to provide parents with the opportunity to meet, connect and discuss issues affecting their child, the school, and our community. Parents participate in monthly discussions that are facilitated by trained parent volunteers who help ensure that conversations are held with mutual respect and discretion. There are PPN groups for 6th to 12th grade, and all parents of students at PHS/PMS/PMS are welcome - there are no membership dues - just RSVP and show up!

When are the next meetings?

12th Grade: Join us for a discussion on what to expect from Senior year.

Thursday, August 28

7:30-9:00 pm

Facilitators: Sara Ironside, Jen Ferguson

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

11th Grade

TBD - info to come soon!

Facilitator: Kristen Brett

10th Grade

TBD - info to come soon!

Facilitators: Sarah Puckett, Maggie Mittan

9th Grade: Join us to discuss how the transition to high school is going - both for you and for your student.

Wednesday, August 27

7:00-8:30 pm

Facilitators: Judy Lin, Yoko Ichikawa, Anne Hawkins

RSVP: hawkins42@gmail.com for location information

Now that we are a few weeks into school and fall sports are starting, you may be interested in general PHS Spirit Wear. This is available in the School Store, and we are starting to process orders. They are done in batches so depending on volume, it may take a few weeks to get them to you. These are great to wear on Fridays (or any day) or to any of our home games to support our student athletes.

Dear Friends of the Wellness Center,

In order to continue providing essential care to Piedmont students, the Wellness Center must raise at least $50,000 for the 2025–2026 school year. Adolescent mental health needs are expanding and the Wellness Center is continuing to rise to support students as they navigate school, relationships and their development.

In the 2024-25 school year, one in three PHS and MHS students and one in four PMS students visited the Wellness Center. Your donation directly ensures that every Piedmont student has access to expert mental health care and support services.

Donate here: PiedmontWellness.org

Your generosity supports the Wellness Center’s mission to help students navigate emotional and social challenges, including anxiety, stress, depression, grief, relationship issues, and substance use. Contributions of any amount are deeply appreciated and make a meaningful difference.

As a token of our appreciation:

• All donors over $250 will be recognized on the Wellness Center website

• Donors of $500 or more will receive an invitation to a Wellness Center Sponsor reception on October 9th at a private home in Piedmont, featuring a moderated panel of teen mental health experts.

• Major donors over $1,000 will have their name added to the gratitude wall in the Wellness Center, celebrating community support.

“Having the wellness center is like having a safety blanket at school, knowing that if you can't handle something or become too stressed out, you have a place you can go to just breathe or talk through things. Piedmont High is extremely lucky to have the Wellness Center.” - PHS student testimony

During the 2024–2025 school year, the Wellness Center was able to provide:

• Approximately 2,000 therapy sessions for PUSD middle and high school students

• Ongoing support for over 150 students

• Nearly 3,500 snacks provided to students

• Practitioner training sessions conducted by industry experts

Thank you for helping us prioritize the mental health and well-being of Piedmont students.

With gratitude,
The Wellness Center Support Committee: Cortney Allen, Bridget Brennan, Kat Di Piazza, Martin Diller, Naomi Edelson, Rita Fabi, Ellie Griffinger - Guidi, Neha Gupta, Lauren Hartman, Martha Joerger, Amelie Kappes, Genevieve Klyce, Dana Lung, Jodie Marko, Sarah Meyjes, Gina Midili, Samantha Nobles Block, Sarah Pearson, Bridget Schreiber, Katie Sharafi, Ashley Stevanovic, Brooke Zimmerman, Rachel Zimmerman

Now that our mascot has been revealed, it needs a name. We invite our community to help us in this selection. We will begin with the solicitation of possible names and then the vote. The first part will be open to the community and the second part will be for just the student body and staff. The winner will get a special prize.

The leaders of our donors (ASB, Parent Club, Athletics, and Boosters) will review the submissions and select their top 3. Admin will then review the choices from each of the groups and create a ballot for the student body and staff to finalize the name. Let's have lots of input in our name choices!

Timeline:

August 15-August 29: Name suggestions

August 30-September 19: Top selections from donors

September 15-24: Voting by students and staff

September 26 (newsletter): Announce of name of our new mascot

Help us select a mascot name!

Since we are moving to a new tracking system for community service hours (Mobile Serve), please stop and login to your Track it Forward account now and click "export all hours" from the landing page which creates an .csv file (excel). This details each entry the student made and includes volunteer date, submitted date, hours, organization, notes, supervisor name/email. Seniors can use this information for their college application Activities section and resume updates; 11th/10th can keep the copy so they will have it for future college applications/resumes.

We will start running a Tardy report this week. Warnings and detentions will be assigned where appropriate. Remember, more than 10 tardies will impact Extracurricular Eligibility for the next reporting period. This applies to everything from sports, to dances, to theater and mock trial.

We appreciate feedback we have received regarding student schedules for our 11th and 12th graders. We will continue to work to find solutions to scheduling challenges wherever possible. There are still openings in the following electives:

1st Block - Guitar Engineering

2nd Block - A Cappella

3rd Block - Acting 2, Stage Direction, AP Computer Science Principles, Creative Writing, AP Bio, Guitar Engineering, Digital Photography

4th Block - Anatomy & Physiology, AP Seminar [late addition]

5th Block - AP Computer Science Principles, Robotics, Guitar Engineering, Dance

6th Block - Acting 1, AP Music Theory, AP Computer Science Principles

7th Block - Stage Directing/Acting 3, Dance, Stats, Art 1, AP Spanish,

• Drop-in Chromebook and tech support services are available in the PHS library on Mon-Wed-Fri during lunch.
• For urgent Chromebook help, come down to the Tech Office on the right side of the PMS library at the bottom of the ramp. Push the white buzzer. Someone is in the office MOST of the time.
• Email help@piedmont.k12.ca.us anytime with your tech questions or issues.

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.

(Sant Celoni, Barcelona, Valencia) Last call!!! a few spots left!!!

If your student is taking Spanish at PHS in level 3 and higher and is interested in participating in this program, here is the form to apply. We will have 19 students from Spain coming to Piedmont in February (4th-15th) and we will be traveling in April (3rd-14th). Hopefully we can reach 19 students to have a one on one experience. If you have any questions you can email me at dsahagon@piedmont.k12.ca.us

Looking for a way to volunteer? Nutrition services welcomes our parent volunteers at brunch and lunch each day in the Student Center. Not only will you be providing an important service, you will get to see many of our students in a positive way--you'll be giving them something they want (smile). You'll also get to hang out with our wonderful Nutrition Services staff! Please consider signing up with the link below. Thanks so much in advance.

Volunteer Sign Up for Food Service Shifts

We plan to enforce the requirement of all students to have tickets to home games this year. AD Small, ASB Director Adams, Mr. Marik, and myself have been finalizing how this will look. Students may purchase individual tickets to home games, but the ASB Activity Card will provide a much better value if you plan to attend any of the school athletic events. Here is what the PHS Value Package will entail:

• 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.

Coffee, Cars & Cops is back! Please join the Piedmont Police Department for this exciting annual event on Saturday, September 20th, 2025, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM in front of the Piedmont Police Department. Please bring your family, friends, and anyone with an incredible exotic or classic vehicle. The community loves to see them on display!

To participate or show a vehicle, sign up with Ofc. Tyler Petit at coffeecarscops@piedmont.ca.gov and provide your vehicle make/model/year/color.

I’m looking forward to another amazing event with the community! See you there!

Thank you!!

Officer T. Petit #116

Piedmont Police Department

Boosters largest fundraiser Oktoberfest is set for Saturday October 4, 4-9PM at the Community Hall (same setup as last year). Tickets can be purchased at PiedmontOktoberfest.com .

• A special Thank You to Karen Bird for helping get our library open every day for students to study and do homework. This would be an amazing add, if we can get it to happen!