News & Announcements

ALL GRADES

Wednesday, Sept 1 at 7pm – Financial Aid Night with Tim Lenahan, the College Finance Guy 
Mark your calendars for an informative evening. The cost of college is the 2nd largest purchase a family makes. Learn options available to make good financial decisions with regard to college choices. Here’s the Zoom link.
 
SENIORS

• Wednesday, Sept 8 at 6:30pm Senior Parent Webinar – Mark your calendars! This will be a night to learn about college & career planning details. Here’s the webinar link.
• 8 dates to join Virtual College Visits! Check this out! There are hundreds of colleges to explore. In “live” sessions, your student can ask questions! This is a great way to look at MANY schools and narrow down lists.
• College Visits! Juniors and Seniors! Big College Visit Week Upcoming! All visits are in-person, unless otherwise specified. The virtual ones have been quite engaging too! This is an excellent way to let a university know you may be interested! Tell your student to come by the CCC in the morning to pick up a pass. Sign up on Naviance or email dlevy@auhsdschools.org. 
  • Monday:     
    • University of Pittsburgh 8:30-9:15am
    • Texas Tech 11:15am – 12:00pm
    • Seton Hall 2:15-3:00pm
  • Tuesday:      
    • Loyola University Chicago 9:45-10:30am
    • Georgia Tech (virtual) 10:30-11:00am
    • Vanderbilt (virtual) 11:10-11:40am
    • University of Arizona 12:55-1:35pm
  • Wednesday: 
    • St Mary’s College 8:35-9:20am
    • Villanova University (virtual) 9:20-10:05am
    • Penn State University (virtual) 1:35-2:20pm
    • University of New Hampshire (virtual) 2:20-3:05pm
  • Thursday:    
    • University of Nevada, Reno (virtual) 11:10-11:40am
  • Friday:         
    • UC San Diego (virtual) 8:35-9:20am

JUNIORS

• Naviance Training – Your students will learn how to log onto Naviance and gain other college/career tips in classroom visits on September 7 and 8.
• Join a College Visit – Check out the VISITS above.

SOPHOMORES/FRESHMEN

• Volunteer and Work in the Community  – Click here for some ideas to get you started. We will be visiting with all students this year to introduce them to Naviance and ways to expand their interests.

RESOURCES

• CCC Website

Counselors have new letters!  Counselor assignments are by last name.
A – Dr  Anne Schonauer
Du-Kr  Christine Todd
Ku-Rog  Marissa Meadows
Roh-Z  Susan Martin

Counselor Appointments We love talking to our students and we are so excited to be able to see students in person again! Please stop by the Counseling office to see if we are available, leave a note if we aren’t, or send us an email! We will start individual appointments with seniors to review graduation status and discuss post-high school plans after Labor Day.

Class Visits We can’t wait to meet/reconnect with our students! Next week, we will be visiting senior Gov/Econ classes and frosh Living Earth classes to present grade-specific information about academic planning, ways to get involved at AHS, and post-high school planning. Counselors will visit juniors and sophomores in their English classes the week after Labor Day.

FDA APPROVES COVID VACCINE Please consider getting COVID-19 vaccinations for every eligible household member. For every FIVE people that want to get the COVID vaccines, CCCH Mobile Vaccination Team will come here on site to administer. Please get in touch with me to let me know. I am happy to help arrange if you need assistance.

COVID VACCINATION RECORDS If your student has had COVID vaccinations, please submit this information.

GOT MEDS??? Inhalers? Epipens? Health Conditions and Medications If your student has a medical condition and/or needs medication available at school, please go to this linkon my webpage to get the appropriate forms.  All forms need to be filled out completely AND signed by BOTH parent and physician. You can email me the completed forms, or you can bring them to me at school.  Please bring any/all (unexpired) medication in its original bottle directly to me so that I can review the required medical documentation at that time
.
GOT SHOTS???  Immunizations If there are any updates to your student’s vaccination record, please send me a copy so I can update.  If your student is missing any requiredimmunizations, they may not be able to be at school until those are complete.  Please get in touch with me as soon as possible.

GOT ILLNESS???  STAY HOME!!! Any student that has illness symptoms should stay home until they have been symptom-free for at least 24 hours.

COVID Protocols (DON’T Get It!) Everyone wears a mask indoors. Keep staying healthy and practice hand hygiene.
AUHSD Safety Plan:  SEE PAGES 8-9
Submit your student‘s Covid-19 Vaccine Record HERE

BEYOND COVID Please be in touch with me to discuss any medical, health and wellness concerns.

Stay healthy and be well,
Dvora Citron, RN, MS
dcitron@auhsdschools.org
925-280-2970 x7128
Acalanes School Nurse Google Site
IG:  acalanesschoolnurse

The AHS athletic department is hiring students to work at events. Positions include sound crew technician, scorekeeping, and announcing. No experience is necessary, and the positions pay minimum wage.

If you are interested, or if you have any questions, contact AHS Athletic Director Randy Takahashi at ​​rtakahashi@auhsdschools.org or visit him in Room 207.
Here are the Fall sports schedules (subject to change):

• Cross Country
• Football
• Girls Golf
• Girls Tennis
• Girls Volleyball
• Boys Water Polo
• Girls Water Polo

• The Acalanes Lunch Program needs your help! Do you have an hour to spare on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday to help handout school lunches? If so, sign up here https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0B4DABA9283-lunch 
  Contact Caroline Volk cvolk@auhsdschools.org or Rebecca Ward rward@auhsdschools.org  with questions.
• If your student is vaccinated, you can submit proof of their COVID-19 vaccination here. Vaccinated students are not subject to quarantine if they are asymptomatic and determined to be a close contact to a COVID-19 positive individual. If you do not have a Google account, which is required to submit the documents electronically, you may use your student’s school email address.

2021-22 Donations to APC Acalanes Parents Club is grateful for your donations this school year. Your contributions directly impact this year’s funding for the following programs integral to your student’s experience and success at Acalanes:

• Peer Tutoring Program (100% funded by APC) providing all students academic support in almost every subject offered at Acalanes
• Grant Programs provide $20K annually to support teacher and student innovation on campus
• Parent Speaker Series delivers a range of engaging speakers
• Campus Enhancements ranging from tents for outdoor classrooms to paint to furniture, enabling our campus to meet its immediate, critical needs
• College and Career Center helps prepare students for their post- Acalanes lives
• Student Culture and Climate promotes a safe, diverse, and inclusive culture at Acalanes
• Staff and Teacher Development for advancing curriculum.

If you haven’t had a chance to donate, you can do so here. We are grateful for any amount that is meaningful to your family. And to make your donation go even further, don’t forget to check if your company has a corporate matching program by visiting Double The Donation. Thank you for being a part of the APC community! We couldn’t do it without you!
 
Kelly Daggs, VP Fundraising and Corporate Match

Thank you to our new members of Acalanes DEI! We are excited to bring you great content and programming this year. Our mission, as always, is to highlight an inclusive academic, athletic, and social environment where every member of our community feels valued. We are thrilled to have Dr. Lyanna McPhatter-Harris as the new Director of Student Services, Diversity, and Inclusion at the Acalanes Union High School District to help guide us towards this ideal.
 
The Paralympics is coming to Prime Time!  “Lifting the cloud of limitation,” Paralympians deserve to be recognized just as much as Olympians (Lord Coe, London Olympic Committee Chair). Sit back and be inspired!
 
Follow us on Instagram @acalanesdei!

Thank you APC and AUHSD families for sponsoring our talk this past Thursday, “A Year Away: Practical Tips for a Successful Return to School,” presented by Dr. Ardis Martin.  We hope that those who were able to attend found it useful. We plan to have the recording from the talk and/or the slides presented from the Wellness Center available next week for your reference.

For those of us concerned about pandemic learning loss, here is an article from UC Berkeley scholars that discusses why we should not obsess about it! From challenge comes new opportunities to learn, grow, and adapt as individuals and as a community. We are in this together.

Feel you need more support for your transgendered, non-binary, or your gender-expansive teen? Gender Spectrum is holding an annual Family Conference where family members can learn more!

Feel free to reach out and connect with us with ideas for future topics, shareable resources, or thoughts: parented@acalanesparentsclub.com

Hello Acalanes Parents, I’m Jennifer Palmer and I would like to introduce myself as one of your Acalanes LPIE Representatives for the 2021-2022 year. You will meet my partner Michele Colaco in next week’s newsletter.
 
I currently have twin daughters who are Sophomores here at Acalanes and a fourth-grade daughter at Happy Valley Elementary. I am very excited they are not doing school online in my house currently! This is my fourth year on the LPIE Board and second year representing LPIE at Acalanes. Previously, I served as LPIE’s Business Development Chair and Happy Valley Parents Club LPIE Liaison. 
 
My husband Shane and I are long-time LPIE supporters, and when I served on the Happy Valley Parents Club Board as Legislative Rep, Vice President, President and Parliamentarian, I saw first-hand that California does not adequately fund our schools. I learned how vital LPIE is to all our Lafayette schools to bridge this gap in funding. I knew I wanted to do more to support and promote LPIE. My daughters are artists, musicians, and eager science and robotic learners because of LPIE. Now I am fortunate to witness how much LPIE gives here at Acalanes to fifteen class sections, including our award-winning Blueprint newspaper, World Language classes, tech classes like Digital Design, Advanced Placement classes, and the Wellness Center to name a few.  Did you know LPIE also pays for department supplies and support in every subject? 
 
Please reach out to me if you have any questions or want more information on what your LPIE donations fund at Acalanes. We are grateful for any donation, ANY AMOUNT that is meaningful to your family. Our goal is 100 percent participation. Thank you for your support. Donations go to LPIE via the Web store or www.lpie.org.  Go DONS!
 
Jennifer Palmer and Michele Colaco
Acalanes LPIE School Chairs
www.lpie.org
Follow us on Instagram

ASB Cards
Thank you to the 830+ families who have already purchased an ASB card! If you have yet to purchase a card, there is still time! We are asking that families purchase by tonight as we are going to print ID cards tomorrow, and the ASB sticker gets printed on the ASB card. ASB cards fund all student activities at Acalanes. Money collected from ASB card sales directly funds student body programs, including new student orientation, spirit events, home athletic games, talent show, rallies, equity programming including speakers, student social and emotional health programming, tailgates, support for athletic senior nights, clubs and social media presence including necessary technology, and more. By purchasing an ASB card, students receive: a spirit shirt at Dons Day, free or discounted tickets to on campus dances, entrance to home athletic games (non-playoff) and gifts with purchase and/or discounts to local Lafayette restaurants and businesses. See the discounts here (more are added every day!)
 
ID Card Photos
Most of our students took their photos last week and will receive an ID card this Thursday or Friday. If your student missed their photo day, there will be a make-up day in October.

Due Aug 31 Club Applications
Club Applications are now available. Students received the application in their Canvas inbox and can stop by room 314 anytime with questions. We will host a club Day on Sept 10 during academy for students to get more information and join our 2021-2022 clubs!
 
Friday, Aug 27 from 7:30-9:30pm Welcome Back Dance
We will hold a welcome back dance this Friday in between the gyms. It is free for any student with ASB and $10 without ASB. All are welcome to attend! I am in need of parent chaperones in order to be able to host the outdoor dance. If you are willing, please email Katherine Walton.
 
Events this week:
We have a busy week of programming. See below for the calendar:

• Monday – Water Conservation Jeopardy in room 314 @ lunch
• Wednesday @ lunch
  • 9th grade: Non-Stanley Lunch in room 314
  • 10th grade: Jeopardy in room 314
  • 11th grade: HOCO info meeting by snack shack
  • 12th grade: HOCO info meeting in room 412
• Thursday @ lunch – Worlds Water Crisis Documentary in room 314 & Wellness Carnival in frosh quad
• Friday @ lunch – Shawn Tells All-lunch with our admin team in room 314. All students are invited to attend!

Homecoming 2021 Theme is… Board Games!
Homecoming will run Sept 26-Oct 2. Mark your calendars!
 
Staying in Touch
I know it can be hard to find information about the happenings at Acalanes. We will use Canvas email, the daily bulletin, and social media to communicate events, opportunities and more. Our social media is @ahs_dons. Please follow us!
 
As always, I am here to support you and your student. If there is anything I can do, please don’t hesitate to reach out via e-mail.
 
Katherine Walton, Student Activities Director