BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT IS ON
AUGUST 29th.

Apologies for the incorrect date in our previous newsletter.
Volume 3 Issue 1 | August 2019
Next Home & School Club meeting: August 19th at 7pm in the Leigh Library
JOIN US - MONDAY, AUGUST 19, 7PM - LIBRARY
2019/20 Kick-off Meeting for the LHS Home & School Club!

  • Hear first impressions of the new school year from Principal Butler!
  • Get first-hand updates from our teachers, ASB, College & Career Center and Boosters (Sports, Spirit and PAPA)!
  • Get inside info on your Home & School Club's goals, objectives, and plans for the year ahead!

Want more? If you are interested in really delving deep and learning more about our processes and budget, show up early! We will be discussing and approving our HSC budget at 6PM, prior to the larger HSC meeting.

ALL ARE WELCOME!  

[ Read the agenda for our upcoming meeting as well as minutes from past meetings here. ]
Message from your Home & School Club President


Welcome to the 2019-20 school year! We are looking forward to a great year ahead.

One of the key predictors of student success is parent engagement. This can be as simple as talking to your child at dinner about the book they are reading in English class or spending an hour with your child on a Saturday morning planting trees at Leigh or helping organize books in the Leigh Bookroom. The Home & School Club helps provide a bridge between home and school and enables all of us to be more engaged so that we can support all of the students and staff here at Leigh. It takes a village to raise a child... this is your village!

We are incredibly fortunate to be a part of an amazing team of parents who have stepped up to lead our programs this year:

  • Vice President - Ann Auld
  • Treasurer - Amy Hogg
  • Auditor - Doug Evans
  • Secretary - Jenny Green
  • Parliamentarian - Gretchen Gabriel
  • Technology Director - Rama Nemani
  • Communications - Amy Gardner, Angie Lu & Susan Smith
  • Community Building & Events - Susan Dahl, Oren Katzir
  • Campus Beautification - Kelly Masini, Tamiko House & Ashleigh Coffeng
  • Staff Appreciation & Hospitality - Carol Hofheimer & Susan Lovelady
  • Volunteer Coordinator - Ashleigh Coffeng
  • Grad Night - Kristina Williams & Ann Auld
  • District Rep, Facilities - Tamara Strachman
  • District Rep, Finance - Paula McHugh Jack

Each of our Board members and Committee Chairs works with a team of volunteers. If you would like to donate a few hours of your time during the year, please take a look at some of the options available here. For example, Campus Beautification volunteers help with gardening & general maintenance on two Saturdays during the year; our College & Career Center volunteers, under the guidance of the CCC Counselor, work directly with students; our Stampede team plans the event and/or participates on the day of the event etc. Whatever your skillset is, we will find a role for you. All help is greatly appreciated!

Much of what we do to support our students and staff takes money. Our primary fundraiser is our Annual Giving Drive and our goal this year is to raise $30,000. To everyone who has already made a donation - thank you! Your donations ensure we can continue to support important programs such as classroom resources & supplies ($100 for each of our 82 teachers), staff grants, new library furniture, technology in the classroom, speakers for our students, staff appreciation, and campus beautification. Please click here to donate. Thank you for making a difference at Leigh!

It is also very easy to earn free money for the Home & School Club through corporate matching (many employers may double your donation), or when you shop at Amazon (6-11% of your purchase comes back to the HSC), or shop at Office Depot (mention Leigh High School and 5% of your purchase comes back to Leigh).

We invite you to attend our monthly meetings, follow us on Facebook, and check out our website where you can get more details on all things Home & School Club related. Come join us and meet our wonderful community of parents, staff and students! 

On behalf of the Home & School Club, we look forward to a great year of working together to support Leigh. If you have any questions or suggestions, please e-mail us at president@leighhsc.org. 

Warmest Wishes,
Aine O'Donovan & Tamara Strachman
Co-Presidents LHSC
BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT!
THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 5PM

Join us at 5:00pm in the quad for some light refreshments and music before you head to your child's classroom. Our Booster Clubs - Home & School Club, PAPA, Spirit Boosters and Sports Boosters - will have booths where you can learn more about our programs, donate, purchase apparel, and more. We look forward to seeing you there!
Back To School To Do List

Where do we spend our money?


Through our Annual Giving Drive in 2018-19, we raised $28,125 in donations and $7,229 in Corporate Matching. Our goal for the 2019-20 school year is to raise $30,000 through our Annual Giving Drive and $8,000 through Corporate Matching. Our Annual Giving Drive is our primary fundraiser and we very much appreciate any support you can give. Thank you to everyone who has donated to date!

Programs and items funded during the 2018-19 school year included:

Classroom Resources
  • $100 was granted to each of our 82 teachers for classroom resources

Staff Grants
  • Annual subscription to bablingua.com usable by all Spanish teachers at Leigh
  • Books for in-classroom library for English Dept.
  • Books and materials for the US and World History depts to support common core as well as the new History Social Science Framework Adoption
  • Tub of 2000 Color Plastic Tiles from EAI Education for use in Integrated Math 1 and Integrated Math 2 students, to visualize patterns in linear and quadratic functions
  • 2019 Chinese Lunar New Year Celebration and Teachers Appreciation Lunch for Mandarin 3 & 4
  • Neo Smartpen N2 and ten 150-page notepads for AP Macroeconomics & Gov
  • Instant Video: The Great Courses: Investigating American Presidents & set of learning cards for AP Government & Econ
  • Three Cuisinart Pro Custom 11-Cup Food Processor for Foods I & II classes and the new LHS Culinary Club 
  • Lab supplies for Climate Change Unit for Biology Dept
  • Music materials for Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, Symphonic Band, and Jazz Bands
  • AP Psychology & Psychology resources for activities and books fr classroom library
  • Registration Fee for Science Olympiad Green Team for the Santa Clara Regional
  • Printing of the Senior Edition of the Eleight newspaper
  • Registration fees and materials for Project Lead the Way for Tech Challenge competition


Staff Appreciation
  • A large team of volunteer parents, coordinated by our Staff Appreciation committee, provided monthly treats for teachers (breakfasts, lunches, flowers, tokens of appreciation, cards, letters and more!).

Parent Education
  • October 2018 - Angst screening and panel discussion  
  • November 2018 - "Screens are Everywhere: Help Guide your Teen's Usage" 
  • January 2019 - "Conscious Parenting: Emotional Wellness in Teens"
  • February 2019 - "A Backpack of Life Skills; Helping Students Transition Successfully to College"  
  • March 2019 - "What do you consider lethal? A talk for parents to attend with their teen driver by Impact Teen Drivers."

Campus Beautification
  • May 11, 2019
  • 30 Volunteers 
  • 100 new plants
  • 25 white rosebushes donated by from Madrona Garden Works
  • Two truckloads of mulch spread
  • September 22, 2018
  • 40 volunteers
  • 967,303 weeds removed 
  • 330 yards of landscape fabric installed 
  • 100 plants in the ground ready to grow 
  • 40 yards of mulch mountains moved 

Communications
  • Community outreach via Constant Contact
  • Website hosting 

Misc
  • Automated External Defibrillator (AED) for Leigh campus
  • T-shirts for Link Crew Leaders
  • Leigh car decals – free to parents at Back To School Night
  • Leigh sweatshirts for our Principal, Assistant Principal, District Superintendent and District Board members (a thank you gift for their ongoing support).


We are also extremely grateful to Leigh families for the following very generous donations: $10K from the Robert Family Foundation, and amounts of $6K, $15K and $25K from anonymous donors. These donations allowed us to fund much larger projects. The HSC, Ms. Butler and the donors worked closely together to ensure the donations were used in the most impactful way. Funds were allocated as follows:

  • Library upgrade ($10K)
  • Donation to individual departments ($1K to each of our 12 departments)
  • Technology in the library ($10K)
  • Technology in the classrooms ($3K)
  • Science Dept ($3K)
  • New Computer Principles class ($10K)


Thank you to everyone for your generous donations last year and thank you so much to all of the volunteers who coordinated and/or supported the above activities and projects!

Information on programs funded during prior years can be found here.


Thank you for making a difference at Leigh.
It takes a village - this is your village!
Earn FREE money for Leigh 


Double/triple your donation with Corporate Matching

Many local companies offer matching donations to school organizations. If you avail of this program you can double or triple your donation to Leigh Home and School Club! Many companies also donate cash to match your volunteer hours contributed to the school. Click here to see if your employer offers corporate matching and how you can go about processing this. Our Tax ID: #77-0199809.


Shopping on Amazon? 

Use our dedicated Leigh Amazon link when shopping with Amazon, and Leigh Home & School Club receives a % of the amount you purchased. Bookmark this link for future shopping 'trips'! The link is always available on our website. Does your company shop at Amazon? Then refer this link to the person in charge of purchases. Anyone can use this link and Leigh will benefit.


Shopping at Office Depot?

When you check out, let the cashier know that you want to support Leigh High School. Leigh will receive 5% of your purchase amount.


Shopping at Sports Basement?

On your next visit to Sports Basement, register as a Basementeer and select Leigh High School as your beneficiary. Basementeer's receive 10% and give 10%:

  • 10% off every item every day
  • 10% of your purchase is donated back to Leigh
We Love our Teachers, Staff and Community!

Many thanks to our Staff Appreciation co-chairs, Carol Hofheimer and Susan Lovelady, and their wonderful team of volunteers for showering love and appreciation on our teachers as they started back at school. Each teacher received a $10.00 gift card for Starbucks.

The committee also helped welcome incoming freshman parents with coffee, cookies and donuts at the 3 parent orientations held prior to school starting.

A Welcome Back To School luncheon for our teachers and staff is scheduled for Sept 5th.
Leigh High Home & School Club | http://www.leighhsc.org