Volume 4 Issue 6 | December 2020

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE DECEMBER 2020 HSC MEETING Minutes from past meetings and dates of upcoming meetings can be found here. The next HSC meeting is Monday, January 25 at 7:00 p.m. Email us any time with questions or suggestions: president@leighhsc.org.

Highlights from Principal Kara Butler Coffee with the Principal - On-demand Recording If you missed it on December 9th, here is a recording of the presentation and discussion that took place with Kara Butler and our Assistant Principals, and the Leigh community: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh44xH4tILY&feature=youtu.be Preparing for the 2021/2022 School Year Presentations for next year's academic courses are being developed and guidance counselors will be meeting with students in February, as well as hosting discussions during Outreach periods. The course catalog for 2021-22 will be on the school website very soon. 8th Grade Information Night will take place on January 12, 2021 via Zoom. Details have been provided to each of our feeder schools. Information Night for all our current Leigh families will also take place in January towards the end of the month, but a date has not been solidified. All informational sessions will be recorded so you can view them afterwards. Learning Labs Santa Clara County currently allows small groups of students to attend on-site Learning Labs. Students who have struggled with attendance and grades have been invited to join these labs, which adhere to all County health guidelines. The Learning Lab teachers have reported positive feedback and outcomes for the 20-22 students currently attending the labs regularly. The Learning Labs will continue even as we move back into the purple tier of COVID precautions. New Mural for Leigh Six Leigh HS students and one Oak Grove HS student designed a mural to be painted in the school’s hallway during the Spring semester. The students presented their very thoughtful proposal at a recent District Board meeting and the project was approved by Superintendent Robert Bravo. The goal of the mural, which is expected to be completed by March 2021, is to build a learning environment that makes students feel empowered and excited to be on campus. The Home & School Club is delighted to have approved funding of $500 to cover supplies needed for this project. To learn more about the project, click here.

Highlights from Teacher Representative Celeste Smiley Not many students are attending tutorials. Please come to tutorials! Tutorials continue to be underutilized. Instead, students are emailing questions to their teachers that are not easily answered through an email. Please ask your student to reserve email for quick requests/questions and attend a tutorial session for anything more detailed (e.g. help/clarification of an assignment, issue with grade, missing assignments, absences, etc). There are approximately 165 of them, and 1 of us, so we would really appreciate an increase in tutorial usage. Link to full tutorial schedule is here. Science Olympiad Science Olympiad will be participating in the Science Olympiad practice event on Saturday, December 19th. It will be their first time using the new online system for remote competitions. Thank you to the HSC grant for registration!  The Black and Brown Youth Society BBYS sends along a big thank you to everyone that contributed to their community service project "Christmas con Cariño". Students met on Wednesday, October 9th, and sorted, stuffed, packed, and wrapped 60 stockings for children of food and agricultural workers in our valley. 

Highlights from Student Leadership The students had a successful LGBTQ+ Awareness Celebration Week right after the Thanksgiving Break, including this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTR2bg5qLOs&feature=youtu.be  A new LHS podcast, Longhorn Radio, has been established and the Leadership Podcast Commission is excited to share new productions with the student and parent communities as they become available. The first episode is available here. In this podcast, guests are invited to talk about varying topics of interest to the Leigh community. Podcasts are posted weekly on Mondays at 10:20 am PST but recordings can always be accessed on the @famleigh instagram and IGTV. If you are interested in being a guest on this podcast, feel free to fill out this form: https://forms.gle/cnTkFdaUNPaAur3Y7 The TedX @ Leigh was excellent! The students are working on editing a recorded version they can share with the public. Stay tuned. The ASB has been focused on preparing for finals and strategizing how to support our student body with resources for study habits and stress management, and they are all looking forward to the Winter Break!

STAYING UP TO DATE ON DISTANCE LEARNING & REOPENING PLANS Read Dr. Bravo's most recent update on the phased return to school for Spring Semester (Jan-June). Read his full report on the phased return here. Watch his 30min presentation (start at 1:56:00) here. View recordings of past District Board meetings and livestreams of future board meetings here. Read email updates from our District Superintendent, Dr Bravo. Copies of his emails are available here. View the latest information on the District Website. Follow CUHSD on social media @mycuhsd on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  

TUTORS, STUDENT AIDES AND SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS NEEDED

Interested in becoming a tutor, student aide, teacher, or substitute to support in-person services for out students? CUHSD is hiring. For those interested in pursuing these positions, or for those interested in pursuing a teaching credential, a Hiring Information Session was held on 12/17. Slides from this webinar are located here. These slides provide the information needed to begin the process to become a substitute or full-time teacher or to apply for a current opening. More information available on the CUHSD website.

WE LOVE OUR TEACHERS & STAFF!  The HSC Staff Appreciation team and parent volunteers provided December Teacher Treats of healthy snacks, including pretzels, apples, cuties, bananas, trail mix, little hummus and baby carrot bags. Hummus and carrots were in the refrigerator.

SEND A NOTE OF THANKS AND/OR A HOLIDAY GIFT TO OUR LONGHORN STAFF

Please join us as we spread a little holiday cheer in appreciation for everything our teachers and staff do for our Leigh community! Here are a few ideas... Send an email We all know how lovely it is to receive a note of appreciation in our inbox! Send an email to your child's teachers and to staff members you want to thank. You can do this from your CANVAS account. You can also email directly from your personal email account. Staff emails are typically the <first letter of first name><last name>@cuhsd.org. For example, Ms. Celeste Smiley's email is csmiley@cuhsd.org. Teachers and Staff names are listed on the school website and you can also send emails directly to teachers and staff from this page. Send an e-gift card If you would like to show our teachers and staff some additional love, send them a gift card! You can email an e-gift card using a teacher/staff school email address. Here are some of our teacher's and staff's favorite places to shop and eat (each link below brings you directly to the gift card section of each site)...

Amazon Target Safeway Whole Foods Ace Hardware Sports Basement Starbucks Jack Holders Uncle John's Pancake House Milohas Colombian Empanadas (order online, they will mail gift card) Blue Rock BBQ

WE ARE JUST OVER $1,500 SHORT OF REACHING OUR ANNUAL GIVING DRIVE GOAL

Thank you to everyone who has already donated to our Annual Giving Drive! We are just over 95% of the way towards our $30K goal! Help us reach our goal before the end of the year! Your donations are making an impact and ensure that we can support important programs for our students. It takes a Village… this is YOUR Village! Thank you for making a difference at Leigh! 

Questions, please contact our Treasurer, Amy Hogg, at treasurer@leighhsc.org

Thank you for making a difference! Your support matters and is greatly appreciated!

DOUBLE YOUR DONATION BEFORE END OF YEAR Many companies have a deadline of end of year to apply for a corporate match. If you have already donated to the Home & School Club, check out our Double the Donation online tool to quickly and easily see if your employer will match your donation. You will also be able to sign in to your companies online form and submit your request electronically, or you can directly access the paper form you need to complete and submit.

HOME & SCHOOL CLUB FINANCIAL UPDATE Since our last newsletter update, the following programs/activities were funded using our Annual Giving donations: Staff Grants ‐ $120 for Quizizz and Quizlet subscriptions (Math/IM1 & IM2) Staff Grants ‐ $150 for Peardeck premium subscription (Spanish 2/3) Staff Grants ‐ $100 in holiday cards for students (AP Gov & Gov/Econ) Staff Appreciation ‐ $295 for Welcome Back buckets supplies

CORPORATE DONORS NEEDED Do you work at a company that offers grants to non-profits? Mental wellness is the foundation of social emotional learning and is critical for our students to be able to thrive in today’s challenging environments. To give our Leigh students much-needed tools to learn about mental wellness, our Leigh Admin partnered with the HAERT Program for the 2020-21 school year. Funding – How You Can Help The HSC has partially funded this program and are in the process of raising additional funds through corporate donations to cover the remaining cost. If you work at a company that offers grants to nonprofits, we’re asking for your support to secure corporate funding that will help cover the program cost.  Please check your company website, or reach out to your HR department or your Community Outreach department, to determine if your company offers grants to non-profits (Leigh Home & School Club is a 501(c)(3)). If they do, please connect with us at haertfundraising@leighhsc.org and we will provide the necessary information and help walk you through the process. Learn More about the HAERT Program The program offers short, impactful videos (5-15mins) and accompanying handouts focused on helping students: Develop skills and strategies to cope with stress Learn how to better manage their emotions and behaviors Understand social awareness and relationship skills Develop new mindsets and health habits Support their peers Additional info here: The Law of Unexpected Benefits » Improved HAERT Program Promotes Learning of Mental Wellness Skills » Please reach out to HSC parent, Debbie Byorum, at haertfundraising@leighhsc.org and she can answer any questions you may have.

KYLE J. TAYLOR FOUNDATION: HEART HEALTH Getting More AEDs into our schools During the 2019-20 school year, the Kyle J. Taylor Foundation donated an AED as well as AED signage to Leigh. The group also provided free heart screenings to our students. The Home & School Club purchased an additional AED through the foundation. Read the most recent newsletter from the Kyle J. Taylor Foundation to learn more about the organization, how you can apply to have an AED donated to a school or youth sports program, and how you can support this organization. --------------------------------------- Upcoming CPR/AED Certification Class The Kyle J. Taylor Foundation is offering a Red Cross CPR/AED Adult & Pediatric Certification Blended Course on January 16, 2021. Cost is $30. Once you sign up, you will get an email from American Red Cross. You will need to log in to the link you receive from Red Cross to complete the online portion of the course. This must be completed prior to our class on January 16, 2021. Depending on the COVID-19 restrictions that will be in place on January 16, 2021, we will either meet in person or via Zoom. Upon completion of the course, you will get a 2 year certification in Adult and Pediatric CPR/AED. Registration closes January 11, 2021. SIGN UP TODAY »

Are you shopping on Amazon for the holidays? Yes? Great! Use Amazon Smile and a % of your purchase automatically comes back to Leigh HSC. Shop at smile.amazon.com/ch/77-0199809 or with AmazonSmile ON in the app. This is free money for Leigh HSC - to date we have received $429 through this program. Thank you for your support! 

COLLEGE AND CAREER CENTER NEWS The College and Career Center with Nathalie Goricanec will continue to hold open office hours for parents via Zoom on Fridays from 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. Click here to join the Zoom meeting » Virtual Community College Fair Coming Up There will be a Community College virtual fair hosted by all five College and Career specialists in our district on February 24, 2021 during the day, and Community College application workshops on March 3, 2021 and March 10, 2021 for the local Community Colleges.

SOME HELPFUL WAYS TO STAY CONNECTED WITH LEIGH The Stay Connected page on our website is a very useful resource for parents. It includes information on how to access the following: Principal's Weekly Bulletin Student Daily Bulletin Social Media for Leigh, CUHSD and HSC Websites for Leigh, CUHSD and HSC Leigh Technology Platforms (Canvas, Aries, Navience, Remind) College & Career Center

Leigh High School Home and School Club is an all volunteer 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Tax ID # is 77-0199809. All donations are tax-deductible.