Holiday COVID Testing Protocols: On Monday, November 29, COVID Testing Today will be on campus to conduct COVID testing from 10 AM to 12 PM. November 29 is a faculty in-service day and there will be no classes for students, so families should be prepared to leave immediately after students receive their tests. If for any reason you cannot attend that testing date, you will need to acquire a PCR COVID test (not antigen) between Saturday, November 27, and Monday, November 29, in order to return to campus.
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Hello Husky Community,
This past weekend our Board of Trustees met for our annual retreat. For those that are unaware of our governance structure as a nonprofit, we have a governing board of trustees. The National Association of Independent Schools describes the board as: “The board is the guardian of the school’s mission. It is the board’s responsibility to ensure that the mission is relevant and vital to the community it serves and to monitor the success of the school in fulfilling its mission.” Board members volunteer their time to serve our school community. We have a dedicated board that spends countless hours working in the service of our schools. The Board can have a bit of mystique around it so I want to focus this week’s Friday letter on sharing information about what the Board’s role is and how the Board and Head of Schools (HOS) work in partnership.
The graphic below was shared at our Board retreat and shows the delineation of where decision-making responsibility lies and how the partnership of Board and HOS works.
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The partnership between the Board and HOS is essential. If the partnership works well it impacts the school community positively. If the partnership does not work well it can impact the school community negatively. At our retreat, we spent some time working with this graphic to understand both what the different areas were and how these work in our Board and HOS relationship.
In a nutshell, the Board is responsible for strategic thinking, mission, and sustainability of the school. It is their role to continue looking into the future to make sure that we exist. They also set the mission and vision for the school. The HOS role and school-based team are responsible for implementing the mission and vision that the Board sets forth. As a HOS I like to think of the Board as my thought partners in the operational work and see myself as a thought partner to the board in the strategic work. The area in the middle of the graphic highlights all the areas of shared decision-making. One example is enrollment policies. In this area, the Board and HOS work on things like our financial aid guidelines and the size of our schools.
Please join me in thanking our Trustees for their time, dedication to our schools, and sharing of their expertise to support our schools’ sustainable future. I really appreciate this group of individuals. I am very sincere in saying that our partnership works well. Our Board brings a wealth of experiences from finance, to marketing, to development and more. There is no group of people that I would rather be working with as we think strategically about the future of our schools.
Have a safe and enjoyable weekend!
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Amy Hollinger
She/Her/Hers
Head of Schools
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Pictured Above: Our board of trustees and Amy Hollinger at the board retreat last Saturday. From left, Josh Esquibel, Bill Johnson – Treasurer, Chris Connell - Board Vice-Chair, Ed Meyers, Mike Quarry – Board Secretary, Mari-Jo Deutschman, Ellen Lauricella, Chloe Boutelle – Board Chair, and Amy Hollinger. Not pictured, Arsenio Hernandez.
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Video Recap: Last week our faculty, staff and students worked to create our first-ever all-school altar for Day of the Dead. An ofrenda, offering, is put on an altar which has a collection of objects placed on a ritual display during the annual and traditional Mexican Día de Los Muertos celebration on November 1 and 2 to honor loved ones. Please enjoy this video highlighting our ofrenda and other Día de Los Muertos activities that took place.
Additionally, you may view an article about our celebration on the Daily Breeze's website by clicking the button below.
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Our enrollment team is hard at work launching the admission cycle for the 2022-2023 school year and we will be hosting an Open House on Saturday, November 13. Referrals from school families are always appreciated and you may share an open house video linked below, the flyer shown above (a link to the downloadable PDF can be found below), or you may encourage your contacts to visit our registration page:
Thank you for helping us grow our community!
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Parent Coffee with Amy
Tuesday, November 16 | 9:30 AM
Hosted Virtually on Zoom
Each Tuesday, our Head of Schools, Amy Hollinger, hosts a recurring parent coffee session to address various topics relating to our schools, programs, and the safety of our students.
No RSVP is required for these parent coffees, but we will provide a question form each week in the Friday Letter to allow families to ask questions in advance. Click the button below to ask questions for next week's session.
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Tuesday, November 16 | 3:15 PM
Middle School Soccer Playoffs vs. Valor Christian
Home Game - Gaudenti Field
Students released from class at 2:45 PM
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Thursday, November 18 | TBA
Middle School Soccer Playoffs - Dependent on Outcome of Tuesday's Game
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Friday, November 19 | 6:00 PM
Varsity Boys' Basketball vs. Lennox Academy
Lennox Middle School
11033 Buford Ave, Lennox, CA 90304
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Saturday, November 20 | 5:30 PM
Varsity Boys' Basketball vs. Mater Dei Catholic
Centennial High School
1820 Rimpau Ave, Corona, CA 92881
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NO SCHOOL - Parent-Teacher Conferences on 11/18 and 11/19: Conferences will be hosted on zoom and there will be no classes or on-campus supervision for students on either conference day. Students may attend the virtual conferences with their parents if they wish.
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COVID Testing Protocol for Fall Break: On Monday, November 29, COVID Testing Today will be on campus to conduct COVID testing from 10 AM to 12 PM. November 29 is a faculty in-service day and there will be no classes for students, so families should be prepared to leave immediately after students receive their tests. If for any reason you cannot attend that testing date, you will need to acquire a PCR COVID test (not antigen) between Saturday, November 27, and Monday, November 29, in order to return to campus.
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Picture Day Orders Still Available: School Photos are available to order online. Your student received a white card with the website and access key. If you need any assistance with online ordering or the access key please contact JW Photography, [email protected] or 310-640-7212.
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Kelly's Korner delivery is now available on Mondays: Families may now place orders from Kelly's Korner on Mondays and the full delivery schedule has been reinstituted.
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Open call for substitute teachers: We are currently seeking additional substitute teachers to have on-hand for the 2021-2022 school year. The requirements for substitutes are either a four-year degree or prior approval from our Head of Schools. If you know anyone who might be interested, please refer them to Adriana Alejandre in the front office at [email protected]
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Purchase your yearbook and ads today - Early bird pricing ends 12/18: Don't forget to purchase your yearbook and yearbook ads from Balfour, the company that handles our printing. Books cost $90 until December 18 and prices will increase after that date. Additionally, you may purchase class rings and other items from their website.
Seniors - your yearbook is included in your Senior Package! If you would like to purchase a senior ad, please visit the link below.
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Student Family School Directory: The Student Family Directory is live in your Blackbaud account. You can view the directory by logging into your Blackbaud account. Tabs are located across the top of the page (Resources, News, Calendar and Directories). If you click on the Directory tab, a drop-down menu will appear and you can access the Student Family Directory. If you have any questions or problems, please contact [email protected].
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After-School Program Signups Still Available: RHP students may still sign up for ASP by filling out the form linked below. Your tuition account will be billed for the services. ASP is already included in the tuition for upper school Renaissance students. For Renaissance middle school students, there is a separate fee structure, please contact Tanya Henderson at [email protected].
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Family Association - Volunteer Signups: Calling all volunteers! There are many opportunities to get involved with the Family Association at Rolling Hills Prep, Renaissance and REACH Schools. The Family Association works in partnership with the Schools to support our mission, and all parents and guardians are automatically a member. Even though parents are not physically on campus at this time due to COVID, there are many ways to connect and get involved. We welcome and encourage you to attend meetings and participate in whatever capacity works for you and your schedule. Volunteering is a great way to get to know the Husky community and your involvement in our events and activities, no matter how much time you are able to give, is greatly appreciated. Please let us know your area of interest by completing the volunteer form below.
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The next Family Association meeting will take place Wednesday, November 17 at 9:30 AM on Zoom. An invite will be sent an hour before the event starts. You may view a recording from our October 13 meeting by clicking the button below. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Sue Mathews at [email protected].
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Sign up for COVID-related updates from LACDPH: The LA County Department of Public Health recently launched a new mailing list for parents of school-aged children. You may sign up for the mailing list by clicking the button below.
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Service Learning: While students are not required to complete service-learning hours for the 2021-2022 school year, we still encourage them to participate in activities in which they can help others. Our service-learning webpage will be updated with events as they become available, and students should contact Rachel Rubin ([email protected]) if they find additional events that interest them.
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Colby Daley
"During my time at RHP, I was faced with many challenges, some were harder than others. But, I have realized sometimes the hardest challenges are the most worthwhile. The reward for me was getting into my first-choice college with a presidential scholarship. Hard work pays off. "
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Weekly advisor letters are taking a different route this year and will be presented in the form of grade-level announcements in the Friday Letter each week. Please click the buttons below to see the general advisory update document and grade level updates. |
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Please click the thumbnail above to view a message from Amy Hollinger, Head of Schools, regarding the Husky Fund. Your partnership and generosity make it possible for us to provide the world-class programming that fuels our three schools! |
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Each year, we release our annual report to highlight our fundraising efforts and acknowledge the generosity of our community from the previous school year.
Appropriately titled Husky Strong, this report recognizes the resiliency of our community throughout a challenging year. As with most independent schools, our tuition does not cover the cost of our programming and the donations from our community help close that gap and ensure our schools' ability to educate radiant minds for years to come.
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Rolling Hills Preparatory and Renaissance School | RollingHillsPrep.org | RenaissanceSAS.org |
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