Westlake Weekly Podcast: Click HERE for this week’s Westlake Weekly Podcast.

Back to School Night: Sacramento County Public Health has recommended in a supplemental guidance issued last week that, “Due to the potential for crowded classrooms, extensive mixing, and contact tracing challenges, SCPH recommends that Back to School Nights, Open House, or other similar events be conducted virtually.” 

Save the date, Wednesday, August 25th for our Kindergarten – 9th Grade Back to School Night. This evening will be a virtual opportunity for families to hear directly from our teachers about all of our hopes and dreams for the 2021-2022 school year.

Fall Picture Day:  Fall Picture Day is Monday, August 23rd. Picture packets will come home in backpacks next week. All students will be photographed for the year book and student IDs. See below for information on how to order pictures. 

• K-8: This will be a uniform picture day, not free dress. CLICK HERE to order online. Code WESTF21
• 9th: This is a free dress day, like every day at the high school. CLICK HERE to order online. Code WCHSF21

K-8 School Dismissal Manager:  Families, thank you for your patience and collaboration. Dismissing 1000 students safely through the gates takes teamwork. We have adjusted our practices each day and we are excited that dismissal has gotten faster each day. We need your help to continue improving our practices: please use the information below to log into SDM to set your preference. 

• CLICK HERE for the School Dismissal Manager Information Letter

Free and Reduced Priced Meals Forms: Families, each year it is incredibly important to our school that we are able to account for every student during this form collection process. We are authorized by the Natomas Unified School District and a part of our partnership is that we commit to collecting these forms from every eligible family. So, please, complete this form for every student. While meals remain free for all students this school year, this is important data for our Charter authorization.

• CLICK HERE to complete the FRPM tracking form which will allow us to ensure everyone has received this information. Even if you don’t think you qualify for free or reduced priced meals, please complete the form for our tracking purposes. 
• CLICK HERE to complete the FRPM application. 

Physicians Authorization: If your student needs to have medication while at school, please CLICK HERE for the 2021-2022 Physician’s Authorization Form. 

Ways to Westlake: Each morning and afternoon we move 1000 students safely onto or off of our K-8 campus and 150 freshmen at our high school. Working together is critical. Check out the Ways to Westlake Website for parking maps, and more information. Please remember:

• Drive cautiously – being in a hurry is more dangerous than being late
• Walk safely – drivers are more likely to see you if you are walking in a crosswalk
• Park responsibly – If you are willing to walk an extra 2 minutes, parking is available in several directions
• Want to avoid all of this? Use our Walking School Bus Everyday!

Vaccination clinics: 8/20/21, 9/3/21, and 9/10/21 – In an effort to help keep schools safe and open for full in-person instruction, the California Department of Public Health is strongly encouraging all eligible persons to become vaccinated. Our partners at NUSD are offering vaccination clinics on 8/20, 9/3, and 9/10. CLICK HERE to register. 

In case you missed it…

Welcome Back Videos: 

• CLICK HERE for the full Welcome Back video. 
• CLICK HERE for our K-8 Arrival and Dismissal Video. 
• CLICK HERE for our 9th Grade Arrival and Dismissal Video.

Health and Safety Update: Families, we are excited to see all of our Explorers back on campus for full in-person learning this year! This week we are releasing the latest updates to our Westlake Charter Health and Safety Guidebook including updates to:

• Essential Visitors and Volunteers
• Arrival and Dismissal
• Breakfast and Lunch
• Formal Parent Meetings
• CLICK HERE to read the updated Health and Safety Guidebook .

As your family looks through the guidebook, please be sure to send questions to [email protected]; we will respond to your email and use your questions to help populate our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section of our Return to School page. 

Family Handbooks

• CLICK HERE for the K-8 Family Handbook
• CLICK HERE for the High School Family Handbook

Walking School Bus: Our daily Walking School Bus is back! The adult supervised walk departs from Burberry Park, Monday-Friday, rain or shine. Students can be dropped off between 7:45 and 8am to allow plenty of time to safely walk to our K-8 campus. Not only do families avoid and decrease congestion near campus, but students also earn points to use towards prizes. Please CLICK HERE to learn more about this program. We need volunteers to walk and check students in near our campus entrances. Please email [email protected] to get involved today!

School Supplies Donations: Each year Westlake Charter School purchases all the school supplies our students will need. You don’t need to go out and purchase anything. To help our school offset these costs, we ask for an optional $25 donation for each student. We promise, with our bulk educational discount, we can get a lot more for your student than they would get for the same price at even the best discount retail store. 

• Click HERE to make your School Supplies donation today.

Field Lessons  Donations: Each year we schedule our field lessons and ask families to help with the costs through donations. This year, we are working with vendors to schedule field lessons, but we are not going to ask families to donate until we are 100% sure that the field lessons are happening. Donations are non-refundable, so we want to be as certain as we can that our families are getting their money’s worth. We will reach out to families as the school year progresses to update information regarding field lessons. 

K-8 BASE After School Program: Our BASE staff has spent the summer preparing for the upcoming school year and they can’t wait to see our Explorers! BASE will be open from 7:00am-8:00am and again after school until 6:00pm on school days and will accept drop-ins. CLICK HERE to register your child(ren) for the 2021-2022 school year. Email [email protected] with any questions. We have a solid, enthusiastic team and are looking for a few more rock stars to join our team. If you’re interested, email [email protected].

Monthly WAVE Meeting: Once a month we host a parent/guardian meeting to discuss community building activities, fundraising, events, and so much more. If you are interested in learning more about WAVE or finding out how to get involved, this is a great opportunity to ask questions and learn more about our fantastic parent group. Please join us on Tuesday, August 17th at 6:30pm by CLICKING HERE. A copy of the meeting agenda can be found by CLICKING HERE.

Committee Members Needed: Most WAVE Committees are currently in need of members for the 2021/22 school year. Finding a committee that interests you and works with your schedule is one of the best ways to get involved at Westlake Charter School. CLICK HERE to take a look at committee descriptions to decide which one is the best fit then send an email to [email protected]  to learn more or get started. 

Kudos: We have so many things to celebrate this week. Huge thanks to our incredible staff for getting over 1,100 students back to school at two different campuses this week. Thank you to parents and guardians for preparing your families to return with all of our new policies and procedures. It is wonderful to have our community back together!