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

Health and Safety Update: For all school health and safety procedures in regards to our efforts to keep students safe from the transmission of COVID 19, please read our Health and Safety Guidebook. If you have any questions, thoughts, or concerns regarding any of these practices, please do not hesitate to reach out to [email protected]. 

Some families have asked about notification when a positive case is reported on campus. When any student or staff member has been on campus and has tested positive for COVID 19, WCS will follow all guidelines from the Sacramento County Public Health including contact tracing and notifications. Diligent contact tracing efforts will be made and families will be contacted directly if your student has been identified as being potentially exposed to a person that has tested positive. Westlake will also notify a grade level when a case is identified, but will go to great lengths to protect the identity of the person who has tested positive. Westlake will also update our COVID 19 dashboard, found on our Return to School Page, so that our community knows when there has been a positive case on campus. 

Families, you should be celebrated: Our community is doing a great job collaborating to keep our students safe. Families are keeping students home when they are showing symptoms, engaging in regular COVID testing, and our students have been incredible about making healthy choices. Thank you families. Keep this up. When we work together, we can help our students stay healthy and safe. 

AQI UPDATE: what is the rule, what are we doing?: Families, our Westlake Charter School Safety Plan includes routines and procedures for inclement weather such as heat and rain, but we also have plans for poor air quality such as we have experienced this week due to the recent wildfires in the foothills. On days when the Air Quality Index (AQI) reaches levels above 100, as indicated on the Spare the Air website managed by the Sacramento Metropolitan Air District, we will engage our smoke day protocols. These protocols include: 

• All prolonged outdoor activities such as activity time and PE will be held indoors until the conditions improve.

Explorer Partners – Sponsor an Explorer Campaign: Westlake Charter School’s mission is to demonstrate what is possible when school and community collaborate to create inspiring adults with the academic and social-emotional readiness to lead as Global Citizens. In order to live out this mission our Development Committee is launching our EXPLORERS PARTNERS -SPONSOR AN EXPLORER- Campaign! This offer can be shared with any business that would like to become an Explorer Partner! 

• For just $225.00 a business can sponsor a 9th grade student from our Founding High School Class to take a three day trip to the Museum of Tolerance and a university tour. The Museum of Tolerance is an experience of a lifetime for our Explorers to gain competencies in the mission our school works to achieve each and every day. Share this opportunity with a business owner or CLICK HERE to SPONSOR AN EXPLORER TODAY!

K-12 Back to School Night: Our Virtual Back to School Night is Wednesday, August 25th. Please see the schedule below for our grade level bands.  

• Kindergarten – 5th Grade: Session 1 – 5:00-5:25 PM or Session 2 – 5:30-5:55 PM. Homeroom teachers will share login information. Sessions are identical, choose which works best for your family. 

• 6th-8th Grade: Session 1 – 5:30-5:55 PM or Session 2 – 6:00-6:30 PM. Advisory teachers will share login information. Sessions are identical, choose which works best for your family. 

• 9th Grade: 6:00-7:15 PM. Families will receive an email on Monday with the schedule they will follow to virtually visit their student’s 4 core classes.

Fall Picture Day:  Fall Picture Day is Monday, August 23rd. 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

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. 

K-12 Counseling Team: Keep up with our K-12 Counseling Team by checking out their newsletters! CLICK HERE for the K-8th Grades Newsletter and CLICK HERE for the 9th Grade Newsletter. 

K-8 School Dismissal Reminders:  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
• Remember that bikes and independent walkers should exit the Bike Path gate to avoid the car traffic in the parking lot
• Kindergarten Dismissal: Only kinder families will be allowed to enter the school parking lot from 2:30-3:00 each day, and 12:30-1:00 on Wednesdays.  
• Between 3:15-3:45, our priority at BASE is to ensure students are checked in and accounted for. If you arrive during this window to pick up a student from BASE, we will try our best to serve you, but please be patient.

K-8 BASE After School Program: CLICK HERE to register your student for BASE. Explorers can drop in to BASE any school day, but please be sure to update School Dismissal Manager so we know to expect your student. CLICK HERE to find the form you will use when checking  your student out of BASE at the end of the day. Email [email protected] with any questions.

In case you missed it…

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

Vaccination clinics: 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.

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.

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 K-8 Walking School Bus Everyday!

Volunteer Opportunities:  Do you have a passion for planning events? Do you prefer focusing on fundraising? Can you help an hour a month from home? We have an opportunity for everyone to get involved! 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. Not sure which committee sounds best? No problem, we can help! Just send an email to let us know what you are looking for. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Shopping to Educate: Westlake Charter School can earn money when supporters submit receipts from select shopping centers in the Sacramento area. Shop at Loehmann’s Plaza, Lake Crest Village or Citrus Town Center and submit receipts online at marketingguru.com/receipts to earn points for WCS. Consider asking families or friends who live nearby to submit receipts as well. These centers also have fun events coming up including Spooky Street in October! Learn more by CLICKING HERE.

Kudos: We had a fantastic group of parents join us for the first WAVE meeting of the year. We spent an hour working together to plan and discuss this school year. We have a meeting every month and, if you are reading this, you are invited. Please join us at the next meeting on Tuesday, September 7th at 6:30pm. A link to join the virtual meeting will be available that week. Thank you, families!