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

Health and safety: Please see our Health and Safety Guidebook and our COVID Dashboard on the Return to Schools website.  

Weekly Surveillance Testing After School: CLICK HERE to pre-register your student. Once they are pre-registered, they just need to go to the testing location after school. At our high school testing will be done in the Oasis. At our K-8, testing will take place near the Parent Walking Gate. This is a self-swab test, so we would ask for the parent/guardian to be present if your student will need help doing the swab. Staff members are not allowed to swab students. 

• What is surveillance testing? This is COVID-19 testing when you don’t have any symptoms and have not been exposed. 
• Why would someone participate in weekly testing? Surveillance testing can help catch asymptomatic cases to keep them from spreading. Some families have reached out because they have immunocompromised family members in the household, and would feel safer knowing their students are not carrying the virus home. 
• When would the surveillance testing happen? Wednesdays after school. 1:00-1:30 PM at the high school and 1:30-2:00 PM at our K-8
• Which test is used? We use the PCR self-swab, which is a lower nasal swab. Results are usually received  in 2-4 days. The state of California is experiencing a shortage of Rapid Response tests and have asked us to reserve them only for exposed or symptomatic cases. 
• Can parents also be tested? Unfortunately, our CLIA waiver only covers staff and students. Family members can participate in the weekly community testing at NUSD. 

K-8 Progress Reports: Progress reports will be sent home with your child on Friday, October 1st.  After reviewing the documents, please reach out to your child’s teacher via email to help answer any questions you may have.  In addition, a teacher or parent can also request a follow up conference to discuss your child’s current progress.  These meeting details can be set up by connecting via email with your child’s teacher.

9th Grade Conference Week: Mid-Semester Conferences will be held the week of October 11th, 2021.   These conferences will be  virtual student-led with your students’ advisory teacher.  The sign up for conferences will go live on September 20th for families to register for their conferences.

• Click HERE for the online scheduler
• Click HERE for the parent directions
• Click HERE for the Conference Week Bell Schedule

9th Grade Otus Family Account: Instructions and access codes were some home on Friday to get logged into the Otus Family account.  This will allow your family to access your student’s grades.  If you need support or haven’t received the access information, email [email protected]. We will have a family event for the Otus Family account.  This event will be virtual at 6 PM on Monday 10/18.

October Break/BASE Over Break: School will be closed Monday, October 4th through Friday, October 8th for Fall Break. BASE will be open over October break! Here are the details:

• Monday-Friday from 7:00am to 6:00pm
• Half days (less than five hours) = $25 flat fee
• Full days (five hours or more) = $45 flat fee
• Pre-registration and pre-payment is required
• CLICK HERE to pre-register your Explorer(s). Upon receipt of your registration, we’ll let you know how to pre-pay to reserve your spot.

Scholastic Book Fair: Our Online Scholastic Book Fair opens October 11th! Support Westlake Charter School and discover new books, favorite characters, complete series, and more! Shop for Book Fair exclusives directly from the interactive booklist and enjoy free shipping on book-only purchases over $25. Click HERE to visit the Westlake Charter School Scholastic webpage.

Yard Duty Position and Substitute Positions: WCS Families, we need your help! We need our staff to stay home when they have symptoms, which means, we need substitute staff to fill in when our staff are out: this is where you come in! Click HERE if  you are willing to get paid as a Substitute Staff member for a day or even part of a day? We need Substitute Teachers, Substitute Yard Duties, and Substitute Classroom Aides! Let us know you are interested and we will work with you through the process. 

Call for Coaches: We need volunteers to support our 6-8th grade athletics program. Right now, we’re recruiting volunteer basketball coaches for the fall session!  CLICK HERE for our recruitment flyer with more information. If you or someone you know is interested, please reach out to Allison Chavez ([email protected]).

K-8 Enrichment: Fall enrichment classes are filling up! Click HERE to see what classes are being offered and to register. Scholarships are available; please email Allison Chavez directly to request a scholarship or with any questions: [email protected].

Explorer Partners Support the businesses that support our school!: Our Explorer Partners team seeks to build partnerships within our business community. This team recognizes and shows gratitude for the support our business partners give to our school. 

• CLICK HERE to see the WCS Explorer Partners page and check out the list of Explorer Partners. 
• Do you know a business or person who you think may need to be recognized as an Explorer Partner because of their contributions to our school. Choose the “Click to Partner” button on the WCS Explorers Partners site to share their information and how they have partnered with WCS. 
• Have you visited an Explorer Partner? Help spread the word about their partnership with our school by taking a photo in front of a WCS Explorers Partner site you visit and post it to your favorite social media site using the #ExplorerPartners handel 
• Do you know a business that seeks to support schools? Share our EXPLORER PARTNERS -SPONSOR AN EXPLORER- Campaign by sharing this link- https://westlakecharter.com/donations/product/explorer-partners/

In case you missed it…

School Supplies Donations: Thank you, families for your support! Every student has the pencils, folders, chromebooks, pens and supplies they need thanks to your support. We are 52% of our goal for school supply donations with our Kindergarten families leading the way at 100% of their grade level goal. CLICK HERE to make your School Supplies donation today.

COVID Symptoms: If your student has any COVID-19 symptoms, please keep them home until they are symptom free for 24 hours. Symptoms include: Fever over 100.4, sore throat, runny nose, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, muscle/body aches, cough, difficulty breathing, loss of taste or smell. If your student has any of those symptoms, please keep them home until they are symptom-free for 24 hours and email [email protected] to report their absence.

Spirit Store is Open: Explorer Families are loving the new options available in our Spirit Store! Click HERE to choose from over 70 items including masks, hats, stickers, mugs and bags. We are also thrilled to add Everest and our new High School logo to the Spirit Store. WAVE does not have an inventory so please be sure to check sizing information before placing your order. All items are made to order and shipped directly to you. We cannot wait to see this new gear on campus and out in the community!

Community Events Committee:  We are looking for committee members to plan events for our community to enjoy. In the past this has included events like Bingo, Science Night, Movie Night, Game Night and more. We would love a committee to create some fun, virtual events for the fall and beyond. If you love event planning and want to get involved please send an email to [email protected] today. 

Amazon Smile: If you are an Amazon shopper please shop through https://smile.amazon.com/ and add Westlake Charter School as your charitable organization. Once enrolled, Amazon donates 0.5% of the price of your eligible purchases to the charitable organization of your choice. This feature is also available on the app now. Thank you for the continued support!

Kudos: Our fantastic 9th grade parent team has been helping plan upcoming events for our High School students. This team consists of Michelle Marquez, Kerri Price and Rachel Songer. Thank you for working to ensure our High School Explorers have an amazing year!