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.  

UPDATE: Through collaboration with Sacramento County Public Health, we are seeking more opportunities to safely bring our school community onto campus. It has been a long time of isolation and we are looking forward to taking steps to offer opportunities to bring our parents onto our campuses. 

We are first focusing on events that happen after school hours, for example, this week’s parent Coffee Talk being held outdoors and socially distanced . Next, we are adjusting our Spectator Guidelines, to allow families and friends to attend all K-12 sporting events on campus. Spectators may attend indoor sporting events following indoor masking and social distancing guidelines, and outdoor events where social distancing and masking is optional but strongly recommended. Finally, we are looking into safe future opportunities to allow for outdoor volunteerism such as after school programs, clubs, and off campus activities such as field lessons. 

Weekly Surveillance Testing  After School: It’s not too late to participate in the weekly surveillance testing for students. CLICK HERE to pre-register your student. Testing takes place on Wednesdays – at the high school from 1:00-1:30PM and at the K-8 from 1:30-2:00 PM. Email [email protected] with any questions. 

Walktober: In the month of October, or “Walktober”, we are encouraging students to walk to school and have their Jibe card scanned. Participating students will win prizes and classes with at least 25% participation will win a class prize! Students can have their card scanned or register for a new card at our daily Walking School Bus at Burberry Park or at our brand new scanning station near the front office. We will also be competing with other schools for a grand prize! Let’s get moving, Explorers!

Picture Picture Retake Day – Tuesday, October 19th: Our Picture Retake Day is Tuesday, October 19th. Retake packets will go home next week. Retakes are for the following:

1. Students who are new to our school since the original picture day
2. Students who were absent on the original picture day
3. Students who are now purchasing photos
4. Students who would like to retake their photo.  (Students should be returning their original package)

Coffee Talk: Tuesday, October 19th at 6:00 PM join us for our first in-person K-12 Coffee Talk of the year! This is a great opportunity to hear from our admin team and WAVE parent leaders, as well as ask questions and give feedback. Click HERE to reserve a table for up to 5 people. Seating is limited, so reserve your table today! If we run out of tables, or if you’d prefer to view from the comfort of your own home via YouTube, CLICK HERE to join the Virtual Coffee Talk. CLICK HERE to submit celebrations, questions and comments.

K-8 Spirit Day Role Model Day: Friday, October 22nd is Role Model Day! Role models are individuals who exhibit Westlake’s Core Values and can be family members, professionals etc. Dress like your role model, whether it be a family member, sports star, actress, etc. Students should refrain from bringing distracting props or accessories.

Scholastic Book Fair: Our Online Scholastic Book Fair has begun! 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.

High School Anti-Bullying Week: October is National Bullying Prevention Month. To celebrate, we are bringing Start with Hello to Westlake Charter School for the week of October 18th for all grade levels. Start with Hello is an age appropriate training that raises awareness and educates students about social isolation and how to create a connected and inclusive classroom, school, and community. In addition to activities in advisory classes we will also have a High School Spirit Week to bring awareness to this very important topic.

High School Otus Information Night:  We are looking forward to hosting a virtual Otus information night on Monday, October 18th, 2021 at 6pm.  Mrs. Battin will highlight some High School grading practices and there will be a live demo showing families how to navigate the Otus Family Account.  To join, use the link and information below:

• https://otus.zoom.us/j/92344460526?pwd=Z3hMd1NCQkxHdXlSN09ZaEE5UEw0UT09
• Meeting ID: 923 4446 0526
• Passcode: 141235

High School Information Sessions:  Calling all 8th grade families.  Mrs. Battin is hosting small group virtual high school information sessions over the next month. This will be a chance to learn more about all of the amazing things going on at our Westlake Charter High School.  Families will also be able to ask questions in a small group setting. These will be held over Google Meet.  Please CLICK HERE to reserve your spot in an upcoming session.  This is also an event that will count towards your 8th graders path to high school.  (ask your student more about that next week)

University of San Francisco School Counseling Trainees: Westlake is excited to welcome Joey Arrow and Lindsey DeLeon to our school community. Both Mr. Arrow and Ms. DeLeon are getting their Masters in School Counseling from the University of San Francisco and are fulfilling their year-long practicum experience at Westlake under the supervision of Ms. Krivoy. We are excited to have them help support our students! If you have any questions, please reach out to Ms. Krivoy at [email protected].

From the Natomas Unified School District: The Natomas Unified School District, like many other cities and school districts in the state, is in the process of changing how members of the Board of Education are elected to office  On October 27, November 17, and December 14 the Board will hold ‘map consideration’ hearings and view draft maps for the transition to by-trustee area elections.   Please see this flyer.  We are not sure if we will still be meeting virtually or if we will be meeting in person by these dates, however, we want you to know that if you have your own proposed map(s) that you would like to share, you may email them to [email protected] and your attachment will be included as part of your public comment. 

In case you missed it…

Vaccination Announcement: On Friday, October 1, 2021 Governor Newsom announced a statewide mandate that will eventually require, with limited exceptions, all California school-aged children to receive a vaccination against COVID-19.  CLICK HERE for the Governor’s complete press release. At the time we are writing this newsletter, this news is only a few hours old. When we receive additional information on this new mandate we will communicate updates through the Westlake Weekly.  If you have any questions on the Governor’s mandate or announcement, please reach out to [email protected].

Sacramento Regional Transit (SacRT) Fare-Free transit program: Sacramento Regional Transit (SacRT) is offering free transportation to all students who attend a school within the city of Sacramento from October 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022. The card will allow your student to ride for free on the entire SacRT network. This includes SacRT buses, light rail, and SmaRT Ride microtransit service. The program is available all day, any day of the week, and all year during regular SacRT service hours. Cards will go home with students next week. 

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 60% 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. 

Mountain Mike’s Fundraiser:  Our next restaurant fundraiser is coming up on Wednesday, October 20th from 11am-9pm at Mountain Mike’s (2609 Arena Blvd). To order please call the store or walk in and mention you are with WAVE. We will receive 20% of the total sales. Thank you for the continued support!

Community Events Survey: Explorer families, we need to hear from you! We are starting to plan some family events and we want to make sure there is something for every single family. Please CLICK HERE to fill out this brief survey to let us know what your family would enjoy. Thank you! 

Olympic Triathlon Fundraising Committee: Each year we host an Olympic Triathlon to celebrate our three speciality programs and raise money for Westlake Charter School. This is our only large fundraiser of the year and we need a lot of help to make it fun and successful. We are looking for a team of volunteers to start planning our event day, prizes and fundraising methods. Please reach out to Amber Hustead [email protected] to get involved today!

Kudos: It was incredible to see our 6-8th students participating in sports again! Boys and girls basketball kicked off last week in our after school Explorer Athletics program. Thank you to all of the staff and volunteers who helped make this possible!