Academic Calendar

• August 29: Picture Day 

• September 2: Labor Day 

• September 20: Progress Reports

• September 24-27: Conference Week 

• October 7-11: Fall Break 

• October 14: All Staff PD No School 

• November 8: End of Trimester 1 

Picture Day →  This Week! 

• Overview: Thursday is picture day. Make sure your student is ready and feeling good. Pictures are used for yearbook, ID cards, and you can always purchase some of your own!  

• Date: August 29  Time:  All Day   

Parent University →  Mental Health Awareness and Suicide Prevention

• Overview: We will also be offering resources for parents to help you support your children at home. As part of this we are having a Parent University for Mental Health Awareness and Suicide Prevention in the Benvenuti Center at Blackrock campus.

• Date: September 5th. Time: 5:30pm.    Location: Benvenuti Theater

• Please RSVP here 

Navigating Cold and Virus Season

Regular school attendance is one of the most important things for ensuring students make academic growth. At the same time, we know that students can become ill with COVID, RSV, influenza, and other viruses. 

The California Department of Public Health and CalOSHA (here) updated COVID protocols to move into alignment with other respiratory viruses. The updated approach is a symptoms-based model to treat COVID the same way we handle the common cold, influenza, and other viruses. There is no longer a 5-day waiting period after the on-set of symptoms or a positive test result.

Moving forward when a student tests positive for COVID or has symptoms of respiratory viruses, families should follow these steps.

• Seek treatment from a healthcare provider if the student has significant symptoms or is at a higher risk for serious illness.

• Keep the student home until 24 hours have passed with no fever (100.4), without using fever reducing medication, and symptoms are mild or improving. 

• It is recommended that students wear a mask for 10 days after the onset of symptoms or testing positive.

COVID, RSV, and influenza are all active in our community.  Please continue hand hygiene, wearing a mask when appropriate, and speaking to your medical provider regarding preventative measures such as vaccinations and treatments.

Students Wanted for Polling Centers

Know a high school student looking for part time employment and want to support the upcoming November Presidential election? Students who are 16 years or older, US citizen or permanent legal resident, and in good academic standing can work at polling centers across the county. The experience can also count toward internship credit and earning the Seal of Civic Engagement. Students who are interested in working as a poll worker can apply by following this link https://elections.saccounty.net/Pages/Work-the-Election.aspx If you end up working at a polling center please let your academy principal know.

Parents, educators, legislators, and researchers are all beginning to realize the negative impacts that personal technology, in the form of cellphones and social media, are having on our children. Assembly bill AB 3216 states, "there is growing evidence that unrestricted use of smartphones by pupils at elementary and secondary schools during the schoolday interferes with the educational mission of the schools, lowers pupil performance, particularly among low-achieving pupils, promotes cyberbullying, and contributes to an increase in teenage anxiety, depression, and suicide" (ab 3216). 

Parents: Parents are already supporting reducing screen time and access to unmanaged devices. Many Leading Edge parents have chosen to delay giving their children smartphones until ages 13 or 14, noting positive impacts on their children’s social and academic growth. Some parents have reported increased cyberbullying and difficulties managing their children's online activity. 

Parents can support this cell phone reduction by staying informed, setting limits on screen time, and encouraging their children to avoid sending or receiving messages during the school day (messages before or after school are fine).

State Legislators: The governor's office has recently supported legislation to restrict cell phones in schools. Click Here: "Governor Newsom urges schools to immediately restrict cell phones in the classroom ahead of the new school year."

Researchers: Extensive research links cellphones and social media to mental health concerns. For more information, check out these resources:

• End the Phone-Based Childhood Now

• Anxious Generation

Educators: Leading Edge has made progress in further liminting cellphone use on campus. Students at NCS are not longer allowed to use phones in the classroom. As our community learns more together that will shape new policies in the 24-25 school year.