July 29th, 2022

Dear parents, students and family members, 

Welcome back!  We are looking forward to the start of the 2022-23 school year!   Student registration begins next week on Monday, August 1st (this information has been posted on our website and also has been sent to you via email).  We continue to send out important messages via ParentSquare which is our primary method of communication with our parents and families (if you have not created a ParentSquare account please do so!).   Furthermore, I am always available should you have any questions and are unable to reach anyone at Pittsburg High to assist you.  My email address is twhitmire@pittsburgusd.net and my phone number is (925) 250-1932.  I am looking forward to meeting with our returning students as well as meeting our incoming 9th graders for the first time!

One of the major changes for the new school year is our new start and end times.  As a result of legislation at the state level, Senate Bill 328, we are required to begin the school day at 8:30 a.m..  The student school day will begin at 8:30 a.m. and end at 3:34 p.m. Students who have a zero period class will begin at 7:30 a.m. and those with a seventh period class will begin at 3:45 p.m. The purpose of this legislation is to provide high school age students with an additional thirty minutes of sleep. A number of research studies have demonstrated high school students perform better in their academic studies when they begin class later in the day.  We will continue to have an early release on Wednesdays (the school day will start at 8:30 a.m. and end at 2:28 p.m. on Wednesdays).

One of our major goals continues to be preparing our scholars for post high school success.  This ensures every student is enrolled in the correct courses that will prepare them for a variety of possibilities including attending college, attending a trade school, enrolling in an apprenticeship program or going directly into the workforce.  This goal includes ensuring your child is successful, academically, in their classes.  We have added two additional school counselors and have reorganized the counseling department into grade level teams.  We have also organized our ninth grade class into smaller cohorts; each ninth grade student will be assigned to a team and will share the same math, English, science and physical education teacher with the other students on that team (we have approximately eight teams created within the ninth grade class). The 9th grade counselors are Kanika Jenkins and Rachel Rivas.

Last year was a very challenging year for our students, families and staff as we returned from remote learning.  Many of our students struggled with the return to “in person” learning.  This included rediscovering the habits associated with being a successful student; 1) being on time to school and class, 2) spending at least an hour a day after school studying and completing homework and 3) taking advantage of tutoring opportunities in the classes where a student struggled.  We are asking for your support and assistance this year with ensuring your child arrives at school on time each day (before 8:30 a.m.) as well as to their various classes.  We have learned there is a strong correlation between being on time to school and class and  performing well academically!

We are continuing to learn how to live and coexist with the COVID virus.  Many of our students  and staff contracted COVID last year, but the protocols we had in place including testing, a high vaccination rate, quarantining (for any individual who contracted COVID) and mask wearing ensured we were able to have school every day.  We continue to urge everyone to take advantage of the COVID vaccines and booster shots available.  Many of our students and staff who were vaccinated and contracted COVID had minor symptoms and illness compared to those who were not vaccinated.  We will continue to follow the county health department’s recommendations regarding how to minimize the spread of COVID infections in our school.  This will continue to include a multi-pronged approach of testing, vaccinations and mask wearing (all voluntary at this point in time).  Our school and district will continue to send out regular communications regarding any new information we receive regarding COVID protocols and outbreaks.  

The 2022-23 school year will be a special one and the Pittsburg High staff is committed to providing you and your student(s) with the best experience possible.  We encourage every student to do one or more of the following; 1) join a school club, 2) participate in a program such as band, AVID, theater, etc, 3) participate in a school sport (we have eighteen school sports) and 4) participate in our school activities which include attending sporting events, lunch time activities such as rallies and our club carnivals and attending after school activities such as dances and plays offered by our school theater department.  There are over 3,400 students attending Pittsburg High and we have over one hundred clubs, athletic programs and academic organizations that are designed to provide our students with an opportunity to belong to something greater than themselves and contribute to the betterment of our community!

I would also like to take this opportunity to invite you to our annual Back to School Night which will be held in person this year at Pittsburg High School on Thursday, August 25th from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Please mark this on your calendar!  We are excited to begin the school year and look forward to having our students back on campus!  

Sincerely,

Todd Whitmire

Principal