Paly Guidance
Updates Week 3
Viking Families!
Welcome to the end of week 3! We hope you and your families will have some time over this 3-day weekend to take a break from screens and recharge. All past and future updates can be found on our Guidance website under the "newsletters." Wishing you a wonderful and safe weekend.
Zoom Drop-in Hours
Ms. Garcia continues to enjoy seeing your students drop into our Guidance Zoom drop-in. She will continue to be available to help assist your students as needed. Also, please feel free to email her your questions or concerns during off hours via Schoology, and she’ll respond within 48 hours. Students can reach Ms. Garcia using the following zoom link. (Zoom: https://pausd.zoom.us/j/91386650189.) You can also reach Ms. Garcia at pgarcia@pausd.org. Daily drop-in hours will remain as follows: 8:45-10:50 and 11:50-3:30. Any adjustments to the drop-in zoom hours will be posted on Schoology and our website.
Advisory
This week 12th and 9th graders had Advisory on Wednesday 9/2.
9th grade: As we focus on the current social-emotional needs of our students, this advisory focused on helping students get ideas for how to take a break from screens. Here is a sample of the slides that were used in your student’s advisory.
12th grade: 12th graders received further support for the college application process as they learned about and started completing their cover sheet. Here is a screen cast created by our co-coordinator of the TA program. In addition, students were asked to order a free self-view copy of their transcript through Parchment in preparation for next week’s advisory, during which the TA will have students review their transcript to make sure there are no mistakes. If your senior has specific questions pertaining to their college apps or their post-Paly plans, next week’s Advisory has time built in for individual meetings. Have your student reach out to their TA to secure a spot.
If your student has follow-up questions about what was reviewed in Advisory this week, please have them reach out to their TA. If a student was sick and absent from advisory, please have them review the slide deck found in their Advisory class in Schoology and then follow-up with their TA with any questions they might have. If students have feedback to offer about advisory lessons, please have them speak with their TA or email Ann Deggelman (adeggelman@pausd.org).
College and Career Center
PSAT as National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (NMSQT) for National Merit Scholarship Program
Since PAUSD is unable to host the PSAT for juniors, interested students should visit the National Merit Scholarshp Corporation (NMSC) website (www.nationalmerit.org) to directly request an alternate entry in the National Merit scholarship program. Students should fill out the alternate request form provided by NMSC and forward it to Ms. Reynolds for school processing (mareynolds@pausd.org).
Virtual College-Rep Visits Update
Students who’ve registered in Naviance to attend a virtual college rep visit at Paly but don’t receive the automated email from Naviance (with visit URL) 15 minutes prior to the visit start time, please:
Login to your Naviance account, 15-minutes prior to the virtual visit, and look at the college visits.
Instead of a button to Register for the visit, you'll see a hyperlink by the college visit entry labeled "Virtual Visit Link"; click on it.
Naviance Access
Parents, if you know that you already have a Naviance account, but you don't remember your password, please try using the "Forgot password?" link on the Naviance login page. Parents of students in grades 10-12 who never registered and have misplaced their registration code should email Karla Larson. Parents who have Naviance accounts for older students and need to link additional students to their account should email Karla Larson.
Speaking of Naviance, 12th Grade Parents who haven’t already done so need to fill out the Parent Assessment Survey on Naviance. This information is used by the TA when writing their letters of recommendation for college applications. To find the survey, log in to your parent account, click About Me > My Surveys > Surveys Not Started.
Dropping a Course or Lane-Change Requests
From August 31 to November 6 there are two types of course changes that students can request: to drop a course or to change lanes within the same course (when multiple lanes are offered). For either of these requests, students need to have a discussion with their TA. Their TA will help them with next steps. The last day to request a lane change is Friday September 18th. The last day to drop a course without it showing up on the transcript is Friday November 6th. Students can no longer add a new course to their schedules.
Wellness
The Wellness Team would like to take this opportunity to spotlight one of our community partners, Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI). Yifan Wang, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, is beginning his second year at Paly. He is fluent in Mandarin and has experience working with students and their families. He would like to share more about his role working with the Wellness Center:
Hi Parents and Students! My name is Yifan Wang, one of the school therapists at Paly. I provide cross-cultural parenting consultation sessions, individual sessions, and family sessions. Please feel free to use me as a resource if you have questions about parenting issues, negative emotional issues, relationship issues, etc. I am here to understand and facilitate your experience from a cross-cultural, sensitive, humanistic, and non-judgemental perspective.
We are pleased to welcome Yifan back to the Wellness Center! If you have any questions about AACI or other support services for your student, please contact Yifan at ywang@pausd.org, or Elizabeth Spector at espector@pausd.org. You can find this information and more at our website.
Community Service Update
All community service must be reported on HelperHelper (HH). If you need access please contact klarson@pausd.org
President’s Volunteer Service Award
Seniors (Class of 2021)
The deadline for submitting your request for transcript hours and/or a Fall 2020 PVSA is Tuesday, September 15. NO LATE REQUESTS will be accepted. Please complete the Google form on https://www.paly.net/campus-life/community-service
Juniors (Class of 2022) / Sophomores (Class of 2023)
The deadline for submitting your request for a Fall 2020 PVSA is Tuesday, September 22. NO LATE REQUESTS will be accepted. Please complete the Google form on https://www.paly.net/campus-life/community-service
Freshmen (Class of 2024)
HelperHelper (HH) accounts for freshmen have been activated and a message has been sent to school (@pausd.us) email accounts directly from HH. All community service is recorded on HelperHelper and Freshmen can claim any hours served after 8th grade graduation.
The deadline for submitting your request for a Fall 2020 PVSA is Tuesday, September 22. NO LATE REQUESTS will be accepted. Please complete the Google form on https://www.paly.net/campus-life/community-service
Transcripts (reminder from week 1)
Transcripts ordered through parchment have a turnaround time of 24-48 hours to be released (not including weekends). For prior approved courses taken over the summer, an official transcript must be sent to Merilyn Tonga (mtonga@pausd.org) directly from the institution/college.
Students must contact the teacher of record for any grade-change requests (due to errors or pre-arranged agreements). All other inquires to our registrar (mtonga@pausd.org) will have a reply back within 48 hours.
Work Permits (reminder from week 1)
As of August 24, all work permits will expire; students should follow the new protocol for SIP 2020:
Complete the B1-1 form, but do NOT include Social Security number (data privacy)
Return to Rachael Kaci: rkaci@pausd.org (take a pic with your phone and email)
Guardian signs and returns a waiver understanding the potential risks of working during SIP
Ms. Kaci will follow-up with a phone call to get a students’ SSN and finalize the permit*
*permit renewals will not be called since the student information is already in the system
If you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to ask Rachael Kaci – Work Experience Teacher: rkaci@pausd.org. For job postings, please visit this site.