Two weeks in! An update on the first weeks at SET

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Aug 25, 2025, 1:58:48 PMAug 25

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Dear Students, Parents, and Guardians,

A note about bell schedule changes
Alumni Day was a huge success!
Spirit Week this week
Labor Day Holiday (9/1)
Minimum Day on 9/4 (release at 1:25 PM)
Back to School Night on 9/4 (5:00 to 6:00, earlier if we have the SET PA picnic)

A note about bell schedule changes

There was a little confusion among students on Friday when we had special schedule to support alumni day. The schedule that was originally shared with students didn't have the assembly included on it so some students thought that school ended early. Please know that it takes a major event (like a hurricane or a heat emergency) for public schools to change the calendar or the release times. The calendar gets approved by our board a year in advance and every instructional minute is calculated to ensure that we are in compliance with the law. So, if we ever change the release time, it will be a big deal and everyone will know about it. We do make adjustments to the bell schedule on occasion to support something like a special assembly (an All ROAR), but that does not impact parents and is only communicated internally. Please always assume that the school day ends at 3:30 on normal days, 1:25 on minimum days, and 12:30 on finals days. The minimum days and finals days are all marked on the calendar.

Sorry about the confusion on Friday if there was any.

Alumni Day was a huge success!

Hopefully you heard from your student about Alumni Day on Friday. We had about 30 alumni ranging in graduation years from 2016 to 2025 return to SET to speak to our students for an hour at the end of the day. It was so great to hear their advice for how to thrive in high school and to hear their stories of career exploration. The highlight for me was when a Senior asked how the alumni figured out what direction to take in life. One of the alumni who is now in school to pursue a career in mental health counseling described a meandering journey through multiple majors and even a brief hiatus from college during COVID. It was a beautiful example of not giving up on the pursuit of passion and purpose, and a concrete example of the many different paths that we all take through life.

One of the most special qualities about SET is the near daily visits from alumni who return to visit with the staff. We actually had to institute a rule a few years back that the alumni could only visit once per month so that we could make sure that our staff had time to work on the current generation of students!

Spirit Week this week

This is our first Spirit Week of the year. Help remind your student to dress up as the following:

Monday: So Long Summer
Tuesday: Sports Day (sports jerseys, etc.)
Wednesday: Wild Wednesday (There's a picture of wild animal prints next to that one)
Thursday: Soccer Moms vs BBQ Dads
Friday: Freakier Friday (A reference to Freaky Friday? Ask your student!)

Labor Day Holiday (9/1)

Ordinarily I don't include details when the bullet point is enough. So in the future, don't expect to see a section for something as self-explanatory as this. It doesn't mean that I forgot!

Back to School Night on 9/4 (5:00 to 6:00, earlier if we have the SET PA picnic)

We are definitely having Back to School Night on this day and it's likely that we will have a SET PA Picnic as well. I don't have confirmation about the picnic, but I want to include notice now to make sure that I give you ample warning about back to school night. If we have the picnic on the same day, we'll move Back to School Night to 4:30 so that we can move directly from the picnic to Back to School Night. Back to School Night is an opportunity to see your student's classroom teachers in the actual classroom. Usually our new families are the ones who are most interested in this event because they are eager to get a better feel for the new school, but all families are welcome. I just don't want the returning families to feel like this is an obligation. The event is designed for parents, but students are welcome to enter the classrooms as well as long as there is room for the parents to sit. Usually the students will just hang out outside or in the den with their friends.

We're off to a great start this year! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.