Back to School 2023

The first day of school is Monday, August 21.

Please note that the Freshman Retreat, New Student Orientation, and House Orientation dates the week of August 14 are mandatory attendance days for all students. Absences will be assigned to students who do not attend school these days.

Download the Calendar
If you have any questions, please contact info@riordanhs.org.

Visitor Policy for 2023-24 School Year

Riordan is a closed campus. All students are required to remain on campus from the time they arrive at school until they are released for the day. Students are not permitted to have food or other items delivered to school. Students are not allowed to have visitors on campus during the school day.

Forgotten devices and or school/athletic equipment may be dropped off to the front desk or to the security guard located at the front of school. Items will be picked up from the main office when the student is on a break. 

All visitors must check in and receive a visitor badge from the front desk, located  in the main office. Parents, guests and visitors must schedule an appointment prior to coming on campus. Teachers and Administrators are not available without an appointment.

PLEASE NOTE: New accounts can be created starting on August 14

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We at Epicurean Group hope you will enjoy our Menus and food selections. We know that tasty and nutritious food can help boost concentration and morale, which is crucial for well-being! Our meals are packaged and labeled according to HACCP standards, in compostable packaging. We are working closely with our Campus Communities to determine your favorites!

At Epicurean Group, we pledge to provide fresh, honest, and local food. We don’t cut corners or do it the “easy way”. Bread is fresh baked, soups, dressings and sauces are home-made, and every effort is made to use as much organic produce as possible. With seasonal menus reflecting the most nutritious and delicious choices based on local growing patterns, we take great pains to do the best by our customers and the environment.

Easily pay for school meals online this year! Create your free MySchoolBucks account to conveniently and securely add money to your student’s meal account online or with the mobile app. This allows us to focus on serving meals as fast and efficiently as possible. With MySchoolBucks you’ll also be able to view cafeteria purchases, check your student’s balance, and receive low balance alerts.

Please note: the per-load up fee on MySchoolBucks is now $2.75.

Your student ID is your passport to great food!
For fast secure check out on campus please make sure your student has their school provided ID card. These allow your student to safely access their funds onsite effortlessly. No cash is accepted in the serving line.

Get Started Today:

1. Go to myschoolbucks.com or download the mobile app.
2. Create your free account and add your students using their school name / student ID.
3. Add funds using your credit / debit card or electronic check.
   Note: For each transaction, you will be charged a program fee.
4. Set up automatic payments and never let your student run out of funds.

We appreciate you using this online option as a way to help reduce the amount of physical cash and check handling that would typically happen.

If you need assistance with your account, you can find helpful how-to videos and answers to commonly asked questions by visiting myschoolbucks.com. Or you can contact MySchoolBucks directly by logging into your account to start a chat conversation or give them a call at (855) 832-5226. For additional assistance or feedback, please email Angela Ferreira at angela@epicurean-group.com.

Thank you,
Archbishop Riordan High School and Epicurean Group

ALL excused tardies and absences must be communicated promptly and directly to our Attendance Manager, Mrs. Nora Birmingham.

Parents/Guardians should email or call to account for their child; it is not necessary to come to the main office.

• attendance@riordanhs.org
• 415-586-8200 ext. 250

Upper Body

• Any Riordan logoed Polo, T-Shirt, Sweatshirt, Jacket, or Outerwear (NO tank tops or cropped tops) currently owned or available for purchase online through: 
  BSN Sideline Store  

• Any Plain Solid White Polo or Plain Solid White Oxford Shirt purchased at any outside provider. Some examples (not limited to these) are as follows: 

  • Men’s Style White Polo: Amazon Essentials | Hanes
  • Men’s Style Oxford: Amazon Essentials | Van Heusen
  • Women’s Style White Polo: Hanes | Lands End
  • Women’s Style White Oxford: Amazon Essentials | Hotouch

NOT PERMITTED DURING SCHOOL HOURS:

• Hats, Beanies, Headwraps, or Visors.

• Non-Riordan gear/colors; no color variations of blue, red, green, orange, brown or plaid.

Lower Body

• Traditional cut, solid color (non-faded, not ripped, not cargo) Black, Gray, or Khaki pants (jeans in these colors are accepted) with a belt. 
  • All items can be purchased at any outside provider.
• Traditional cut, solid color (non-faded, not ripped, not cargo) Black, Gray, or Khaki Bermuda/Dress Shorts with a belt. 

  • All items can be purchased at any outside provider.

Some examples (not limited to these) are as follows: 

Mens

• Dockers

• Amazon Essentials

Womens 

• Lands End
• G Gradual

Men and Women:

Traditional cut, solid color (non-faded) Black, Gray, or Khaki pant or denim with a belt. All items can be purchased at any outside provider.

• No Sagging Pants
• No Rips or Tears in Pants
• No Blue Jeans
• No Cargo Pants
• No Athletic/Sweatpants
• No Yoga Pants
• No Leggings 
• No Shorts

Women:

Skirts (Women Only): Pleated, Khaki or Black ONLY purchased from the providers below. Tights or stockings may be worn under skirts (black or skin colored). 

• Simply Uniforms

• Amazon - "A Khaki" or Black ONLY

• Land's End

Footwear

Men and Women:

• Any Closed-toed and closed-back Sneaker, Casual and Dress Shoe allowed. If shoes have laces, they must be tied at all times.
• Visible socks are required at all times, with the exception of women's ballet flats.

You CANNOT Wear:

• Open toe shoes
• Open back shoes
• Flip-Flops
• Sandals
• Crocs

HAIR

Must be neat, clean, and presentable. Hair must not impede students vision and must be kept out of the students face, including cultural hairstyles (braids and cornrows).

Administration reserves the right to apply the Elastic Clause to all hairstyles.

NOT PERMITTED DURING SCHOOL HOURS:

• Facial hair at any time.
  • Students may be asked to shave at school; if a student refuses, he will be sent home.
• Shaved lines or designs (including on the eyebrow).
• Distracting, unnatural, extreme, or artificial hair coloring, bleaching, or dyeing is not permitted.
  • Students will be instructed to get a haircut if these rules are not followed.

ACCESSORIES, MAKEUP, PIERCINGS, TATTOOS AND NAILS

• Any hair, makeup, or accessories that are a distraction to the learning environment must be removed. 
  • Administration reserves the right to apply the Elastic Clause to the student dress code.

NOT PERMITTED DURING SCHOOL HOURS:

• Piercings to any part of the face or body (including nose, lip, eyebrow, mouth etc., regardless of material such as metal or plastic), with the exception of ear piercings.
  • Students will be asked to remove piercings; if a student refuses or is unable, he or she may be sent home until piercing is removed.
• All tattoos need to be covered during school hours or when representing Riordan in any capacity, including during sports.
• Unsafe, unclean or unnaturally kept nails. 
• Headphones and earbuds– unless a teacher gives explicit permission.
  • Students who fail to remove earphones or earbuds will be liable for disciplinary action. Headphones or earbuds may be confiscated for repeated failure to remove them.
• Dangling chains or hanging key chains.
• Excessive jewelry and/or makeup.
• Wearing hoods while indoors.
• Caps, bandanas, or any hair adornments/coverings worn indoors, with the exception of headbands for women. Elastic headbands and ties to keep hair out of the face are allowed. 
• Sunglasses worn indoors (unless they are transitional lenses with doctors note or prescription on file).
• Any accessories that could be considered dangerous or could be used as a weapon.

Elastic Clause: The Administration reserves the right to make any and all judgments and interpretations to all dress code rules and regulations stated within the handbook. The Administration is the final judge of what is neat, clean, and appropriate. Students who come to school out of dress code will not be allowed to attend class until the violation is remedied. Students may be sent home to remedy the violation. Any class missed will be treated as a class cut. If a student persists in violating the dress code, they will be suspended from school.

Below are the Dress Code Guidelines for all students during Formal Dress Days.  Upper Body Men and Women:  Any Plain White Polo, Any Plain White Oxford, or a Riordan/House logo White Polo. Riordan Approved, Crest-Marked gray v-neck cardigan or sweater.  Approved sweaters may be available for purchase at Simply Uniforms but supplies are limited.  Simply Uniforms Price List Neckties are no longer required with Formal Attire.

Lower Body Men and Women: Black pants with a black or brown leather belt. Pants are available for purchase at any outside provider. Below are some options, but not limited to:  Men’s Black: Dockers & Amazon Essentials  Women’s Black: Dickies & Lee Women:  Riordan approved black skirts available for purchase in one of the following styles: Simply Uniforms Amazon - "A Khaki" or Black ONLY Land's End

Footwear Formal black or brown closed-toed and closed-back dress shoe with dark socks. Women: Shoes with heels two inches or shorter. Black or brown ballet flats without socks.  NO other shoes are allowed on Formal Dress Days without permission by Administration. Elastic Clause: The Administration reserves the right to make any and all judgments and interpretations to all dress code rules and regulations stated within the handbook. The Administration is the final judge of what is neat, clean, and appropriate. Students who come to school out of dress code will not be allowed to attend class until the violation is remedied. Students may be sent home to remedy the violation. Any class missed will be treated as a class cut. If a student persists in violating the dress code, they will be suspended from school.

All incoming students that are interested in Athletics are invited to participate in the various workouts/ summer practices that we offer.

All workouts and practices are entirely voluntary and do not affect whether a student makes the team or not.

These workouts and practices are intended to prepare athletes for the upcoming sports seasons and an opportunity to meet and work with our coaches and other Archbishop Riordan athletes.

Please review the sections below for the athletic summer activities that are available to participate in.

Fall Sports

• Football
• Cross Country
• Women’s Volleyball
• Women’s Tennis
• Women’s Golf
• Sailing
• Robotics
   

SportsNet Medical Clearance

Medical Clearance Deadline for Fall Sports: Tuesday, August 1

Per school policy, students MUST obtain athletic clearance prior to participation in tryouts or other season practices. Each athlete is only required to register once per year. Athletic clearance submitted after this deadline may not get processed in time for team tryouts.

1. Once you receive your student ID number on July 1, create an account with SportsNet
2. Upload a Medical Clearance Form that has been signed by your student's physician. We do not accept hard copies of physicals.

We are excited to announce the 2023-24 school year summer reading book, What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City by Mona Hanna-Attisha.

Dr. Hanna-Attisha gives the reader a first hand account of the shocking 2014 public water crisis in Flint, Michigan that exposed thousands of innocent Flint residents (including children) to lead in their drinking water. Written like a crime-thriller, Dr. Hanna-Attisha exposes the callous disregard by local government officials for the safety of the residents of Flint. The summer reading will tie into our Marianist tradition by asking students to create a photo essay that addresses the question, “What can I do?” 

All students from incoming 9th graders to seniors will be reading this book. Thus, students will not only be responsible for the summer reading project, which is explained below, but each class at ARHS next year will be referring to the book and its themes on assignments and assessments, so it is very important that every student return to school in August having read this book. 

The book is available on Amazon, where there are digital and audio versions, but we encourage you to purchase it from a local bookstore if possible - we have reached out to several in the city and asked them to carry it for us.  

The summer reading assignment is slightly different for 9/10th graders and 11/12th graders.

Incoming 9th & Rising 10th Grade Reading Assignment

Rising 11th & 12th Grade Reading Assignment

These assignments will be submitted on Schoology during the first week of school. 

Instructions for submission will be given during orientation week. The grade for these projects will be included as an assessment grade in your student’s religion classes next year.

Riordan’s online bookstore through e-Campus opens July 31, and free shipping is available July 31-August 6. Please note that some digital texts may take up to 5 to 7 days to arrive for download. If you have any questions, contact the e-Campus Customer Service Team by email, Live Chat, or by calling (844) 523-8980.

Students should use their Riordan email to order, and new students can use a regular email. Fall semester schedules (Classes 1-4) can be viewed in PowerSchool beginning July 1.

Teachers will be giving instructions about other materials needed for courses during the first days of school. There is no pre-set supply list.

We recommend the iPad Mini 5, iPad, iPad Air, or the iPad Pro. While the iPad Mini is an acceptable choice, it has a much smaller screen, which can reduce the impact of certain visually interactive apps in the sciences or the arts. 

Students pursuing digital media courses and extracurriculars may want the larger format screen with retina display, available on both the iPad Air and the iPad Pro. Please be aware that certain older iPads (2014 or older) are unable to update to the latest iOS and will have limited application support. Typing on the iPad screen can be challenging and an external keyboard can be helpful. 

Macbooks and PC laptops are also acceptable as long as it's up-to-date with the latest operating system. It is required to use a PC/Macbook for Engineering/Coding/Programming classes. PCs should have at least a quad core processor and 8gb of ram (16gb recommended).

Please reach out to Mr. Frank Torrano, our Computer Science instructor, ftorrano@riordanhs.org, for further information on computer science classes' requirements. 

What about Chromebooks? 

We are in the process of transitioning over to a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) Program at Riordan.

iPads, Macbooks, or PCs are recommended at this time. Chromebooks are acceptable but please be aware they will have certain limitations in our environment because of some of their hardware and software compatibility, especially in graphic design and media intensive classes.

PowerSchool–our Student Information System (SIS) which holds and maintains all school records, including student schedules, official current and historical grades, and standards mastery.  Teacher gradebooks are directly connected to and updated in this system.

Schoology–our Learning Management System (LMS) where you will access content, descriptions, assignments, and postings for each of your registered courses.  Here you will submit your work and receive raw scores and descriptive feedback on standards mastery.

For further information, please contact Michael O'Brien, PowerSchool/Schoology Manager at mobrien@riordanhs.org.

We are excited to announce the 2023-24 school year summer reading book, What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City by Mona Hanna-Attisha.

Dr. Hanna-Attisha gives the reader a first hand account of the shocking 2014 public water crisis in Flint, Michigan that exposed thousands of innocent Flint residents (including children) to lead in their drinking water. Written like a crime-thriller, Dr. Hanna-Attisha exposes the callous disregard by local government officials for the safety of the residents of Flint. The summer reading will tie into our Marianist tradition by asking students to create a photo essay that addresses the question, “What can I do?” 

All students from incoming 9th graders to seniors will be reading this book. Thus, students will not only be responsible for the summer reading project, which is explained below, but each class at ARHS next year will be referring to the book and its themes on assignments and assessments, so it is very important that every student return to school in August having read this book. 

The book is available on Amazon, where there are digital and audio versions, but we encourage you to purchase it from a local bookstore if possible - we have reached out to several in the city and asked them to carry it for us.  

The summer reading assignment is slightly different for 9/10th graders and 11/12th graders.

Incoming 9th & Rising 10th Grade Reading Assignment

Rising 11th & 12th Grade Reading Assignment

These assignments will be submitted on Schoology during the first week of school. 

Instructions for submission will be given during orientation week. The grade for these projects will be included as an assessment grade in your student’s religion classes next year.

Most families have uploaded psycho-educational reports or IEPs to the SchoolAdmin portal when they applied. 

If you have updated documentation, please email slundin@riordanhs.org by August 1 so that we can have your student’s accommodation sheet ready by the beginning of fall semester. 

If you have any questions, please contact Stephanie Lundin, Director, Resource Specialist Program, slundin@riordanhs.org, 415-586-8200 ext 373.

Support Riordan through the Parent Pledge Program here.

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Congratulations on your child’s acceptance to Archbishop Riordan High School! We are pleased to welcome you and your family to the Riordan community.

Each year we ask new parents to participate in the Parent Pledge Program, a four-year commitment made by each family. Over the past few years, parent support has allowed the school to make number of key improvements to both the curriculum and facilities, including the introduction of a biomedical sciences program, the recent locker room and bathroom renovations, and numerous classroom remodels.  

The Parent Pledge Program is critical to the school’s success because the true cost to educate your child is more than tuition alone. The benefit of making a Parent Pledge gift instead of paying higher tuition is that this gift is tax deductible.

In 2022–23, we received pledges as low as $400 and as high as $20,000 over four years. We hope that all parents will consider a pledge that falls somewhere in between. Some will do less and some will do more— what counts is that all families participate at a level that feels right and is within their means. Those who choose to pledge $12,000 or more over 4 years will be invited to our Annual President’s Dinner in the fall.

Support Riordan through the Parent Pledge Program

Thank you for partnering with us to provide the best possible experience for your child, and helping us fulfill our mission to provide all of our students with a Catholic education in the Marianist tradition.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss the program in more depth please don’t hesitate to contact me. My phone number and email are listed below.

Sincerely,

Anne Seppi
Director of Annual Giving
aseppi@riordanhs.org
(415) 586-8200 ext. 217

The Riordan Parents Association welcomes all parents to get involved any way they can.

Volunteering is a great way to help the school and get involved. We understand that the ability to volunteer will vary with each family, and we simply ask that each family do whatever they can do to support school activities. 

Volunteer opportunities are sent out through your Class Representatives or in the weekly Parent Newsletter. 

To be added to our volunteer list, please fill out this form.

All Riordan families will receive the Family Newsletter sent every Friday at 6 p.m.

The school uses Constant Contact messaging system to deliver official messages from the school that include:

• President's Messages
• Family Newsletter
• School news and announcements
• School Events (Invitations and RSVPs)
• Parent Association

PLEASE NOTE: If you unsubscribe from one message, you remove yourself from all messaging. Please do not unsubscribe unless you want to receive no messages from Riordan regarding any school news and announcements.

If you accidentally unsubscribe, please contact Mr. Joel Danoy, Director of Communications, jdanoy@riordanhs.org, so that you can be re-added to the email list.