GOOD AFTERNOON, NEW & RETURNING PSA FAMILIES! 

     We hope everyone is having an amazing summer! I would like to take a moment to welcome all of our new PSA students and parents! We are excited to meet you and look forward to you joining our PSA family! Starting today, our PSA community will receive “Friday Letters to Families” for the latest updates on all things PSA. Our leadership team has been actively working this summer to prepare for our 25/26 school year and make this our students’ and staffulties’ (staff+faculty) #PSABestYearYET! Here are some important details for you to know!

Summer Fun & Celebrations

• In June, several of our amazing teachers had the opportunity to participate in a SC gifted and talented “Catch the Wave” Conference, provided to teachers from across the state, at the Cooper River of Advanced Studies. Thank you, Ms. Miller, Dr. Cross, Ms. McQuatters, Mr. Ogletree, Ms. Rogers and Ms. Johnson for attending! We greatly appreciate our teachers going above and beyond to further their education in serving the gifted and talented needs of our students that our school was founded on!
• On Saturday, June 28, members of the PSA Social Studies Department visited Fort Moultrie where they joined fellow historians and visitors commemorating the 249th anniversary of the Battle of Sullivan's Island during the South Carolina Day event.  They enjoyed visiting the museum, touring the fort, stopping by the numerous tents and getting ideas for field trips or how to bring the content back into the classroom, listening to numerous speakers about the battle, and watching the musket and cannon demonstrations. Thank you, Ms. Johnson, Mr. Osmon, Mr. Sowell, and Mr. Ogletree for your commitment to your department, your school, and your own continued education, so you can bring the best back to our student and school community! Your photos were amazing!
• Our leadership team, and I, were extremely excited to learn that Mr. Jenkin’s students’ AP Art History scores beat both the State and Global averages by scoring 3.75 in the first year of the course being offered at PSA. Congratulations students, and Mr. Jenkins, for an awesome job!Fees

New Student Orientation & School Tours

• We are excited to announce for our new students and parents that we will be having our New Student Orientation for students who have been accepted/enrolled on July 31. Parents will have the opportunity to get a head start on signing up for Powerschool, and more, during this time.
• YEARBOOK / ID PICTURES: Yearbook pictures will be taken on this day for all new students attending. Make up day will be August 8 on “Student Pick Up Day.” 
• On July 23rd and 24th, we will be hosting school tours for students and families who have not been accepted yet and are still waiting in the lottery for an open seat. 

Powerschool Corner

• Parent and student access has officially been restored!
• If you're having trouble logging in or need a password reset, feel free to reach out to Ms. Madison. 
• Heads-up: Class schedules aren’t visible at this time.
• Need to take care of fees? Ms. Stanley, our Controller, has continued working hard handling all PSA finances this summer, including student fees. Parents are encouraged to pay all fees on RevTrak that can be found on our website under the “Pay Fees” logo.You can head over to RevTrak either through PowerSchool or directly from the PSA website.
• If you know of a parent/guardian who did not receive this email, please have them email Mr. Sweeney, so he can get them updated in our system. If you have not already done so, please like and follow our Facebook and Instagram pages for further updates on our students’ success and more. 

Building Updates

• We are very excited about some of our new building updates going on this summer. 
  • First, Mr. Allen, our facilities manager, has been working hard throughout the summer, along with our custodial staff, painting, waxing and more, for the return of our students and staffulty in August. 
  • We are excited about the installation of Smart Boards in all of our classrooms that should begin within the next two weeks.
  • Our new perimeter fence will begin construction this Monday, July 21, weather permitting. This fence will serve as another layer of protection for the students and staffulty at PSA during school hours. 
  • Last, Coach Keefe, our Athletic Director, has been working hard this summer maintaining our new practice field located on Joint Base Charleston in Hunley Park, so our students and athletes will be able to use, once again, thanks to our amazing partners, liaisons and leaders at Joint Base Charleston.

PSA Hiring Updates

• We were very sad to say goodbye to some incredible staffulty at the end of the school year and we wish them the very best in their future endeavors. Our leadership team has been actively pursuing some amazing new, and potentially future, PSA staffulty members. Here are some updates from our current staffulty. 
  • Ms. Newbauer, our 24-25 Theatre teacher, will be shifting to teaching 7th grade ELA, but she will continue leading our Theatre club and performances. 
  • Mr. Frye, our 24-25 Teacher Assistant, is moving into a full time role as our new Theatre teacher and will continue as a VEX coach. 
  • Ms. Miller served as our half teacher and half Tech Liaison and is now moving to a full time teacher. She will be teaching middle school CTE classes, yearbook and a leadership class. As for staff positions,
  •  Ms. Brown, our Registrar, will also be assisting with our social media pages and our home page. 
  • Ms. Madison, our Powerschool Clerk, will also be our administrative assistant. Last, but not least, our amazing high school school counselor, Ms. Widener will continue working with our high school students but she is now our Director of School Counseling.
• As for new hires, we are thrilled to work with and welcome our newest hires for the 25-26 school year! Click the “Press Release” links below to learn more about our newest Staffulty members!
  • Dr. Robert Brzenchek - CTE
  • Dr. Timothy Fontaine - Science
  • Mr. Aaron Tuuk - Math

Registrar’s Desk 

• All families should have received an email on July 17, 2025, confirming that their student is registered for the 2025–2026 school year. If you did not receive this confirmation email, please contact us at registration@psaschool.org, so that we can verify that we have the correct email address on file for you. When reaching out, please be sure to include your student’s first and last name so we can quickly identify your family’s record and ensure that all information is accurate.
• Please also note that for the safety and privacy of all students, we cannot confirm any student information—including emergency contacts—over the phone. To gain access to any information regarding a student, you will need to come to the main office in person and present a valid form of identification before we are able to release any details.

Counselors’ Corner

• Dual Enrollment - 
  • Rising 11th and 12th grade students who are interested in dual enrollment for the Fall semester AND have not already submitted an application should do so IMMEDIATELY.  For those who could not attend our dual enrollment workshop in June, the information was shared via email and is also posted on the school counseling website.
  • Students who currently require the Accuplacer have been contacted directly and we will test this upcoming Tuesday, July 22 @ 9 AM.
  • A virtual Q&A session will be available later next week for those who still have questions or need assistance.  Be on the lookout for more information via email from Ms. Widener.
• Virtual SC -
  • Virtual SC Summer courses end on Tuesday, July 29.  All initial credit courses require an in-person final exam.  Final exams will take place at PSA on Wednesday, July 30 @ 1 PM.  Students who are not available to come in person may pay an additional fee to have their exams virtually proctored through MonitorEDU (please contact your VSC directly for more information).
  • Registration for Fall Virtual SC courses opens for 11th & 12th grade students on August 13.  Registration is open for all grades beginning on August 20.
• Graduation 2026 - 
  • Save the date!  The graduation ceremony for the class of 2026 is TENTATIVELY planned for Friday, May 22 and Senior Breakfast and graduation practice is TENTATIVELY planned for Thursday, May 21.  More information will be available once dates are confirmed.
• Student Schedules - 
  • Schedule distribution will take place at PSA on Friday, August 8.  Schedules will not be available to students before this date.  Any requests to make schedule changes must be made through the Google Form that will be available August 8 through August 22.

Athletics

• Please continue to check the Athletic Newsletter periodically throughout your week.  Fall Sports for Cross Country (Girls/Boys) and Volleyball starts practice on Thursday, July 31st.  This would be for grade levels of 7-12.  All Physicals and Forms must be updated and downloaded to BigTeams before participating on Thursday, July 31st for Fall Sports.  Practice and Game Schedules will be posted by the end of the week of July 21st.  I would like to encourage ALL our student body to consider getting involved in a Fall (Cross Country & Volleyball), Winter (Basketball & Cheer), or Spring Sport (Baseball, Soccer, & Softball).
• Open Gym for Girls that have interest in Basketball and Volleyball grades 7-12.  This will be on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday the week of July 21st.  Basketball is from 3:00 to 4:00 pm, Volleyball from 4:00 to 5:30 pm.

Mark your calendars -  

• July 23 - School Tours Prospective Students Only and/or Currently on the Waiting list
• July 24 - School Tours Prospective Students Only and/or Currently on the Waiting list
• July 27 - PCA Beautification Project (Volunteer Opportunity)
• July 31 - New Student Orientation (No Returning Students) & New Students Yearbook Picture Day
• August 4 - Normal Business Hours: Monday - Friday, 8:00 - 3:45
• August 5 - Teachers Return
• August 8 - Student Pick Up 
• August 12 - Students Return