A Letter from Principal Drummond

Dear Hill Community,

We hope everyone had a smooth first week of continuous learning with your student(s). We are learning how to improve our practice every day and appreciate your feedback on how we can best support our families at home. Thank you all for your dedication to keeping our Dillos healthy and academically engaged during this time.

Please note that this week our teachers will begin presenting continuous learning based on spring standards that may be new to students. Instruction will continue to be aligned across the district in an effort to promote equity and consistency from school to school. As in past weeks, resources will be available on the AISD Learning at Home website, including printable packets families can utilize. We are also excited to announce that Pillow Elementary (3025 Crosscreek Drive) will now have the district printed learning packets available on Wednesdays from 11:00-1:00 if families are interested. Please note that meals will not be provided at Pillow and Burnet MS is still the closest option for student meal support.

You may have heard that the school board passed a resolution to update our grading policy for the 4th nine weeks. All students will earn either a P (proficient) or an I (incomplete) for this grading period. Teachers will use feedback and progress monitoring on weekly continuous learning to help them gauge where students are at the end of the nine weeks. A “P” means the student is ready for the next grade level without needed intervention. An “I” means that the student may need some extra support, review, and/or practice moving into the next grade level in the fall. Access to learning will definitely be taken into account and noted for students appropriately. Please know that an “I” does not weigh heavily into decisions to promote or retain students. Those decisions will be made largely on progress during the first 3 nine weeks. The P/I designations will most importantly help our teachers best support all students this fall as they move to the next grade level.The district is still working on common progress monitoring techniques and more guidance for staff. Thank you for your patience as we continue to build systems needed for these upcoming weeks to best support our students.

While our building has been closed for several weeks now, the district has also made the decision to close down the rest of our grounds, including the playground. Signs were posted earlier this week instructing all citizens to stay off of campus property in order to promote the stay at home order. Thank you for ensuring that your family abides by these new rules and stays off campus completely.

We encourage all parents and guardians to check out the AISD Covid-19 Related Resources for Caregivers. Links are organized by need and very comprehensive for help available around the area. Please email administration and our wonderful counselors with any questions or needs you may have right now.

We want to wish our entire school community a wonderful holiday weekend! Again, thank you to all of our stakeholders for the positivity and perseverance during this time.

Principal Drummond