A Letter from Principal Drummond – October 25th

Hello Hill Community,
This week, we are excited to welcome back all the remaining students joining us for face to face learning on campus at this time! Thank you for the patience you have shown during this process. If you are returning to on-campus learning for the first time this week, you can refer to my letters from the last few weeks for the details on what you need to know.

Following this final phase-in week, there will be changes at certain grade levels that may affect teaching models, scheduling, or some other aspects of the day. In most cases, the grade level teachers will be communicating anything new to be aware of as most adjustments will not cause classroom teacher changes. In larger cases where that will take place, we will be in communication as administration. Kindergarten parents, for instance, are receiving a separate letter today from me with more information. We know transitions right now are not ideal but please trust that all were done with a lot of forethought and planning using community feedback to create the best possible learning environments for all of our students. Lastly, if you don’t hear anything from your teacher(s), you can assume that there are no changes taking place to scheduling or the learning environment.

We also want to update everyone on campus safety during this continuing pandemic. In many classrooms moving forward, six foot physical distancing will be a challenge or no longer feasible as all students who would like to return to campus can with five days notice. As of Friday, our campus has now been measured to receive plexiglass solutions in our classrooms for increased safety. As more students return for face to face learning, we are confident that this will create an extra layer of protection for our students and staff. We have highlighted our addition of air purifiers and window screens in many of our educational spaces in the past weeks. We appreciate the support of the district and our Hill community as we continue to welcome students back to the classroom.

Also this week, we want to let everyone know that Hill After School Childcare will begin again on Monday, November 2nd! We do have space available for students who will be on-campus learning and would love for our families to take advantage of this wonderful program. Pricing is hard to beat with a $100 registration fee and $300 a month care from 3:11-5:45 PM on weekdays. For more information and to enroll, please email Lucy Chu at lucy.chu@austinisd.org or call our front office. First come, first serve!

Our Hill Principal Check-In this week will be Wednesday, October 28th, at 4:00 pm. Here is the information for those who would like to attend live:
Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 851 6570 1669
Passcode: dillos

We are now down to a two week countdown to the car parade celebration of our Hill 50th Anniversary! Check out the information in the Dillo Details. As we celebrate our history, it is also so much fun right now to see our future campus progress. Attached below are some updated pictures of our current construction for those who have not been by campus recently. Also, we have some pictures of Hill Harbor to see the additions there.

For our new Hill families, please know that with Halloween coming up on Saturday, we will not allow costumes at school on Friday. Instead, we will have dress up days several times this year with certain themes. Thank you for understanding! Have a wonderful week, everyone.

Jack Drummond
Principal