Dear Hill Community, 

This is an information-filled letter this week with many event reminders. Please read carefully, including the reminder at the end that there is no school this Friday!

It is Hill Heritage and International Reading Week! We appreciate all of our families who have volunteered to support reading in the classrooms in multiple languages, as well as our Hill Heritage Parade on Thursday. The Heritage Parade will be held Thursday, March 30th, right after morning assembly. Students may dress up in cultural attire and/or wave flags during the parade. Participation is optional but encouraged. We would love to see our Dillos participate! For more info and to sign up, please register here by tomorrow, Monday March 27th.

The Hill Country Carnival is this Friday! We are thrilled to spend the evening of Friday, March 31st with everyone! Incredible games, spectacular music by Rising Ivy, delicious food truck fare, our famous Haunted House, and MORE await you! If you bought your wristbands last Fall and need to pick them up, we’ll be at the front of the school this week to give them to you. If you still need to buy your wristbands, the link has been a bit temperamental so we have a new link for you!

1. Buy your WRISTBANDS at hillelementary.com/carnival
2. SIGN UP TO VOLUNTEER for your class booth(s) at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080D4EAFA82FA4FE3-hill1
3. 5th GRADE PARENTS & STUDENTS remember to sign up for your Haunted House shift! The link is in your email inbox from Ms. Bayer and on our grade-level FB page.
4. EMAIL Kelly Tarun and Theresa Ellington at carnival@hillelementary.com with any questions!

Our annual class group pictures are this Wednesday for each class. You can click here for online ordering information. 

23-24 Safety Patrol: On March 24th, Mrs. Martinez visited 4th-grade classrooms to recruit new safety patrol leaders for next year. If your child is interested, please fill out the form given to students, and return by April 6th. Your student must also attach a two-paragraph essay about why they wish to serve as Safety Patrol. Ms. Martinez will meet with the students who have returned their forms and essays on Thursday, April 13th, to review expectations and safety rules. Students will begin training on Monday, April 24th, during morning and afternoon safety patrol duty. Because our STAAR schedule is different this year, I will give students specific training days on April 13th to share with the parents. Please email nancy.martinez2@austinisd.org if you have any questions. Thank you.

Family Surveys are now open: Our district values your feedback! We are currently surveying Austin ISD families in order to gain insight into your perception of our school and district effectiveness. To ensure we continue to provide high-quality, rigorous learning experiences that meet the needs of our learners and prepare them for college and career, we need your feedback. We want to know what you think. To administer these surveys, we have partnered with Panorama Education to conduct our 2023 Family Survey. Panorama safeguards your privacy, keeping your responses confidential. The survey shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to complete and will be a valuable source of information for us as we work to make our schools and district as good as they can be. You may complete the survey online between March 21, 2023 and April 8, 2023 using a computer, tablet, or smartphone by visiting the website surveys.panoramaed.com/austinisd/family. We thank you in advance for your thoughtful responses. If you have any questions about the survey administration, please don’t hesitate to contact our survey coordinator at maria.harp@austinisd.org.

The LASA Velocity Dance Team is holding a clinic on Saturday, April 1st your student can take part in. Click here for more details.

There is no school this Friday as we observe the Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta Day of Service in AISD. We recognize their important contributions to our country and hope your family can use the day to support the local community in their honor. Have an excellent week!

Principal Drummond

Dear Hill Community,

We hope you enjoy a fun Spring Break this week! As a reminder, Austin ISD is closed March 13-17.

Austin ISD Pride Week is March 20th-24th. You can click on this link to view the Hill Pride Week Communication Letter previously sent. Let Principal Drummond know if you have any questions. Don’t forget No Place for Hate Dress-Up Day is Friday, March 24th with the theme “Dress Crazy Cool to Celebrate our Differences” (Wear Tie Dye and Crazy Socks).

Reminder: Our rescheduled Hill Carnival will take place on Friday, March 31st at 6:30 pm. We hope to see everyone there at this fun annual event. There is no school this day. If you signed-up in the fall to volunteer or can consider now, we hope you can help us to make this event successful. Thank you!

Family Surveys Open March 20th: Our district values your feedback! We are currently surveying Austin ISD families in order to gain insight into your perception of our school and district effectiveness. To ensure we continue to provide high-quality, rigorous learning experiences that meet the needs of our learners and prepare them for college and career, we need your feedback. We want to know what you think. To administer these surveys, we have partnered with Panorama Education to conduct our 2022 Family Survey. Panorama safeguards your privacy, keeping your responses confidential. The survey shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to complete and will be a valuable source of information for us as we work to make our schools and district as good as they can be. You may complete the survey online between March 21, 2022 and April 8, 2022 using a computer, tablet, or smartphone by visiting the website surveys.panoramaed.com/austinisd/family. The link will not allow you to complete the survey yet until March 20th. We thank you in advance for your thoughtful responses. If you have any questions about the survey administration, please don’t hesitate to contact our survey coordinator at maria.harp@austinisd.org.

Austin ISD will participate in the Annual ¡Sí Se Puede! César Chávez March & Day of Action! Saturday, March 25, at Parque Zaragoza, 2608 Gonzales St., Austin, TX 78702. You can click here for more information. 

Again, have an amazing Spring Break! Keep your Dillos active in reading and getting outdoors so they are ready for the last nine weeks of school.

Principal Drummond

Spring Break is here! There is no school for students, teachers, or staff March 13-17th. We’ll see you back at school on the 20th!

Access to healthy foods may be challenging when the district is closed.  Families are invited to utilize these community resources for free meals while AISD is closed for Spring Break:

• Central Texas Food Bank.  
• United Way for Greater Austin ConnectATX.
• Texas Health and Human Services: Call 211 or 877-541-7905.

Late registration for Dillo Camp 2023 is open. CLICK HERE for all of the details. Please remember:

• enrollment is based on a lottery system;
• payment is not accepted until you receive confirmation of enrollment;
• no changes can be made following payment, cancelations allowed through April 28 minus a $50 fee;
• regular registration ended March 3, late registration runs March 12-April 28 (or until full).

GR Recruiting, the firm hired to conduct our Superintendent search, is requesting community input. Stakeholders are invited to complete the Superintendent Profile Survey by Wednesday, March 15. The information received will be used to help build the leadership profile for advertising the position, and provide feedback for the Board when evaluating candidates. Let your voices be heard!

Submissions for AISD’s Gifted and Talented (GT) Showcase are open.  Students receiving GT/Talent Explore services are invited to participate.  CLICK HERE for more information!

We invite our Hill families to share their cultural heritages with our community, and we have two exciting events planned for the week of March 27-30th! Contact Co-Chairs Connor Finnigan and Miso Yang at culturalcommittee@hillelementary.com with any questions or to volunteer.

The Heritage Parade will be held Thursday, March 30th, after morning assembly. Students may dress up in cultural attire and/or wave flags during the parade. Participation is optional but encouraged. For more info and to sign up, please register here by Monday March 27th.

International Book Reading: Do you speak another language? We would love for you to come read a short book to a Hill classroom during Heritage Week. Our Dillos love this tradition, so dust off those books and come read to our students! If you would like to participate, please look out for a sign up link after Spring Break.