Dear Hill Community,
We want to thank everyone who made our first week of the phase-in process so successful. Our staff went above and beyond with their flexibility, dedication, and teamwork to support our learners on and off campus. Our families who returned to campus followed our procedures very well to make arrival and dismissal completely manageable. And thank you to our virtual families who stayed so understanding during this time of transition. It is truly a community effort, and we are so proud as campus leaders!

On Monday, we will be welcoming more students back to campus for week 2 of our phase-in process. Here are the next groups who can report on October 12th:

• 1st and 2nd grade students
• Students receiving the following specialized services: all Special Education students, students with dyslexia, 504, speech.
• Siblings of students in prioritized groups for this week.

As before, please let your teachers know if you have a sibling of one of these groups returning as those are the toughest for us to track!

For all of our returning families, thanks again for looking over our Hill Reopening Plan prior to returning. Also, below this letter, I have included several paragraphs from last week that are still applicable and important to know. Thanks for reading if Monday will be your first day back on campus! Especially the piece on the AISD app for arrival and dismissal, as well as the process for switching from virtual learning to face-to-face learning.

We will have a Principal Check-In this week on Thursday, October 15th, at 5:00 pm. We hope everyone can make it, but as always, a recording will follow.

Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID:864 1876 9407
Passcode: Dillos

We have so many positive things happening at Hill School we want to update you all on. It was just announced that Hill is an SEL SEED Model Campus this year! We want to give a big Dillo Cheer to Ms. Stover and Ms. Winfrey for their hard work to make this possible. We will be able to model and share our best practices at school with other campuses through this designation. Our “playground” this year will also look different over the next few weeks. We have some Anderson HS students supporting us with painted pathways throughout the back of our school to aid with our restricted recess spaces. Thank you to Julie Neitzel and Watson Murals for supporting this. Also, an Eagle Scout at Anderson and former Dillo, Carter Hull, will be creating a better play area around our boat in Hill Harbor to support our students this year. We want to thank our amazing PTA and private donors who have helped secure window screens and air purifiers for many of our classrooms. As we add students weekly for face to face learning, we know these safety measures only make everyone feel more comfortable on campus. These are just a few of the amazing things we wanted to highlight this week.

Austin ISD wanted us to share with our communities information on free COVID-19 testing available if the need arises. Again, thanks for pre-screening prior to coming to school each day!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! We look forward to welcoming more of our learners to campus Monday. Click here for the important information again from last week!  

Dear Hill Community,
We want to welcome you back to the Hill campus for the first time since March! Our staff is excited to see some of your students on Monday for our first week of the four week phase-in process. We will be learning everyday how to fine-tune our system with safety always being paramount in every aspect of our day. This letter can hopefully act as a “Back to Campus” guide you can use for the coming weeks. Please make sure you know when your student is able to return if you are unsure by checking out the week by week phase-in guide. Alerting your teacher to your intentions to return in the coming weeks is a best practice as well!

Our Principal Check-In video this week goes over the basics for arrival, lunch, recess, and dismissal. Please watch if your students plan to phase-in Monday or beyond! Also, please ensure you have looked over our Hill Reopening Plan as this will answer many questions and support a positive experience on Monday. On page 14, the linked document called the Campus Reopening Plan is a PowerPoint that will walk you through the arrival process with visuals. The slides also follow in the main document. Together, we hope this will give everyone a clear picture of what to expect the physical campus to look like. We will not have a Principal Check-In this week as we focus on our staff meetings around the week and beyond.

On the arrival section of these documents, you will notice the different areas that we will be screening students based on their mode of transportation to campus. Screenings will begin at 7:30 am and not before as teachers won’t be ready on campus until then to receive students. We encourage families to only begin arriving at 7:30 am all the way until 8:00 am as we will screen until then with no tardies to ensure the safest arrival. Thank you for going to the correct screening area based on your method of arrival as it will help us with logistics. Also, while Robbie Lane is now open to through traffic (Dillo Cheer!), please know that sidewalk construction is still ongoing and parking in that area may still not be best for the next week or so.

For all families, please ensure you have downloaded the AISD app on your mobile device to help keep things moving in the morning. When you pre-screen for your student and show us the “green screen”, we will simply ensure their temperature is below 100 degrees with our touchless thermometers. They will then be granted entry. If you do not show us the “green” pre-screen, then we will have to ask each family a series of questions to do the screening in-person. This will obviously take more time and cause delays. Each and every school day, thank you for pre-screening on the AISD app which is very easy to navigate prior to leaving home, getting a “green” screen prior to traveling, and staying home if you get the “red” screen showing a failed pre-screening! If you have multiple children, you can use multiple devices (as is feasible) or screen shot as needed since it will be dated and timed.

For those students phasing-in to campus, please ensure they bring their charged device and charger to school. We encourage these to be labeled as well. If taking your device home each day, please ensure it always comes back. Some grade levels may ask you to keep devices at school as well. This way we avoid them being left at home which could put us in a challenging situation to meet technology needs. Lastly, thanks for ensuring students bring water bottles as always since our water fountains are taped off as instructed.

We are excited to announce that through December, all Hill students can receive free breakfast and lunch daily. Daily menus are limited and can be found here as well as the AISD app. For breakfast, students will grab and go to eat in the classroom with their desk shield up. For lunch, most classes will eat in the classroom with lunches brought to them as needed. Some smaller classes will utilize the cafeteria, spaced and sat appropriately by class for safety. Desk shields will be used here as well. We ask families to not send meals that need to be microwaved as this will not be feasible during this time. Please also know that weekend meals are available for families who may benefit from this support. You can email administration if you would like to take advantage of this.

While we will have limitations to recess as we continue to follow social distancing and contact measures, we encourage students to bring personal play items for recess that may be appropriate like jump ropes, sidewalk chalk, etc. We will continue to work on options on the school end as we have our plan in place with different zones. Thanks for understanding that for now, we cannot have students share equipment, etc. for safety reasons.

For a clear picture of dismissal each day, again we encourage you to watch the Principal Check-In video from this week. The car line will run as usual except that we will be dismissing students from the classroom straight to vehicles. Our younger students will be escorted for safety. For parents wanting to park and pick-up, you will queue at our front doors as we do in a typical year. The exception is that our 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade parents can wait outside those areas to meet students then walk to their vehicle/home. Our bus riders will be escorted to the bus area by staff as well for our younger students. We appreciate your patience as we do expect this process to take longer than our normal 10 to 15 minutes. Thank you for your understanding as this is brand new in several ways!

On a few other notes, you will notice on our Monday assembly slide that we have added some supplemental workout videos for our Dillos from the Fitness School! We are excited for these that can be utilized at home to continue supporting wellness. Please note that our Hill after school childcare program will not be up and running yet during the phase-in. We do intend to begin week 9 and will be reaching out in the coming weeks on the process and availability of this with restrictions that may still be in place. Thanks for your patience as we continue to plan for that important program. We’ve also received many questions on Asynchronous Wednesdays that will continue until Week 9. It is addressed in the Principal Check-In video this week. Please know that students will be completing the same asynchronous assignments while following their typical schedule. Some families have asked if it is okay to work virtually on that day from home, even if they are face to face other days. That is no problem with our current model of learning!

Dillo cheer to you all for your patience the next few weeks as just like virtual learning, we will be constantly evaluating and updating our practices to best meet the needs of our community. Have a restful Sunday and take care!

Principal Drummond

Dear Hill Community,
As we enter our final week of all virtual learning, we are looking forward to welcoming some of our students back on campus very soon on October 5th. We shared it last week but here is the comprehensive list of the phase-in groups by week. We do ask that if you have a student in one of these groups and you are sending their sibling as well, please alert the teacher(s) of the sibling so they know to expect them. The final district surveys were closed on Friday and if you answered that you did intend for your student(s) to return to campus physically, that will be our expectation. Beginning Monday, if you need to change your intention from remote virtual to face to face learning, please email hill@austinisd.org with that request. Your student will be able to return 5 school days after the request. If you would like your student to move from the building to all virtual learning at any point, just inform your teacher and that can happen immediately. Thank you for your communication so we can always have the best plan possible in place!

It was wonderful to welcome our Board Trustee Kristin Ashy this past Thursday during our Hill Principal Check-In for 9/24. My apologies the second part of the recording did not take as we went over a bit of the Hill Reopening Plan. That document is comprehensive and is still linked below. We will cover a lot on the phase in at our next Principal Check-In this Wednesday, 9/30, at 4:00 pm. Here is the Zoom info:
Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 861 2814 4955
Passcode: dillos

If you attended the Principal Check-In, we touched on an overview of our comprehensive Hill Reopening Plan. Within this document, you can find details on our arrival/dismissal, recess, lunch, and our general safety protocols for when students are on campus. This is a living document that will certainly continue to change. We hope it supports guiding all of our families on what to expect for the physical return to campus. There is a section on the AISD app and pre-screening. Please know that using this each morning prior to coming to school is a safety best practice and greatly needed as well to ensure we keep our arrival period as efficient as possible. Otherwise, we will be asking you questions each day as a best practice and protocol. Be sure to look over everything so you have a clear picture of the year. Also, don’t forget to check out the latest version of the district plan that is on the AISD website.

The district technology team wanted us to pass along this note on changes to the layout of Ipads at different times during the day. This is called a “Restriction Schedule” which allows layout control to be consistent during the day. No action has to be taken. Just note why your Ipad may look different on the homescreen during, then after the school day!

As a last note, please know that at the Monday board meeting, trustees will be discussing and voting on whether to change October 12th from a student holiday to a normal instructional day. We anticipate this happening as of now. The student holiday will then move to Election Day on November 3rd. This is not official yet. It will be messaged if this is the case. We just wanted everyone to have the most up to date information.

Have a wonderful weekend and Hook ‘Em, Hill families! Expect plenty of communication in the next week, prior to our campus reopening.

Principal Drummond

Dear Hill Community,
Time is flying as we have wrapped up our first full week of instruction for the school year. Thank you for the support and feedback the last few weeks! There is a lot of information to share so we will try to keep this update as concise as possible.

The biggest news as of Wednesday was the announcement of the district and Hill campus plan for the reopening of our building. Here are some bullets so everyone has clarity on the basic logistics:

• The phasing in of students will begin on Monday, October 5th. This will be the 5th week of school. The phase-in process will take place between weeks 5-8 of school.
• For the 5th week of school on October 5th, we will limit our capacity to 258 students at most. We do not anticipate coming close to this number based on the groups of students coming back that first week. We will have less than 25% of our capacity on campus as needed.
• A comprehensive list of the phase-in groups by week was published by the district this week. On October 5th, the first students allowed to phase-in on campus will be:
  Pre-K
  Kindergarten
  Students of staff returning to their home school
  Students receiving these specialized services: SCORES, early childhood special education
  Siblings of any students in the groups above
  **If you are in any of the groups above and intend on returning to campus October 5th for blended learning, please notify your teacher in the upcoming week if you have not done so already. Thank you! They may be reaching out as well so we have the best possible picture.
• Students will stay in one room for the day to maximize safety. Desks/tables will be spaced 6’ apart as a norm set by the district.
• The model of instruction for the phase-in weeks will be a “blended model”. This means we will have students completing virtual learning in the classroom with their teacher. This could look like a whole class meeting with students at-home and in the classroom on a device on Zoom. The teacher in the classroom will facilitate both face to face and virtual learning during this period. Teachers will be wearing masks at all times during the day while instructing as safety and protocol dictates. We will learn a lot during this time on what will work well and what will need to be adjusted in this model. We are happy that overall, our schedules and class assignments should be able to stay in-tact with some shifts for lunch and recess that may be needed. Please also know that for those first couple of days, especially for our Pre-K and Kindergarten students, our number one priority will be teaching our students expectations and our systems on-campus as safety is paramount and many of these students are coming to school for the first time. We appreciate everyone’s patience as this will be a process.
• Recess will take place on campus in designated areas with single classes in a given area for safety. We will work on rotations to ensure students are able to see different areas. Interactions between students will be limited as 6’ distancing will still be monitored and expected during this time.
• Lunches will take place in the classroom as well. For students who receive lunch from our cafeteria staff, they will be brought to the classroom by staff and left outside the door. Lunches will then be eaten at desks. As seen in the video below, we anticipate providing desk shields for students as they will be removing their masks to eat. Eating and drinking will be the only time of the day when students may remove their masks.
• Arrival and dismissal plans will be shared next week as we finalize our working draft of those with our leadership on campus. Just know it will be a slower process than normal with safety being ensured in both instances. Thank you so much for your patience during these weeks with brand new systems being tested out for the first time as well.

There are also a couple of good video resources that may help you in filling out the final district survey on your intentions for in-person vs. virtual learning. Our Hill Principal Check-In this week focused entirely on the phase-in plan and may answer a lot of wonderings you have. Also, the school district shared a short video on the phase-in to campus as well that may be helpful. We thank all of our families for completing the Final District Survey by this Monday to give us the crucial information we need to plan at each grade level. While it is not a commitment, it is so helpful!  Thank you in advance.

Our next Hill Principal Check-In will be this Thursday, September 24th, at 4:00. Zoom information is below. We are excited to welcome Board Trustee Kristin Ashy to our meeting! The Hill Reopening Plan working draft will be shared as well. We hope everyone can make it!

Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 894 3084 2215
Passcode: dillos

We met with Hill parent and awesome AISD tech design coach Laurie Beaman as a staff this week to problem solve some common problems our families are having to best support them as we are constantly learning. She also kindly invited all of our Hill families to join the “Unofficial” Tech Support Facebook Group she started so people can swap tips and share ideas. Feel free to join if you feel this is a good fit for you.

On a different note, we encourage everyone to check out the calendar on the Dillo Details this week for a few fun events. On Wednesday, your family can eat at Top Notch for Hill Spirit Day beginning at 11:00 am that will also help support our school! Then on Thursday, it is Sock Hop dress up day. We will get our 50th anniversary theme going here as your students can dress in 50’s themes as we always do this time of year. While we can’t hold our traditional sock hop, we hope this at least provides a fun day at home. More to come on Hill’s 50th anniversary celebrations later this fall! And if you haven’t yet, please join our Hill PTA! We always aim for 100%.

As you can see, there is much more information to come soon, and we will keep our community updated. Enjoy your weekend, Hill families!

Principal Drummond

Dear Hill Community,
We hope you are enjoying a relaxing three-day weekend as we look ahead to our first day of school on Tuesday! It has been a team effort in our school community to rally and get to this point. While it is not the typical start to school we would love to see, we will ensure this is the best possible experience for our Dillos.

For next week, our virtual classes will begin on Tuesday, September 8th, at 7:45 am. All students will begin the day with classroom community meetings, then follow their normal Tuesday virtual schedule. If you feel unsure on what to do, always begin with your teacher’s BLEND page as everything can break out from there. More information on BLEND support is shared below. Also, be sure to reach out to your teacher with any questions to ensure a successful start. Our school day will end at 3:11 pm for all but our Pre-K students.

We do want to note one change to our normal schedule for week one. To ensure that we start the year with consistency and momentum for our students and staff, this Wednesday will not be an asynchronous day. Please treat this Wednesday as if it is a normal Monday! Students will have synchronous time for classes as if it is a Monday. They will see the essential area A day class synchronously they would normally attend on a Monday. We hope this lets everyone get further connected week one. Thank you for being mindful of this. In the weeks following during virtual learning, we will get back to our published, normal schedule.

To begin each day with our students, we also hope families can tune in to our virtual asynchronous assemblies we will continue to publish for each day. We plan to bring back some of our consistent traditions, including our Dillo Best student awards on Friday! These can be viewed prior to 7:45 am if you wish or at any asynchronous time in the day that works for families. We hope this further supports our students feeling connected to Hill School while not there physically. Click here to find the consistent link for our Daily Virtual Assemblies. The Tuesday video will be ready to go soon.

The Virtual Principal Check-In was pretty short this week with many great questions. Be sure to check it out. One statement I made was that I thought a new parent survey may be going out this week to see family plans on learning once the return to in-person is available. It looks like that is on hold so my apologies. No survey will be coming out quite yet. Our next Principal Check-In will be this upcoming Thursday, September 10th, at 4:00 pm. We hope many of you can join us as our counselors will be sharing resources for families this week for a nice change of pace.
Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 844 8826 6009
Passcode: Dillos

This week, Austin ISD shared a really wonderful resource for our families to support BLEND and Seesaw. Please explore this Parent Handbook for BLEND & Seesaw that is also available on our Hill Community BLEND page under Tech Resources. We hope this helps support you in supporting your student(s).

We want to share our first working draft of our Hill Reopening Plan. This is similar to the Austin ISD plan but will have more Hill-specific information. Schools worked off of a template to support consistency. Please know this will be consistently updated in the coming weeks and is a living document. For now, it focuses on virtual learning but please know we will be adding in-person learning sections as well once we feel that is ready to share. Hopefully most of the information is review and presents a good overview of all of our basic information right now. Please know we will be seeking feedback from different groups on campus soon to ensure our community input is present.

Don’t forget to visit hillelementary.com as our Online Open House for PTA ends Monday. We wish you all a fabulous first day of school! Thank you for being flexible and understanding as we put our schedules and platforms into practice. Please know we value your feedback and will work as a community to keep making the best situation we can for our students in the coming weeks.

Principal Drummond

Dear Hill Community,
After a very busy summer it is amazing to see that we are now just one week away from the beginning to school! We look forward to seeing your families online and in-person during our different events next week. As a staff, we look forward to getting into a routine again with our Dillos who we have missed greatly for these last few months.

As always, I want to begin by posting our most recent Principal Check-In video from Thursday which covers this upcoming week and discusses some key points for the first week of school. This check-in was a bit shorter, and we really encourage all of our parents/guardians to check it out for some clarity about the information below.

One reminder I want to ensure I reinforce with everyone is the idea of grace and understanding as our staff utilizes a new schedule and new platforms that are untested in practice, though we are confident they will run smoothly in theory. Our staff will be ready and have worked hard to create amazing learning experiences for your students. We will still be learning constantly, utilizing your feedback, to see what needs to be fine tuned. Thank you for understanding this and helping us to get better. Lastly, please be supportive that our teachers at home, in many cases, are also working parents responsible to keep up with their students’ virtual learning as well with limited childcare options, similar to many of you. We are all in this together, and they will be juggling a lot as well. They are dedicated to your students as always. Thank you for also being mindful that they have similar responsibilities during this all virtual learning time at home.

We also shared that our Hill Master Schedule for Virtual Learning is posted and available for all of our families to view on our Hill Campus Community Page in BLEND all parents and guardians should have access to. It is also linked here. Please note that while these schedules are “final”, this is a living document that may need to be updated as it is put into actual practice. Overall, you can definitely use this to plan for your needs as we enter week one. Note: The first week of school will not have an Asynchronous Wednesday, meaning that your students will have synchronous learning each day for that four day week. Please plan on following the schedule for a typical M, T, Th, F for that week. We feel this will get our students and staff off to a more routine start that will benefit everyone. More information to come, including reminders leading up.

As Ipad distribution began today, here are the dates and information here for comprehensive technology distribution from the district coming up:

Ipad Distribution for Pre-K through 2nd Grade Students:  All families are encouraged to request a district-provided Ipad to utilize during virtual learning this fall, as it will be setup to support our platforms (any Ipad or laptop will still be able to access the learning still). Our teachers supported this initiative during their calls with you this week. You must request this technology prior to going for pickup! This Technology Request Flyer can support you. Once requested, you can take the given QR code or your student’s ID to Anderson High School (on the Cima Serena side) at these two remaining dates/times:
2:00 – 7:00 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 31
7:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 1

Chromebook Distribution for Grades 3-5:  Families who need a Chromebook can now go to one of the Computer Curbside locations to pick up a device still. A large shipment of Chromebooks is expected next week. Any laptop or PC will be able to access the online curriculum for these grades. Like Ipads, you need to request online prior to pickup! Use this flyer for curbside support.

Note: Some parents did experience one or both sites running out of Chromebooks this past Friday. Please check bit.ly/aisdcomputerwait prior to leaving to see what the status of each site is. Supplies do run out day to day.

Pick up: Monday- Friday 9:30-3:30 Crockett High School (5601 Menchaca Rd) or the Performing Arts Center (1500 Barbara Jordan Blvd.)

It felt so nice this week to finalize our class rosters and begin reaching out to all of your families. Please continue letting us know what you need at home to be successful as we begin virtual learning on September 8th. We again wanted to share this general calendar and updated schedule below for next week so everyone is clear on our different events:

Virtual Meet the Teacher Event (Tuesday, September 1st):  All of our grade level teachers will be hosting a virtual Meet the Teacher event during the times listed below on September 1st. Teachers will be saying hello to your available students, then transitioning to an adult-focused portion where you will get a better understanding of navigating the online platform, specifics on schedules, and other information you need to be successful supports at home.

Pre-K 9:00-10:00
Kinder 10:00-11:00
1st 11:00-12:00
2nd 12:00-1:00
3rd 1:00-2:00
4th 2:00-3:00
5th 3:00-4:00

Grade Level Belonging/Handout Pick-Up Days (Tuesday and Wednesday, 9/2-9/3):  We want to invite all of our families back to the Hill car line to drive through and pick up left behind belongings from the spring that our teachers bagged up. Teachers may want to hand out materials to support virtual learning at home as well. This will be communicated to families during the Meet the Teacher event. To support an efficient event, please tape a piece of paper in your passenger window with your student’s first and last name, along with who their teacher was from last year (if applicable). This will help us sort through the belongings from last year. And please bring back those library books! Ms. Pustka and Ms. Banda thank you in advance. The grade levels listed below are for your students’ current grade levels.

Wednesday, September 2nd

• 9:00-10:30 3rd Grade
• 11:00-12:30 5th Grade
• 1:00-2:30 Kindergarten
• 2:30-3:30 Pre-K

Thursday, September 3rd

• 9:00-10:30 1st Grade
• 11:00-12:30 4th Grade
• 1:00-2:30 2nd Grade
• 2:30-3:30 Outgoing 5th Grade (6th Graders)

*Please note: if you are unable to pickup items on these days, you can do so in the days following by calling ahead to school and requesting a pickup we can prepare.

Our Next Hill Principal Check-In (Thursday, September 3rd, at 4:00 pm):  Thank you for your questions you can post to help guide us on your needs and wonderings here.

Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 840 0774 6658
Passcode: dillos

As we are seeing regularly right now, Hill School has a lot of talent! Our wonderful 5th grade teacher, and fellow Hill parent, Rachel Briles created this really detailed walk-through on the Canvas App and how you can use this at home to support and monitor your students. BLEND functions as Canvas does and the app is compatible. We appreciate her wanting to share this from her personal experiences she hoped to pass on to all of you. Check out the links at the bottom once you click in to see some walk-through videos she created you can utilize as another tool. Great work, Ms. Briles!

We also want to ensure that all families have a guide that can support you throughout the year on our protocols and procedures we will use for our virtual learning but also our on-campus learning. We have meetings this week to review our proposed arrival plan with appropriate district safety personnel. We hope to be able to share a working draft with our families this upcoming Thursday with information on our virtual learning period with on-campus information to be added soon. More to come this week, but we did want everyone to know that aside from the district Reopening Plan, Hill will have a similar document for you to refer to as well.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and will leave you with a quote a parent shared that if we allow it, “this school year will surprise us in big, beautiful ways!” Yes we have some unknowns, but we have some amazing opportunities that will benefit our school for years to come as we all learn together. Thank you for being our positive partners in education, Hill community!

Principal Drummond

Dear Hill Community,
We had a wonderful week of learning as we welcomed back our entire staff for the 2020-2021 school year. It was powerful to see all of our dedicated educators together and passionate to create amazing learning experiences for our students this year. They are anxious to get back to work with your Dillos!

As always, we want to ensure that anyone who missed our Thursday Principal Check-In can watch and receive the important updates on sharing our class rosters, our Virtual Meet the Teacher event, and more. We appreciate the thoughtful questions that helped guide this session as well. Many of the notes are below.

Austin ISD has renamed our weekly email updates “Open for Learning”. These have been so thorough and a great support if you have questions on district updates. They automatically go to the emails of enrolled student parents/guardians. Please also be aware of the updated Open for Learning website that you may want to bookmark. It will have COVID-19 updates and also has a calendar link as I know a few people asked about that.

Probably the biggest updates we gave during our Principal Check-In were some more concrete dates for our upcoming events leading up to our September 8th start.

Class Rosters and Placements Announced (Tuesday, August 25th):  At 9:00 am, homeroom teachers will email out to all parents/guardians to let them know that they will be your students’ teacher this year. We will also include a roster so families can see first name, last initial of students in their class as well.

Following the welcome email, our teachers will also be following up with a welcome phone call either this Tuesday or Wednesday. This will be brief, saying hello, asking about how your student is doing, and then ensuring that your family has what you need or has requested it to begin successfully on the first day of school from home. Thank you for understanding that these may not last more than 5 minutes or so per call. We will ensure more individual time in the coming weeks to connect further with your teacher.

Next Principal Check-In (Thursday, August 27th, at 11:00a)
Ask your questions here using the Google Form
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 834 6969 9313
Passcode: dillos

Virtual Meet the Teacher Event (Tuesday, September 1st):  All of our grade level teachers will be hosting a virtual Meet the Teacher event during the times listed below on September 1st. Teachers will be saying hello to your available students, then transitioning to an adult-focused portion where you will get a better understanding of navigating the online platform, specifics on schedules, and other information you need to be successful supports at home.

Pre-K 9:00-10:00
Kinder 10:00-11:00
1st 11:00-12:00
2nd 12:00-1:00
3rd 1:00-2:00
4th 2:00-3:00
5th 3:00-4:00

Grade Level Belonging/Handout Pick-Up Days (Tuesday and Wednesday, 9/2-9/3):  We want to invite all of our families back to the Hill car line to drive thru and pick up left behind belongings from the spring that our teachers bagged up. Teachers may want to handout materials to support virtual learning at home if applicable.
And please bring back those library books! Ms. Pustka and Ms. Banda thank you in advance.

Come during your 2020-2021 grade level time to see your new teacher:
Wednesday, September 2nd

• 9:00-10:30 3rd Grade
• 11:00-12:30 5th Grade
• 1:00-2:30 Kindergarten

Thursday, September 3rd

• 9:00-10:30 1st Grade
• 11:00-12:30 4th Grade
• 1:00-2:30 2nd Grade
  *Please note: if you are unable to pickup items on these days, you can do so in the days following by calling ahead to school and requesting a pickup we can prepare.

Though it was also in the Open for Learning newsletter this week, we wanted to publish the dates and information here for technology distribution from the district:
Ipad Distribution for Pre-K through 2nd Grade Students:  All families are encouraged to request a district-provided Ipad to utilize during virtual learning this fall, as it will be setup to support our platforms (any Ipad or laptop will still be able to access the learning still). You must request this technology prior to going for pickup! This Technology Request Flyer can support you. Once requested, you can take the given QR code or your student’s ID to Anderson High School at these three dates/times:

7:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 28
2:00 p.m.–7:00 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 31
7:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 1

Chromebook Distribution for Grades 3-5:  Families who need a Chromebook can now go to one of the Computer Curbside locations to pick up a device still. A large shipment of Chromebooks is expected next week. Any laptop or PC will be able to access the online curriculum for these grades. Like Ipads, you need to request online prior to pickup! Use this flyer for curbside support.

Pick up: Monday- Friday 9:30-3:30 Crockett High School (5601 Menchaca Rd) or the Performing Arts Center (1500 Barbara Jordan Blvd.)

We will plan to release our finalized schedules by the end of the upcoming week as our teams are busy finalizing those to ensure they meet our staff and student needs. These will also be shared and walked through during our virtual Meet the Teacher event. Have a phenomenal weekend with your families! We look forward to connecting much more in the upcoming weeks.

Principal Drummond

Dear Hill Community,
As we wrap up another busy week of preparing for a successful year, we are so excited to welcome our teaching staff back next Tuesday! I want to again take the time to give a huge Dillo Cheer to all of our dedicated educators who have worked hard all summer to learn and begin building their platforms to support our students. In the upcoming week, our teachers will participate in campus and district level professional learning focusing on supporting our students instructionally and emotionally as we prioritize reconnecting with our kids.

We also want to welcome Dr. Stephanie Elizalde to Austin ISD as she was named superintendent officially this week. She has been a great listener so far as she gets to know our different school communities. We look forward to working closely with her in the years to come to ensure our district and school continue to evolve and support all students to be successful, lifelong learners.

Earlier this week, a revised Reopening Plan for AISD was shared through email with all families. It describes the current, comprehensive plan for remote learning but also describes safety protocols for everyone once students are able to return to on-campus learning. Please know that this is a living document that may be updated further based on guidance. Hill School will also ensure families have campus-specific information prior to returning for face to face learning.

Part of the Reopening Plan refers to the new Austin ISD app that we are excited for our community to begin using. Once the opportunity for face to face learning begins in the fall, this app will be very handy as families will be able to self-screen their students as described. Search “Austin ISD” and check it out! We anticipate utilizing this more and more in the future as it continues to evolve. It is a great resource for announcements and calendar updates right now.

In case you missed it, you can view recordings of our first Parent Technology Training focused on our BLEND and Seesaw platforms. Please know that as part of our preparation for the school year, teachers will walk parents through their virtual platforms during our Virtual Meet the Teacher event that will be presented through Zoom. More details on that will be coming soon as our staff reports back to work. Please also check out the BLEND Parent Tour as another great tool to further support your knowledge and practice leading up to September 8th.

One note that sparked discussion during the Parent Technology Training for Seesaw was if parents should all go ahead and request an Ipad for their student(s) to utilize at home. Our innovation coaches explained that the district-provided Ipads will come loaded with applications and updates that will allow students to more easily navigate the learning.Therefore, they are encouraging all families of Pre-K through 2nd grade students to go ahead and request the district Ipad. Please use this Technology Request Flyer to support you in making your request. Also know that your technology at home will still support the learning, though, in the interim! They encouraged parents to use Google Chrome for the best experience with BLEND and Seesaw. For our 3rd-5th grade students, any laptop or PC will support those grade levels so requests can still be based on need at home using the same flyer above. Our assistant principal, Myra Josey (myra.josey@austinisd.org), is our school contact if you have questions or need assistance on requesting district technology. The district is optimistic that technology distribution of Ipads will begin for Hill the week before school begins. I will update our community next week with dates once that is confirmed.

Beginning this upcoming week, we will ensure that we do a weekly Principal Check-In from now on so you have the most up to date information. Days and times may need to vary a bit as we can’t be sure of our upcoming schedules leading up to the start of school quite yet. We will provide more details on scheduling, events in the weeks leading up to school, and the best ways to find the different supports you may need. Our next Principal Check-In will be this Thursday, August 20th, at 11:00 am. You can complete this Google Form for questions we can look to answer that others may have as well. Here is the virtual Zoom information:

Join Zoom Meeting 
Meeting ID: 819 2489 9778
Passcode: dillos

Lastly, we want to let everyone know that we plan to have teachers reaching out to families to let them know who their teacher(s) will be on Wednesday, August 26th. A virtual Meet the Teacher event will then follow prior to school beginning. We plan to announce more exact details on date and time during our Principal Check-In next week and in our communication to the community.

That was a lot but thank you for reading! We hope with these detailed notes and our weekly virtual check-ins from now on, you will feel confident you have the information needed to begin a successful school year. Have a wonderful weekend!

Principal Drummond

Dear Hill Community,
It was great seeing many of you for the second time this summer on Thursday at our Principal Check-In that is linked here. For those who were not able to attend, we discussed draft scheduling as we are currently working through the process with our grade level teams, updates on the next few weeks, and answered thoughtful questions from the community you may have as well.

As you have probably heard by now, the beginning of school just changed greatly with the AISD School Board meeting on Thursday where our trustees voted to move the first day of school to September 8th. This delays the beginning of our school year for students by three weeks. Our teachers will now begin their contract year on August 18th to begin planning and preparation for the fall. Please know our staff will work very hard during this time to ensure we are ready to provide enriching virtual experiences to our students while also building connections with our Dillos and families prior to school beginning. We acknowledge the hardship this puts on many of our families as virtual learning is possibly extended as well. For now, you can anticipate the first four weeks of school being all virtual. Please reach out to us for supports you need so we can best assist you as the crucial educators at home. We appreciate all of our stakeholders and the work you are doing for our students.

With the September 8th start to school, we will push back the “posting” of class rosters and sharing of finalized schedules with the hopes to have both of these communicated to all families the week of August 24th. We will publish those dates soon as our calendar and work schedules become more concrete. We do plan to move forward with several events this upcoming week we hope you can join us for:

Parent BLEND/Seesaw Training (Tuesday, August 11th, at 4:30 pm):  We are excited to offer all of our Hill parents and guardians the opportunity to have our district technology department lead you through the basics of BLEND and Seesaw, the two learning platforms we will be primarily using this year. The goal is to support our parents so they can best support their learners.
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 896 2991 8080
Passcode: dillos

New Parent Night/ Pre-k & Kindergarten Back to School Night (Thursday, August 13th, at 5:00 pm):  We want to welcome all of our new Hill families to learn more about Hill, our staff, and our traditions. The first 30 minutes or so will be for all new Hill families. After this introduction, we will have all of our incoming Pre-K and Kindergarten families stay on for introductions and information pertinent to those grade levels. We encourage you to bring your questions as well so everyone feels ready for the first day of school!
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 830 0630 0645
Passcode: dillos

Dillo Pickup Day (Friday, August 14th, from 10:00 am- 4:00 pm):  This is an opportunity to pick up your Hill marketplace merchandise, Spirit Gear, 2019-20 Yearbooks and Pre-purchased Sprout school supplies.

We also want to keep everyone updated on our staffing for this school year. Melanie Brown, one of our amazing 4th grade teachers, has left Hill to focus on family. We want to thank Melanie for her years of service to our families and wish her the best of luck. We are excited to announce that Erin Bostick will be joining our 4th grade team as a language arts and social studies teacher. Erin most recently served as a certified teacher and long term substitute on our 4th grade team in the spring, and we are happy she is now joining our staff full time. In our office, we are happy to announce we have added Linda Glass to our team as a new clerk. She brings years of customer service and administrative experience with her and is ready to support our Hill community.

You can plan on another Principal Check-In being announced for the week of August 17th to keep everyone updated on the newest information and to listen to our families. I hope to see some of you in person for the Dillo Pickup day during my shift! We appreciate all of our volunteers who are making next week possible. Have a beautiful weekend, Hill community!

Principal Drummond

Dear Hill Community,
Welcome to our weekly update as we say goodbye to July! Our staff is excited for a new year and is ready to connect with your students again soon.

We have received further guidance from the Texas Education Agency that gives us information to continue building our schedules. We look forward to sharing those in the next few weeks as we finalize them with the latest information. The first day of school is still August 18th and our first 3 weeks of classes will be all remote learning from home. As we have seen this entire month, information and guidance can change daily. We will keep you updated if we learn more or plans change.

Like last week, I really want to highlight the excellent information available in this week’s Summer Vision newsletter from AISD. There, they have great updates on staff learning and telemedicine services available to families this year. Please check out the section on “Technology Updates”. They describe the different ways all of our families who need technology support can work towards securing it. For new to AISD families, please know that we were told you should be able to request technology in the parent cloud beginning August 3rd, if you have finished registration. As stated, thank you for your patience as a national shortage of technology is putting availability behind in some cases. We appreciate anyone who is willing to turn in Chromebooks they will not be using that were borrowed to make them available for other families in need. If you have other questions, our assistant principal Myra Josey can support you at myra.josey@austinisd.org.

If you have not done so already, please take the time to complete the latest Family Pulse Survey 2 that was sent out this last week. Each family should have received an individualized link for their student(s). If for some reason you did not receive a personalized link, you can still use this Reopening Family Pulse Survey 2 link that is more generic. Please only complete once per family. This is due TOMORROW according to the newsletter, so thank you again for giving us this crucial information!

We want to invite everyone to our upcoming Principal Check-in (afternoon coffee) this Thursday, August 6th, at 4:00 pm. We will update everyone on the week leading up to the start of school and then plans for the week of. Here is the Zoom information:

Meeting ID: 852 7768 2861
Passcode: dillos
Join Zoom Meeting

To give our families a preview, I wanted to highlight some key events taking place the week of August 10th:
Parent BLEND/Seesaw Training (Tuesday, August 11th, at 4:30 pm)
We are excited to offer all of our Hill parents and guardians the opportunity to have our district technology department lead you through the basics of BLEND and Seesaw, the two learning platforms we will be primarily using this year. The goal is to support our parents so they can best support their learners.

New Parent Night/ Pre-k & Kindergarten Back to School Night (Thursday, August 13th, at 5:00 pm)
*We want to welcome all of our new Hill families to learn more about Hill, our staff, and our traditions. The first 30 minutes or so will be for all new Hill families. After this introduction, we will have all of our incoming Pre-K and Kindergarten families stay on for introductions and information pertinent to those grade levels. We encourage you to bring your questions as well so everyone feels ready for the first day of school!

Dillo Pickup Day (Friday, August 14th, from 10:00 am- 4:00 pm):
*This is an opportunity to pick up your Hill merchandise, 2019-20 yearbooks, purchased school supplies, and more. See below for more detailed information!

As I will keep saying, thank you all for your patience as information changes weekly. We will again record our Principal Check-In this week in case you can’t make it. We look forward to seeing many of you there! Have a great week.

Jack Drummond