Dear Hill Community,

It is Book Fair week!  Here are some reminders from our letter last week:

• Family Night is this Friday, February 3rd from 5-7pm. This is always a fun outing for families, and will be the last chance to shop at the fair.  
• Our talented music teachers, Ms. Herb and Mr. Williams, have arranged a musical performance by our 1st grade students and we will have food from Stony’s Pizza. 
• Finally, E-Wallet is back again this year! Sign up on our Book Fair Homepage to create an E-Wallet account for your child. This allows your student to shop the fair without keeping track of cash. Ruhi Bell is here to answer all of your questions about Book Fair, and you can reach out to her at bookfair@hillelementary.com.

We hope to see you there!

We have had some questions recently on our policy for Apple/Google Watches. Just as a reminder, we do treat these as cell phones if students are texting on them at school. Per our cell phone policy, we always give warnings on this first, then begin taking them up. If students bring them in school, they should be in their backpacks during the school days, just like cell phones. Thanks for ensuring your student knows not to use their Apple/Google Watch at school.

From AISD: Nominate someone who went above and beyond for our students and schools for a Salute award TODAY. Salute is AISD’s annual celebration to recognize some of the district’s outstanding team members for their continued dedication to student excellence and achievement in our schools. District employees, students, families, and the community are invited to submit a nomination for a staff member they believe represents the very best of AISD in the following categories:

• Classified Staff of the Year
• Librarian of the Year
• Counselor of the Year
• Assistant Principal of the Year
• Principal of the Year

Your nominees will have the option to continue on in the award process!

This year’s Salute will also honor the campus-selected Teachers of Promise and Teachers of the Year, which are chosen by the campus each year. Nominations will close Friday, February 3 at 5pm.

We want to invite our Hill Community to our next PTA General Meeting on Thursday, February 9th at 7:45 am in our Hill Library. We will be welcoming Board Trustee Kathryn Whitley Chu to give us an update and introduction. There will be more reminders leading up as well.

Have an excellent first week of February, everyone!

Principal Drummond

Dear Hill Community, 

It was a great week back as we began the spring semester and kicked off 2023! As a reminder, there is no school tomorrow (1/16) as we observe and honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and his legacy.

Join us in giving a huge Dillo Cheer to our 2022-2023 Teacher of the Year Kaci Moore! Kaci is a fabulous 2nd grade teacher who has meant so much to Hill for many years now. She will be recognized at our annual AISD Salute! event later this spring. We also want to recognize our other two finalists for their excellence: 2nd grade teacher Michele Dare and 4th grade teacher Clayton Oden! 

Another big Dillo Cheer to Hill’s Teacher of Promise this year Coach Hannah Gloria! The Teacher of Promise goes to one outstanding first year teacher on each campus. We appreciate all that Coach Gloria does to support all of our Hill students! She will also be recognized at the AISD Salute! this year.

Updates and Reminders from our Hill Yearbook Team:  Congratulations to 5th grader Jeremy Tao whose art will be the cover for the 2022-2023 Yearbook! Yearbooks on Sale for $40. 5th Grade Parents – If you want an AD for your 5th grader, please purchase before 1/31. Balfour will lock Ad purchasing at 12am on 2/1. Buy now, create later! Spread the word!

     5th grade ad purchase deadline 1/31/23
     5th grade ad submission deadline 2/16/23

Purchase your Hill Yearbook here. Please submit questions to yearbook@hillelementary.com

Merchandise Update: Yee haw! Your good ‘ole merch peddlers are pleased to announce that your provisions are headed to ATX. Mosey on by the front drive and collect your duds on Friday 1/20 from 3pm-4pm or Saturday 1/21 from 10am-12pm. Thank you for your support and orders. We appreciate everyone planning to pick up during one of these two times. Much obliged!

Do you know someone interested in part-time work at Hill? Our Hill Childcare is still looking for excellent part-time members to join our team. The hours would be from 1:45-5:45 each day supporting our students. Any interested candidates can email Principal Drummond for more information.

From AISD: Online registration and transfer requests for the 2023-2024 school year will open on January 16th. Please share these important links with families regarding enrollment, registration, and transfers:  

1. Enrollment landing page: https://www.austinisd.org/enroll
2. Important dates and deadlines: https://www.austinisd.org/transfer/dates-deadlines
3. For questions, please direct families to Let’s Talk https://www.austinisd.org/letstalk and click on “Student Services: Enrollment, Records, & Transfers”
   
   Again, welcome back to school and we look forward to seeing you on Tuesday!

Principal Drummond

Dear Hill Community,

We have eight days left in the fall semester! Here are just a few reminders below for the upcoming week.

This week, Hill Elementary will deliver the Human Sexuality and Responsibility lessons to those students who had parents/guardians opt them in to receive the lessons. All other students will receive the designated social and emotional learning lessons for their grade level. As a reminder, all the needed information can be found at this link.

As we do each year, we discussed traffic safety around Hill and areas where we need to keep improving in our latest Campus Advisory Council meeting. Please be mindful of these rules and abide by them to keep our Dillos safe each day:

• Please DO NOT drop-off students on the streets or sidewalks unless you are in the carline. If you are parking, we expect you are also walking your student up to the building. A student should never be getting out of the car in the surrounding streets to walk up alone. The carline is for drop-off and pickup if you are staying in your vehicle.
• Please do not take a left into the carline going the opposite way on Tallwood. This is against traffic laws with a sign posted. Please enter the carline from the back which lines up down Cima Serena. Additionally, you should not take left-hand turns from Cima Serena either to get onto Tallwood. That violates traffic laws that are posted.
• Please respect all of our surrounding neighbors by never blocking driveways and not moving trash cans. If you would like to park and don’t see space, check Robbie Lane on the street or Hyridge as there is typically ample parking. Thank you all for doing your part. It takes everyone to make our mornings and afternoons safe for our kids!

We hope by now you have seen the story from Judy Maggio on ATX Good News that features our own beloved substitute Jane Newberry. You can click here to visit the Facebook page and see the story from this week. The text is here below as well:

She’s long past retirement age, but you’ll still find 89 year-old teacher Jane Newberry in the classroom almost every day! She’s a beloved substitute at Austin’s Hill Elementary. Newberry has dedicated almost 7 decades to teaching children in the Austin district, starting with 3rd graders at Highland Park Elementary back in 1954. She says,” I still keep in touch with many of those students (most of whom are retired now).” At a time when many teachers are leaving the profession, Jane Newberry says she feels blessed by her long career. She says, “it has been a joyful, fulfilling, challenging ride!” No wonder she was named AISD “Sub of the Year”, shortly after she retired and returned to the classroom. Newberry obviously passed along her love of teaching. Her daughter, daughter-in-law and granddaughters are all current or former educators in AISD. Although she’s planning to move to a retirement community after the first of the year and re-retire from teaching, Newberry admits if the phone rings again there are no guarantees.

Dillo Cheer for Ms. Newberry! Have a great one, Hill Community.

Principal Drummond

Dear Hill Community,

We have a short week as our Winter Break begins on Thursday. As a reminder, there is no school for students from this Thursday, December 22nd- Monday, January 9th. School will resume on Tuesday, January 10th.

From AISD: Online registration and transfer requests for the 2023-2024 school year will open on January 9th. Please share these important links with families regarding enrollment, registration, and transfers: 

1. Enrollment landing page: https://www.austinisd.org/enroll
2. Important dates and deadlines: https://www.austinisd.org/transfer/dates-deadlines
3. For questions, please direct families to Let’s Talk https://www.austinisd.org/letstalk and click on “Student Services: Enrollment, Records, & Transfers”

For interested 4th grade families: 4th grade students are invited to participate in the annual African American Heritage Celebration Essay Contest in Austin ISD. Students are required to write a composition addressing the theme “Building the Future from the Lessons of the Past”.   The writing prompt is: “Why is it important to study Black History?” Please review the essay information forms for 4th grade that include the checklist and contest rules and prize information.  The contest is open to all 4th grade students in AISD. Essays are due to Mr. Drummond by Friday, January 27th. There will be three winners per grade level recognized at the Friday, February 24, 2023, African American Heritage Program. The event is scheduled for 6:00 p.m., at the AISD Performing Arts Center, 1500 Barbara Jordan Boulevard, Austin, TX 78723. Thank you for your continued support of this celebration and remember to add this event to your calendar. 

With many Austin ISD students living in food-insecure households, access to healthy food may be challenging when the district is closed.  Families can use the community resources below to find free meals in their area while Austin ISD offices and schools are closed for the winter break:

• Central Texas Food Bank
• United Way for Greater Austin – ConnectATX
• Texas Health and Human Services – Call 2-1-1 or (877) 541-7905 to speak to a live operator. 

There are opportunities to hear more and be a part of budget discussions for the 2023-2024 school year for Austin ISD. Here are some upcoming events:

Virtual
Monday, December 19, 2022.
English from 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Spanish from 6:00pm – 7:00pm
Budget Community Conversation 

Virtual
Wednesday, January 11, 2023.
Spanish from 12:00pm-1:00pm
English from 6:00pm-7:00pm
Budget Community Conversation 

AISD will host several in-person meetings throughout January, February and March to further talk about the 2023-2024 budget.  Stay tuned for more information.

We won’t have other communications over the break unless they are needed. Thank you all for being part of our special school community. We wish you a peaceful and recharging winter break. See you tomorrow!

Principal Drummond

Dear Hill Community, 

We are in the fun month of December! We always look forward to the learning and cultural celebrations taking place across campus. Here are some notes for upcoming events and ways you can support our school community.

We encourage those who can and are interested to support our annual Hill Holiday Wishes initiative. Right now we are collecting $25 HEB gift cards that can then help families in our Hill community. They will directly impact Hill students. Gift cards can be dropped off to our counseling team in the front office ASAP this week so we can prepare. Thank you for considering supporting this important program for the holidays!

Our Hill community is invited to a Parent Education event this Thursday, December 8th at 7:45 am in the Doss Elementary Community Room with counselor and former Doss principal, Janna Griffin called “Parenting Hacks for Raising Resilient Kids.”  The event will be available in person at Doss or over Zoom.  Please click here for the flier. The session will be recorded and made available as well. Below is more information on the presenter. We hope some of our Hill parents/guardians can participate in the excellent learning opportunity!

In this parent ed program Janna will discuss simple, small steps that you can take to sharpen your parenting skills and improve your relationships with your kids. She utilizes her 30 + years of experience in education and counseling to frame the issues we are all facing today. Janna incorporates humor, research, and her own – real life examples to share specific strategies for raising resilient youth. In her own down-to-earth style, she shares her parenting gaffes and successes while reminding us, small steps can lead to big changes.

One last call! If you have any old gift cards or other fun items to donate that could be used for staff raffles and prizes around the holidays, it is greatly appreciated. Not a must but will go to great use. They can come straight to Principal Drummond. Thanks for those who have donated!

Have a great winter week, everyone!

Principal Drummond

Dear Hill Community,

We hope you enjoy the extra hour of your day as we “fall back.” As a reminder, there is no school on Tuesday! Staff will be completing professional learning on Tuesday. We look forward to our Veterans Day assembly this Thursday morning which is an annual tradition. We thank all of the veterans in our community for their service and sacrifice.

Our annual Hill Carnival event is this Friday from 5:30-7:30! Below this letter, please see all the information you need to have a fun time Friday, including a link to purchase your wristbands. We hope to see our entire community there.

Final Reminder: Have your voice heard and vote this Tuesday on Election Day! Below is an outline of the 3 bond propositions on the ballot for AISD:

• Proposition A would cover the majority of projects with $2.32 billion for school modernizations, safety and security upgrades, maintenance needs and other facility improvements.
• Proposition B would provide $75.5 million for one-to-one student and staff devices, classroom technology upgrades and improved Wi-Fi access.
• Proposition C would bring $47.4 million to districtwide stadium facilities like Burger, Nelson, Delco and Noack which are also used for community events such as vaccination clinics and graduation ceremonies.
• More info: Five seats on the Board of Trustees are also up for election, including Districts 1, 4, 6 and 7 and at-large position 9.

We want to invite our Hill parents/guardians to our Human Sexuality and Responsibility Family Orientation taking place Monday, November 14th at 4:00 pm in our Hill Library. We will review all needed information and answer questions you may have about our HSR curriculum this year. You can also be on the lookout this week for more information through email and an opt-in form by teacher if you wish for your student(s) to receive the lessons this December. More reminders to come.

We are excited for the return of our UIL competition open to 2nd-5th grade students that will be held at Ridgetop in February. Letters with more information on how your child can participate were sent home in Wednesday folders. You can access that letter here as well. Please note that we will be holding a UIL Virtual Information session after school on Tuesday, November 15th by Zoom. This is a change from the hard copy letter! We apologize for the mistake. Here is the Zoom link. We will work to answer your questions but also ensure we take down questions we may need to find the answer to! We are looking forward to continuing this fun and engaging program.

Reminder: Click here for information and sign-up if you are interested in our Hill Flu Shot Clinic this year. The Hill clinic will take place on Monday, November 14th from 3:30-5:30 pm. A link with other resources is included on the flier.

Have a relaxing night, friends. Again, see below for all your needed Carnival information for Friday.

Principal Drummond

Dear Hill Community,

It was wonderful returning to campus and seeing the smiling faces of our Dillos! October has flown by as we move into a busy November this week. There are several event reminders below. As a reminder for tomorrow, we do not wear Halloween costumes to school. We have other designated dress-up days to celebrate throughout the year. Thank you for your understanding and support in keeping all costumes at home tomorrow.

On September 29th, our Board of Trustees approved the resolution that AISD is committed to a Culture of Voting and has designated November 8th as a student holiday and a staff development day.  We will not have school on Tuesday, November 8th (Election Day). We encourage every member of our community who can to exercise their right to vote.

Reminder: Early voting in the 2022 Bond election began on October 24th. Election Day is November 8th. Please click here to view a one-page Facility Project Sheet that outlines how the upcoming November bond election could affect Hill School. Please also check out this AISD Bond Fact Sheet that gives you important information on Bond Propositions A, B, and C. 

From our 5th Grade Families: Help our 5th graders purchase their legacy gift for Hill Elementary!  CLICK HERE to order your one-of-a-kind beanie and quick dry beach towel!  These will be the perfect additions to those cold winter days and warm summers on the beach!  Maybe you don’t enjoy the cold or hang at the beach?  You can STILL support our 5th graders, and our whole school, just by donating.  If you want to donate, please contribute ANY dollar amount via Venmo @Melanie-Waters-5 (note “5th grade fundraiser”).  Thank you Hill families!

Click here for information and sign-up if you are interested in our Hill Flu Shot Clinic this year. The Hill clinic will take place on Monday, November 15th from 3:30-5:30 pm. A link with other resources is included on the flyer.

From AISD: Dr. Mays is challenging our school community to read one million minutes this school year. It’s an ambitious goal, BUT all of our students are encouraged to participate. The Million Minute Reading Challenge includes a healthy reading competition between schools. The campus that logs the most minutes in each learning community by level will receive a prize and bragging rights to the traveling trophy. Students can log their minutes at home daily/weekly using this Google Form. You can also scan the barcode on this flier to log your minutes.  

I’ll leave you with my favorite picture so far of our newest little Longhorn Callum Drummond. He is clearly on the right track already. Have a nice fall week, everyone!

Principal Drummond

Dear Hill Community,

We hope you are enjoying this more autumn-like weather! Your update this week is all about upcoming bond and election information, including a special presentation you can attend.

Early voting in the 2022 Bond election begins October 24th. Election Day is November 8th. Please click here to view a one-page Facility Project Sheet that outlines how the upcoming November bond election could affect Hill School. Please also check out this AISD Bond Fact Sheet that gives you important information on Bond Propositions A, B, and C. We will continue to send out information to our community in the coming weeks leading up to the November election.

Our entire Anderson Vertical Team community is invited to a special presentation at Doss Elementary this Tuesday, October 4th from 5:00-6:30 pm. You can click here for more information. A QR code is included in the link if you would like to attend via Zoom. The meeting will include presentations from District 4 Trustee Candidates Clint Small and Kathryn Whitley Chu. Current Board Trustee Kristin Ashy will present as well. There will also be a detailed bond presentation, similar to the one held at Hill several weeks ago. We hope you can all attend this important night!

Have an excellent end to your week, Hill Community.

This letter was sent via email on 9/29/22.

Dear Hill Community,

Friday is our annual Hill Sock Hop event on the playground from 5:30-7:30 pm! Check out the last Dillo Details for more information here. You can check this week’s Dillo Details as well. We encourage 50’s-themed dress at school this Friday in celebration. We look forward to seeing our Hill community there!

Reminder: We want to invite all of our parents/guardians to our next PTA Meeting in our Hill Library this Thursday, September 15th at 7:45 am. We will be hosting Board Trustee Kristin Ashy and include an update on the upcoming AISD bond that will be on the ballots later this fall. Hill is listed for a phase 2 modernization if the bond is passed. We hope to see many of our stakeholders there to receive more information. We encourage everyone to join our Hill PTA as well. We want 100% membership this year, even if you are unable to attend meetings!

We want to encourage our you to take part in a special learning opportunity for caregivers sponsored by the Summitt PTA. You can check out this flyer for more information. The series is called “Insights into Caregiving.” The sessions are free and the first opportunity is tomorrow (Monday) at 7:00 pm titled “3 Strategies for Wellbeing.” We appreciate our vertical team friends for sharing these awesome opportunities!

Those are our big items for the week. We hope you have an excellent rest of your day.

Principal Drummond

Dear Hill Community,

We want to remind everyone that there is no school tomorrow (Monday, 9/5) as we observe the Labor Day holiday. As we return on Tuesday for school, the Uvalde Consolidated ISD will begin their classes as well. To show support, schools and districts around Texas are organizing to wear their school colors of Maroon and White on Tuesday. We encourage anyone interested to take part.

We want to invite all of our parents/guardians to our next PTA Meeting in our Hill Library on Thursday, September 15th at 7:45 am. We will be hosting Board Trustee Kristin Ashy and include an update on the upcoming AISD bond that will be on the ballots later this fall. Hill is listed for a phase 2 modernization if the bond is passed. We hope to see many of our stakeholders there to receive more information. We encourage everyone to join our Hill PTA as well. We want 100% membership this year, even if you are unable to attend meetings!

Reminder of a Volunteer Opportunity: We want to thank the volunteers who have been supporting our youngest students at PE each day during the outdoor rotation. It has made such a difference! Please consider signing-up to support if you have not done so yet or would like to continue with another rotation. We appreciate your consideration.

Our Counselors are hosting a Gifted and Talented (GT) Parent Meeting, on September 8th at 5pm.  If you would like to learn more about the GT identification process for students in grades Kindergarten through 5th, please join them at the Zoom link below.  For more information about the AISD GT Program, please visit the Austin ISD Advanced Academics website.  Reach out to Ms. Kelton at sarah.kelton@austinisd.org or Mrs. Winfrey at stephanie.winfrey@austinisd.org with any questions!

Zoom link: austinisd-org.zoom.us/j/5941259012?pwd=TStHaGdJYzJDZStPdlE4V29HdDVjdz09
Meeting ID: 594 125 9012 Passcode: 123

Fall Picture Day is Wednesday, September 21st. You can click here for all the needed information and to sign-up. We will give reminders and more information in the coming weeks.

We are looking forward to our annual Sock Hop event coming up on Friday, September 16th. Visit hillelementary.com and sign up to receive the Dillo Details for more information if you have not done so. Have a nice Labor Day holiday!

Principal Drummond