Essential Areas Updated Schedule goes into effect November 2, 2020

Beginning on Monday, November 2, 2020, Essential Areas Teachers (Art, Music, and PE) will follow the AISD three-day rotation schedule, as per district mandate. What this means for your students is that they will have Art, Music, or PE every day, following the school district’s ABC schedule, instead of the once-a-week schedule that has been in place since the beginning of the school year. Attached is the district ABC calendar, as well as the Hill Essential Areas schedule.  Click here for the November calendar of ABC days. Your students will need to attend their teacher’s class time slot, as per the schedule above.

Please note that the remote ZOOM classes will continue to be 30-minute classes (the first 30 minutes of the time slot) followed by 15 minutes of asynchronous learning time.

For ART classes – Please be sure that your student has some basic art supplies, whether in-person or remote. These include pencils, paper, crayons, markers, colored pencils, scissors, glue. In-person students will need to bring their art supplies to every art class, as we are not allowed to share equipment this year.

For MUSIC classes – Please be sure that your student is wearing appropriate footwear for movement, whether in-person or remote. They should also have something to write with and write on, and a home percussion instrument nearby.  All recorders must be kept at home for now, per district mandate for student safety.

For PE classes – Please be sure that your student is wearing appropriate clothes and footwear for movement, whether in-person or remote.

We appreciate your patience as we transition to our traditional ABC schedule! Thank you for sharing your strong and creative Dillos with us!

Returning Library Books

The new book return bin has been installed on the front porch of Hill School right by the office call box. You may drop off books at your convenience and rest assured that they will be checked in promptly. We want to extend a HUGE thanks to all Dillos and their families who have done their part in helping us collect long overdue library books from last school year.  Our number of books checked out is creeping down, but we do still have a long way to go to clear all student accounts. Please contact Mrs. Pustka at (512) 841-8036 with any questions.

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

Get the AISD App Today!

We encourage all families returning to Hill Campus to please download the AISD mobile app!  The COVID-19 Screen & Go link can be found on the main page and is the easiest way to have your student ready to go each morning.  The app also provides a central place for AISD news, quicklinks and message notifications.  Download it from your preferred app store or visit austinisd.org for more details.

50th Anniversary Car Parade

Hill’s 50th Anniversary Car Parade will be held on Saturday, November 7 from 10:00 – 11:00am. Plan to swing by the school to celebrate along with teachers, staff and Dash safely from the comfort of your vehicle. See route below! (Plan to queue on Cima Serena heading West.)
 **PK – 2nd encouraged to come between 10:00 and 10:30 am
**3rd – 5th encouraged to come between 10:30 am and 11:00 am.

Claim Your Lost and Found!

Please plan to stop by the North Portico on Wednesday, October 28 or Thursday, October 29 from 4:00 – 6:00pm to look through the many items in Lost & Found from last semester. All unclaimed items will be donated on Thursday evening.

All labeled items will continue to be delivered to classrooms.  Please remember to label all clothing!  Thank you!