The Lively Middle School Magnet Program is a free advanced academic program within the Austin Independent School District. The program focuses on educating Magnet students from all around the Austin area. Authorized by Austin ISD’s school board in 2001, the Lively Law and Humanities Magnet for Global Studies is one of Austin’s most unique and inclusive programs with a focus on civics, humanities, and social justice. Click here for more information on the program and upcoming information nights.
Just as we celebrate our classroom teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week, our Staff Appreciation Committee invites you to show all of our staff members how much we love them throughout the year! This year’s schedule includes a few celebration adjustments and date changes to ensure we are pandemic-safe and ready to begin as our phase-in timeframe is ending.
First up, is Principal Appreciation! Hill families, let’s show our three hard-working and beloved principals how much we appreciate them the Week of October 26th. Let’s flood their inboxes with artwork and heartfelt messages from our little Dillos. You are also welcome to send yummy lunches, gift cards, or anything else you’d love for them to have!
To see the whole year’s Staff Appreciation schedule click here. We’ll share information in Dillo Details and on our grade level Facebook pages throughout the year for reminders about celebrating all of our special staff members! Reach out with any questions to appreciation@hillelementary.com.
We would love to see our Dillos sporting their Hill Spirit Shirts and College Shirts! Please add your pictures to the Google Slide Deck. These photos will be shared in our weekly assembly throughout the school year! Your Dillos will love to see themselves being spotlighted each week!
Face to Face Students
Weekend meals are available for on-campus, in-person learners as they leave campus on Fridays.
Please click this to sign up.
Virtual Students
AISD to Continue Free Meals through December
All Austin ISD students will receive free school meals through December 2020.
The Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) recently announced an extension of current school meal programs. This extension allows Austin ISD to continue to provide free meals for any child under 19, or those over the age of 19 who are utilizing special education resources or currently enrolled in school to complete the requirements for a high school diploma from curbside meal sites.
For students participating in remote, off-campus learning, free 7-day meal packs will be available each Thursday at more than 40 curbside locations throughout Austin.
Schools serving free curbside 7-day meal packs from 3:30-5:30 p.m. each Thursday:
Location closest to Hill School: Anderson High School
https://www.austinisd.org/openforlearning/meals
If you have any questions, please contact:
Chelsea Stover, counselor, chelsea.stover@austinisd.org
Stephanie Winfrey, counselor, stephanie.winfrey@austinisd.org
Shelly Vlcek, Hill Food Services Manager, shelly.vlcek@austinisd.org
Click here to learn more about Trojan Lacrosse.
Make plans to visit Galaxy Cafe (8127 Mesa Drive) TODAY, Wednesday, October 21 between 11:00am – 8:00pm for Spirit Day! Dine In or order online – Don’t forget to mention DILLO DAY when ordering! Galaxy Cafe will save your receipts and donate 15% of sales back to Hill Elementary PTA! Click here for more information. Thank you Galaxy Cafe!!!
Dear Hill Community,
We hope your weekend is off to a great start. This upcoming week, we look forward to welcoming back some of our 3rd and 4th grade students in week 3 of our phase-in plan. For families coming back to campus for the first time, I have again included the information from prior letters below to support the transition.
As always, we want to share the recording of our Hill Principal Check-In from this past Thursday. Obviously one of the main talking points during the update was the confirmed positive COVID-19 case we had on campus. As stated in the letter that went out Thursday to our entire community, we will always ensure that contact tracing and notifications happen in line with our Austin ISD safety protocols if we have confirmed or presumed positive cases on campus. Our custodial team is trained to sanitize the affected areas appropriately. For more information, please reference the Austin ISD COVID-19 Dashboard and the District Open for Learning Plan to see statistics and protocols. We take this situation very seriously and will continue to ensure Hill School provides the safest possible learning environment for all of our Dillos.
The other big discussion point was our post phase-in planning. Currently we are meeting with our grade level teams to discuss how our blended learning model is working for our students and staff. We would also like to get the family perspective to see how the current learning model is working. We encourage all of our families to complete this Hill Phase-In Parent/Guardian Feedback Surveyto get your feedback. We do anticipate that there could be changes at different grade levels in our learning model to best support everyone. Models may look different based on safety, student groups/learning needs, campus staffing needs, teacher feedback, logistics, and other variables that may affect our decisions. Please know that if your student(s) grade level does move to a different plan (for instance having some teachers instruct only virtually or only face to face) and it affects your student(s), that will be clearly communicated. With any change, we will work to mitigate students moving from their teachers but this could happen in certain circumstances. Again, we will work with your individual family in these situations with early messaging. Further communication will come when it is ready. We are still evaluating our practices and utilizing feedback to make the best possible decisions.
On a few other notes, we wanted to alert 5th grade families that Ms. Cotten is currently teaching virtually so if your students return, they will be in-person with Mr. Wilder and Ms. Salome. There was a great question Thursday about older students walking home from 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade. This is of course okay, assuming the plan has been communicated to teachers for returning students. If parents are walking with them, they can wait for dismissal by the ramps for their students. For our 4th graders, this can be by the stairs on Cima Serena as well. Thanks for prepping your Dillos for dismissal.
For parents who paid for Hill after school childcare registration fees in the fall, please let Lucy Chu know (if you haven’t already) if you are interested in care this fall. Soon, we will be opening up registration (details to come) to fill any remaining spots with the hope to begin on November 2nd. More information to come!
Enjoy this beautiful fall weather while it lasts! Have a wonderful day.
Principal Drummond
(Click on dates for previous Principal letters from October 4 and October 11)
Workroom Volunteers are needed for teacher workroom and off site jobs to assist teachers with copying, laminating, class projects and more. If interested in please contact Julie Neitzel.
Each month, your Hill Counselors will be creating a Community Counselor Newsletter to update you on any upcoming counselor events, counselor schedules, important information and links, and parent resources. Check it out here!
Hill Elementary is a blue ribbon school located in Northwest Hills in Austin, Texas. It serves the communities of Northwest Hills, Great Hills, Lakewood and Jester Estates, near the greenbelts of northwest Austin.
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