Dear Parents,

By now, you should have received your child’s STAAR scores from this past Spring.  We are very proud of the accomplishments of our students on these rigorous tests!

STAAR Scores are:

3rd grade reading – 94% students passing, 54% students at masters level

3rd grade math – 90% students passing, 39% students at masters level

4th grade reading – 93% students passing, 49% students at masters level

4th grade math – 93% students passing, 50% students at masters level

4th grade writing – 86% students passing, 28 % students at masters level

5th grade science – 93% students passing, 35% students at masters level

Dillo Cheer for all of our students and staff for their amazing work this past year.

I also would like to share with you some upcoming staffing changes in the Hill Office.

Past Hill Childcare Secretary, Jaye Bunde, will become the new Hill Administrative Assistant/Bookkeeper.

Past Hill Clerk, Lucy Chu, will become the new Hill Childcare Secretary.

We have hired Christine McBride as our new Clerk. Ms. McBride comes to Hill School with experience in the nonprofit world, as well as the healthcare industry.

We want to welcome all of these ladies to their new positions at Hill!

Enjoy your summer vacation!

Beth Newton

Dear Hill Families,

Thank you for your patience and support this past week as we completed our final round of STAAR testing.  Our students continue to learn and be challenged in these last weeks of school, and we are so proud of their accomplishments.

Next week, we will celebrate our fifth graders as they get ready to move onto middle school.  For many of them, we can remember when they walked into the Hill front doors for the first time in kindergarten.  They have grown into wonderful students and we are so proud of their accomplishments at Hill School.

We continue to work on staffing for the 2018-2019 School Year.  Here are some updates to our staffing below:

Hill third grade teacher, Kate Hoffner, is resigning from AISD to pursue other career options.  We appreciate Ms. Hoffner’s service to the Hill Dillos over the past several years and will miss her eco-friendly reminders and leadership on campus!

Hill first grade teacher, Catherine Frank, is resigning from AISD to move to Houston to be closer to her family.  We appreciate Ms. Frank’s service to our Hill students over the past two years and wish her luck teaching in Houston!

Also, Hill first grade teacher, Sally Schwarz, is resigning from AISD to spend more time with her family.  We appreciate Mrs. Schwarz’s service to our Hill students this past year, and look forward to seeing her in the Hill hallways as a parent in the years to come.

We have been busy interviewing and hiring new staff to replace these wonderful teachers.

In first grade, we have hired Suzy Wright, who comes to Hill from Bridge Point Elementary in Eanes ISD.  Mrs. Wright has several years of experience teaching kindergarten, 1^st and 2^nd grades.

In third grade, we have hired Abby Bolin, who is a recent graduate from the University of Texas at Austin.  Ms. Bolin comes to Hill School after student teaching second grade at Blazier Elementary in AISD.

In third grade, we have also hired Madison Mischnick, who is also a recent graduate from the University of Texas at Austin.  Ms. Mischnick comes to Hill School after student teaching kindergarten and fifth grades at Summitt Elementary in AISD.

Working collaboratively with the PTA, we have decided to return to Mr. Taveirne supporting Hill’s technology needs next year in conjunction with his duties as a PE teacher.  We appreciate Donny Branam’s service to the Hill community as technology specialist over the past two years.

Have a wonderful weekend!

BN

Dear Hill Community,

It is hard to believe that May is here and the school year will be over with before we know it!  We have had an amazing year of learning here at Hill School.  We recently received our STAAR scores in 5^th grade and could not be happier with our students’ hard work!  Dillo Cheer!

STAAR Reading 94% passing, 48% masters

STAAR Math 96% passing, 55% masters

We are in the midst of planning for the 2018-2019 school year.  I wanted to update you on some staffing changes for the upcoming school year.

Melanie Brown, current 3^rd grade teacher, will be moving to teach 4^th grade.

Bess Wirht, current 4^th grade teacher, will be moving to teach 5^th grade.

Kellie Allen, Hill Bookkeeper, is leaving Hill School to become the Bookkeeper at Anderson High School.  Anderson is so lucky to have her!  Ms. Allen’s last day at Hill will be June 15, 2018.  We appreciate Kellie’s eight years of service to Hill School and will miss her very much!  Ms. Allen has been an amazing bookkeeper and supportive advocate to our students, staff and parent community.

Lisa Loflin, Hill Clerk, is retiring from Hill School after sixteen years of service.  Lisa is always such a breath of fresh air, welcoming everyone with kindness and humor!  She is a joy to work with and be around.  We wish her luck in retirement and many happy days ahead!

Enjoy this wet weekend!  See you in the halls soon!

Beth Newton

Dear Hill Families,

We hope that you had a wonderful Spring Break!  I was able to travel with the Trojan Belles to Hawaii, where they performed at Pearl Harbor.  This was such an memorable event for our family!

We are back in the swing of learning at Hill School.  Thank you for always having a vigilant eye while on campus.  We are continuing to refine and adjust our safety procedures.  After recent safety walks on campus with district personnel we have a few safety adjustments we would like to make to arrival and dismissal.

Single point entry is recommended on all AISD campuses.  Beginning Monday, March 26, we will lock the back campus door by the gym at all times.  For arrival and dismissal, parents and students will need to enter at the front doors or the back cafeteria door.  Thank you for your cooperation. We continue to work with district personnel to advocate for more cameras, fencing and lighting on campus.  We have recently installed a doorbell for the 5^th grade Commons Building.  We are working to have a camera and buzzer system installed there, as well.

We want to invite everyone to attend out Campus Advisory Council Meeting on April 2 at 3:15 pm in the Hill Library, where our guest will be Council Member Alison Alter.  Ms. Alter is coming to meet with our campus community to discuss any concerns we have regarding traffic safety at Hill School.  Also present at this meeting will be an APD representative, ATD and Public Words representatives, and the Quarter Cent Funds Manager.  We hope to see you at this important meeting!

I wanted to inform parents that fourth grade teacher, Katy Frazier, recently resigned from AISD.  We appreciate Ms. Frazier’s service to the students and staff of Hill Elementary School.  We have hired Halah Helt as the new classroom teacher.  Ms. Helt graduated from Texas State University, and student taught in the 4^th and 5^th grades.  We are so please to have Ms. Helt teaching at Hill!

We recently received our projections for 2018-2019 and are beginning to work on staffing for the new school year.  Next year we will have: 3 classes PK, 7 classes Kindergarten, 7 classes 1^st grade, 8 classes 2^nd grade, 8 classes 3^rd grade, 7 classes 4^th grade and 6 classes 5^th grade.  We will also have two sections of Essential Areas in Art, Music and PE.

Have a wonderful Spring!

We are deeply saddened by the tragic events that occurred in Parkland, Florida earlier this week.  Attached is a parent resource you can use when talking with your child about safety, if you desire.

This week we have reinforced safety with staff, giving reminders about campus safety procedures.  It takes everyone to keep our Hill Dillos safe each day.  Please keep a vigilant eye while on campus and report anything unusual to the Hill Office Administration.

Click here to read more information on talking to children about violence.

Dear Hill Families,

Welcome back to school!  We hope that your family had a relaxing, fun filled time over the Winter Break.  To get to see snow twice in one month in Austin was pretty special!  We have really enjoyed hearing the students’ stories about their holiday adventures!  Now, here we are in 2018, setting resolutions and goals for learning and social, emotional choices this Spring Semester at Hill School.

On January 2, the Hill Staff participated in the Creative Learning Initiative Training with the other elementary schools in the Anderson Vertical Team.  On this day, staff collaborated with community arts partners on strategies to create engaging, arts-integrated lessons in the classroom.  The CLI has been a wonderful way for our teachers to expose students to multiple art forms, thereby deepening content understanding.

On January 3, all of the schools in the Anderson Vertical Team joined together for  multiple training sessions led by teachers and staff on everything from technology integration to mindfulness.  Teachers learned about math and writing instruction, ways to integrate spelling into the curriculum, how flexible seating can benefit students and how to differentiate instruction for multiple learners.  Then in the afternoon, teachers across campuses met for vertical and horizontal planning.  This is always a great day for conversations and planning across the entire Anderson Vertical Team!  Thank you for giving us this day for teacher planning and development with our peers!

Finally, I wanted to let everyone know that Whitney Wallace, Hill fourth grade teacher has resigned from AISD for personal reasons, effective January 12, 2018.  We appreciate Ms. Wallace’s service to the students of Hill School and wish her luck in future endeavors.  We have hired Alexa Denny as our new fourth grade teacher.  Ms. Denny is a graduate of the University of Texas and most recently was a fourth grade student teacher at Laurel Mountain Elementary School in Round Rock ISD.  We are excited to welcome Alexa Denny to Hill School!

Have a great weekend and we will see you in the Hill hallways!

BN

Thank you for a wonderful first semester of learning at Hill School.  This month in our Social Emotional Learning lessons, we are focused on compassion and developing friendships.  With our students we discuss ways to grow our friendships and develop lasting ties with each other.  When difficulties and conflict arise, we teach the students how to manage the conflict and strategies to use to solve the problem.  It is important that our students continue to learn to make multiple friendships while in elementary school.  This Spring we will continue to focus on SEL strategies, and will also work with parents on how SEL strategies can be implemented in the home setting.  Stay tuned to the eNews for more information on these opportunities for parents.

One way we show compassion during this time of the year is by giving to others.   We are grateful for those in our school community who help those in need through our Hill Families Helping Hill Families Program.  Many thanks to our counselors and parents who organized the donations to support our families during the holidays.  Our fifth graders also led our campus this semester in the Legacy of Giving food and clothing drive.  Hill students donated 2100 pounds of food, and 288 coats, which were disbursed at the Legacy of Giving Day of Service last week.  Through our PTA, we have also started a Weekend Backpack Program, to help families in need with food over the weekend.  Many thanks to all of our students and families who are caring for others and supporting these wonderful programs.

We are pleased that the City has installed crosswalk safety signs around Hill school.  Hopefully, these signs will be a good reminder to drivers to follow all safety laws and slow down while driving by Hill School.  Thank you to all of our parents who continue to be vigilent and safety minded when on campus.

In the Spring Semester we will begin the process of looking towards the 2018-2019 school year.  Tuition Pre-K registration will begin in January, and registration will be available on the AISD website, as well as in the Hill Office.

May your family have a restful Winter Holiday Break.  I’ll be staying in the Austin area, but will look for Hill Dillos everywhere I go!  Dillo Cheers for now!!

Dear Hill Families,

Thank you for a smooth first nine weeks of school, filled with many academic and social/emotional learning opportunities.  Our students are now beginning their second nine weeks of school, as we continue to support them in their academic studies.  Our focus for SEL this month is compassion, showing care and concern for others.  We will model strategies for showing compassion with students in the classroom and at Morning Assembly.

We have recently hired a Math Specialist, Emily George, who will work with 3^rd-5^th graders needing math support at Hill.   Ms. George comes to Hill from Cook Elementary in AISD, where she was a classroom teacher for several years.  She also has experience as a math and reading interventionist in Round Rock ISD.  We are so pleased to have Ms. George join our team at Hill!

It is with great sadness I share with families that Hill Childcare Worker and lunch monitor, Roya Jamshidi has resigned from AISD.  We appreciate her service to the students and staff of Hill School.  We are currently in the process of filling this position.

I also would like to let you know of a transition in staff in our Health Room.  As you may know, AISD and Seton Healthcare recently committed to staffing large elementary school health rooms with full time RN coverage.  Dianna Pierson will begin as our full-time RN at Hill on Monday, November 6.  She comes to us with several years of nursing experience in Houston ISD.  We welcome Ms. Pierson to Hill School!  We also want to appreciate our RNs Donna Cardone and Glenda Simmons, as well as SHA Rachel Durrett for their service to Hill School, and wish them well in their future positions!

We had a wonderful Professional Development Day on October 23, where staff participated in teacher led learning sessions on everything from math and literacy instruction to mindfulness and classroom management.  We are looking forward to our professional development days on January 2 and 3, where we will participate in Creative Learning Initiative learning, as well as an Anderson Vertical Team professional development day.  January 2 and 3 will be student holidays, with students returning to class on January 4.

Have a great week and we will see you in the halls!!

BN

Dear Parents,

Thank you for a very smooth start to the school year.  This year we continue our focus on Social Emotional Learning, with Tuesday being our SEL day for lessons and Morning Assembly discussion.  Also, this past week was Coordinated School Health Week, where we focused on learning ways to be healthy in mind, body and spirit!  Soon we will be having Mindful Monday lessons at Monday Morning Assemblies.

Our present enrollment at Hill is 952 students.  Thank you, parents, for continuing to practice safe habits at arrival and dismissal each day.  We are pleased to share that we will not be leveling any classes at Hill School this year.  The leveling process of having to add or lose classrooms can be a difficult one, so we are thankful that we will not have to make any changes to our student’s schedules this school year.

We enjoyed seeing all of our parents at BTSN this past week.  Thank you for being so supportive of students and teachers at Hill School.  This week we have also enjoyed our student council elections and are very proud of our students who chose to run for student council representative.  This takes courage and is a skill we want all of our students to have.

Thank you to our PTA for a fantastic Sock Hop event last week.  This is always a fun time to celebrate the start of school on the grounds with family and friends.  Our Creative Learning Initiative fine arts enrichment began in our kindergarten classes this past week.  Finally, we hope to see parents at this week’s Principal Coffee.  After another volunteer training, we will share happenings and updates, along with introducing the new writing plan we are implementing at Hill this year.

See you in the halls!

BN

Dear Hill Families,

We were so happy to see our Hill students and families at the Meet the Teacher Event last Friday!  Our teachers have been busy preparing their classrooms, getting ready for the first day of school!  This is going to be a SUPER year!  We hope you’ve seen our teacher superhero Austin skyline bulletin board in the front hallway!

We have a fantastic staff this school year!  Included below are all teaching staff, as well as teacher pairings:

PK – Michele Meadows, Caty Winslow

PPCD – Erin Ganakas, Marci Atkinson

Kindergarten – Caroline Braun, Christine Combs, Laura Davis (Scace), Joanna Fairbrother, Lindsey Hazlewood, Stacy Maine, Brandi Watson

1^st Grade – Jill Clark, Laura Coaxum, Michele Dare, Catherine Frank, Alexa Rushing, Alli Sanchez-Perry, Maitri Shah, Rebecca Stanley

2^nd Grade – Lori Huang and Tho Nguyen,  Katherine Laxton and Sheryl Southwell, Tara McBrearty and Natalie Perez, Sherrie Shaver, Mary Elizabeth Young

3^rd Grade – Sally Armstrong and Analisa Guevara,  Melanie Brown and Jason Eddleton, Kate Hoffner and Anna Peterson,  Robin Olson and Clayton Open

4^th Grade – Krista Davis and Kelly Manzano, Katy Frazier (Holguin) and Katelyn Houchin, Jeanine LaChance and Allie Massingill, Bess Wirht and Whitney Wallace

5^th Grade – Rachel Briles and Jacob Mayer; Hannah Cotton, Lorrie Salome and Thomas Wilder

Special Education-Melissa Butler (Grades K – 3rd)

Charlotte Williams (Grades 4th,5th)

Laura Jones (Scores Grades K-5th)

Essential Areas –  Primary Grades – Jason Schafer (PE), Steve Williams (Music), Stephen Williams (Art)

Upper Grades – Roger Taveirne (PE), Michelle Herb (Music), Stephanie Perry (Art)

The Anderson Vertical Team is excited to be part of the Creative Learning Initiative (CLI) this year.  This is a city-wide collaboration between MINDPOP, the City of Austin and over 50 arts and cultural organizations, bringing arts enrichment and creative learning to the students of Hill Elementary.  CLI is built on three pillars of learning: Fine Arts enrichment, creative teaching across the curriculum and community arts organizations and resources.  Hill Staff completed a PD with the CLI team last week and we are so excited to bring this creative program to our students.

Looking forward to the first day of school!!

Beth Newton