Dear Hill Community, 

We hope you are enjoying a nice, long weekend. This week at Hill we celebrate Librarian and Assistant Principal Appreciation Week! Thank you to Jennifer Moore and Terri Kogel-Banda for the incredible program they run to create a love of reading at Hill School. Thank you to Dr. Nancy Martinez and Ellana Selig for their leadership and support of our entire campus community. We have an amazing team of educators here at Hill! Please read the rest of this letter carefully as it is full of information on important events coming up. 

Kindergarten-4th Grade Families: It is that time of year for our parents/guardians to fill out a Student Information Form to help provide input as we begin to discuss classroom placements for the next school year with our staff. We value your feedback and intimate knowledge of your student(s) both academically and emotionally. As always, we request you not make specific teacher requests as many factors go into these decisions. Please complete the linked Google Form by Friday, April 12th if you are interested. 

Updated STAAR Testing Dates: Due to several factors, we have made the decision to change our April STAAR testing schedule. The following changes are now updated:

• 3rd, 4th, 5th Grade STAAR Reading- Monday, April 15th     (originally April 9th)

• 5th Grade STAAR Science- Thursday, April 18th     (originally April 16th)

The Hill Hoopla Fundraiser is this Friday, April 5th at 6:30 pm! You can click here for all the information you need right now. Be sure to buy your tickets tonight before the prices go up tomorrow. While you're on the website, grab your Hoopla hat! This event is so important as a support for our PTA and school. Thank you all for supporting it!

The Total Solar Eclipse is one week away! All Hill students will have the opportunity to view on campus and will have eclipse glasses provided. Parents who would like to view with their students will have the opportunity as well (but must bring their own eye protection). We have a plan and will be reviewing this with our Campus Advisory Council tomorrow to ensure nothing needs to be adjusted. Please expect to have a separate, stand alone letter come to your emails by Wednesday with how students will be viewing on campus and what caretakers can plan for if interested. We appreciate your patience as we gather important stakeholder feedback for this important event.

You can click here to view and get your student participating in our 2nd Annual Hill Problem-Based Learning Activity. This is a fun way to get students critical thinking while supporting our school to be a better place. Projects/presentations will be due at the end of April to teachers. We look forward to our Dillos’ amazing ideas!

Mark Your Calendar Incoming Pre-K4 and Kindergarten Parents: We look forward to seeing everyone who can make it to our annual Roundup event at Hill School on Wednesday, April 17th at 9:00 am in our cafeteria space. All incoming Pre-K and Kindergarten parents, along with their students, can learn more about our school and teachers. We will take care of registration documents as well that may be needed. Your students will visit a Pre-K or Kindergarten class for fun activities. Please spread the word to friends who may be interested in joining our Hill community! 

The regular driver of the Lion Bus will be out for the rest of the year. The AISD transportation department wanted us to make families aware that substitute drivers will cover this bus route through the end of the year. Please remember to be on time for the bus in the morning and remind your students of the bus riding expectations.  With any questions, please feel free to contact Ms. Selig, Assistant Principal, at ellana.selig@austinisd.org. 

Have a great week!

Principal Drummond