Summer 2013

Dear Hillview Parents & Students,

I wish you and yours a safe and restful summer. It may be quieter at Hillview during June, July and August, but there is much happening in preparation for an incredibly exciting school year.

Seventy students are enjoying our first-ever Academic Summer Camp at Hillview this summer. With a focus on building skills, developing relationships and having fun, summer school has a brand new feel! Additionally, our Performing Arts Department offered a unique summer camp for interested students and performed the show Mulan at the culmination of the experience ... BRAVO!

Driving by Hillview lately, one will notice that our brand new, highly anticipated athletic field is once again torn up. It turns out that the grading and foundation for the field were not properly completed. Instead of accepting less than the best, the field is being redone. We are hopeful the repairs will be completed before school begins; however, nothing is guaranteed. We will keep everyone posted as we learn more and thank you in advance for your understanding and patience.

The amount of professional growth occurring this summer is unbelievable. In addition to a large group of student leaders attending a student council camp at UC Santa Barbara, nearly every teacher is engaged in a plethora of development and planning. Teachers of 6th Grade Humanities Core have spent countless hours developing the new English Language Arts (ELA) and History program for our incoming sixth graders completely aligned to the Common Core and including our newly adopted writing program: 6+1 Traits of Writing. Speaking of writing, three ELA teachers will be attending an international writing conference at Columbia University. A dozen teachers are participating in a three-day SMART Board training in San Jose while technology leaders attended the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Conference in San Antonio. Sixth grade math teachers are attending the Silicon Valley Math Initiative (SVMI) Summer Institute and our very own Maia Bromberg is an SVMI trainer working to develop model Common Core curriculum. Our partnership with Stanford's Design School continues with six teachers attending a three-day K-12 Design Training at the d.school.

One of the most exciting professional development opportunities for our staff includes a team of thought-leaders joining Superintendent Ghysels and me at the Harvard Future of Learning Institute. Our goal is to become a model middle school for preparing students for their futures and not our past. The FOL Institute offers us an opportunity to learn from the world's preeminent scholars on how adolescent brains are changing and how teaching and learning will need to evolve to meet the needs of a new global economy.

Plans for Arena Check-In (ACI) are progressing smoothly. ACI will look a little different this year and hopefully will include shorter lines and clearer information. Each grade is scheduled at a different time. Camp Hillview is new and improved for our incoming sixth graders including a first-day of school one day earlier than seventh and eighth graders, thus allowing sixth graders an opportunity to transition with less anxiety and more confidence.

Hillview will welcome two new teachers this year and two new support staff members. Joining us in sixth grade mathematics as Laura Delaney moves into 7th and 8th grade mathematics is Yogi Sullivan, an experienced math teacher most recently from Woodside School District. Resurrecting our French program is Amy Kingsley coming to us from Notre Dame School where she was a French teacher and chair of the World Language Department. Cathy Bell, an instructional aide at Hillview, will be moving from the classroom to the front office where she will be filling a new role as a half-time secretary to support our growing student body. Parent and community member, Kristin Fichou, will serve in a new role to Hillview-ASB (Associated Student Body) Clerk-operating our school bank and staffing our new Student Center opening in August. I know you all join me in warmly welcoming our new Hawks!

Thanks to the support of our District Leadership and Board of Education, Hillview's request to extend the 1:1 iPad program into the sixth and seventh grades was approved at the end of the school year. Plans are being created for a complete implementation of the program by January of 2014. More information will come, but Hillview educators remain excited about the positively disruptive effect iPads in the hands of every student and teacher will have on instruction and learning at Hillview.

Lastly, as most of you know, Hillview's Design Team proposed an innovative bell schedule for this coming school year that will begin as soon as school starts. The bell schedule includes three traditional direct instruction days (Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays) and two extended learning block days (Wednesdays and Thursdays). Thursdays will remain an early release day to allow teachers more opportunity to collaborate and develop exciting teaching and learning opportunities while supporting students in our smaller learning communities-our academies. Copies of the new bell schedule will be sent home in August; however, start and end times remain the same (8:25 a.m. and 3:05 p.m.) except for on Thursdays when release is a few minutes different; beginning in 2013, students will be released at 2:03 p.m. on Thursday.

While I have enjoyed some time to relax this summer, I can't wait to welcome everyone back for an exciting year. It's going to be terrific.