July 24, 2006

Dear Hidden Hills Parents and Students,

Welcome to the Hidden Hills family! If you are new to our school this year, you will soon discover why we are proud to call it the Hidden Hills family. We take pride in the warm, welcoming environment in which your child is an integral part of our family. We hope you have had a wonderful, restful summer and are anxious to return to school with a fresh start.

This past spring, we celebrated several awards at the Arizona State PTA Convention. Our school was recognized for the Focus on Father’s Award, Outstanding Support from Business Memberships, and 100% Staff Membership. The Arizona State PTA recognized Mr. Swigart, fifth grade teacher as Educator of the Year Award, our Principal’s Secretary, DeeAnn Chisman, as a finalist for the Support Staff of the Year Award and Betts Fillhouer, PTSA Board Member, for Volunteer of the Year Award. You, too, have the chance to become actively involved at Hidden Hills! Watch your child’s Monday Folder for information regarding ways you can volunteer and be a part of the Hidden Hills Family!!

Please mark these dates on your calendar and join us for the meetings!
        Wednesday, August 9 @ 10:00 AM          Monday, September 18 @ 2:45 PM
        Monday, October 23 @ 2:45 PM             Monday, November 20 @ 2:45 PM
        Monday, December 11 at 2:45 PM     Monday, January 22 @ 2:45 PM
        Monday, February 26 @ 2:45 PM     Monday, March 19 @ 2:45 PM
        Monday, April 16 @ 2:45 PM             Wednesday, May 9 @ 8:45 AM*
                                                   *Following Volunteer Breakfast at 7:45 AM

We had a couple of staff changes over the summer, Mrs. Urban has retired and Mrs. Miller has transferred to the new school, so we welcome Gail Foutz (Mercury Mine) and Pam Pierce (Indian Bend) to our second grade team. Our fourth grade and fifth grade will only have three teachers this year, due to a slight change in our enrollment. Mrs. Rea has moved to fifth grade to replace Mr. Swigart, who moved to Shea (to teach Social Studies, his love!). Mrs. Neill has transferred to the new school, so we welcome Aimee Quince (Deer Valley) to the fifth grade team. We are also excited to welcome back, Beth Christensen, who will be sharing the Honors position with Mrs. Farlin. We encourage anyone who is looking for a part-time job to ask about opportunities at Hidden Hills, as we have several positions open that are ideal for parents.

Last year, we worked on our Long Range Plan, with an emphasis on researching a new discipline program for Hidden Hills. We applied for and received a grant from Arizona Behavioral Initiative for Positive Behavior Interventions and Support. The 2006-07 school year will be spent determining where our exact needs are and how we can make our school better. You may not see any changes this year, but just know that we are working diligently to create a more positive school environment! In addition, we will be adopting an anti-bullying program called Olweus, which will teach our children what a bully is and how to appropriately deal with one. At the end of the 2005-06 school year, we updated our Long Range Plan and I have attached a copy of the new plan, as this will be our focus for the next few years. This year’s goals will be to create our new discipline plan and to put a strong emphasis on writing. Many of the Staff Development Days will be spent work towards one or both of these goals. School will be dismissed at 12:00 on these dates, so please mark them on your calendar:

        Tuesday, September 12             Tuesday, October 17     Tuesday, November 14   
        Tuesday, January 23                  Tuesday, March 6         Tuesday, April 24

We know the children are anxious to find out who their teacher is, which friends are in their class and what their room looks like. We have scheduled our annual School Warming on Friday, August 11th from 1:30 –2:30. Although the children are very excited, the teachers need every extra minute to prepare, so please try not to arrive early. Class lists will be posted on Thursday, August 10th after 4:00 PM. Bus schedules, supply lists and the district calendar will also be available. A great deal of time is spent in the spring to establish what we feel are “balanced” class lists. Much thought goes into balancing academic abilities, special needs, gender, and behavior situations. In addition, the sixth grade will be departmentalizing this year, with each of the teachers teaching one subject area, so if you have a sixth grader, your child will have all four teachers. For your child’s sake, we ask your cooperation in helping to set a positive tone regarding your child’s class placement. This is an opportunity for your child to meet new friends, experience a new situation and different teaching styles. Children are very flexible, and with positive encouragement from parents, they will embrace the new year with excitement.

On Wednesday, August 23rd, we will host our Open House/Curriculum Night beginning at 5:30. This informational evening is for parents to meet with teachers and receive information regarding curriculum, behavior plans, and classroom routines. We encourage all parents to attend this most informative evening, which will lay the groundwork for understanding your child’s classroom.
5:30 – 6:00 PM Beginning Band Parent Meeting in Band Room Information Booths open in Media Center – enter Drawings! 6:00 – 7:15 PM Meet the Special Area Teachers in their classrooms, (music, art, computers, PE) Special Education Teachers in their classrooms. Speech Pathologist and Nurse will be in their offices.

6:30 – 7:10 PM Classroom presentations – Session I *
7:15 – 7:55 PM Classroom presentations – Session II *
7:15 Prize Drawings from Information Booths

    *Teachers will be doing the same presentation at each of the sessions. Two sessions are provided for parents to attend different grade level presentations.

Just a few safety reminders for everyone… The drop off and pick up flow zone lane on the north side of the school is a NO PARKING zone. It is call the “Flow Zone”, because it should have a continuous flow of traffic as children are picked up and dropped off. There are absolutely no U-Turns allowed in the “Flow Zone” or on Sharon Drive. This is for the safety of the children. Please, drive around the block if you need to turn around. Do not enter the driveway on the East side of the multipurpose room. This is our bus lane. Blocking this lane may result in your car being ticketed or towed. Our school rules allow bike and scooter riders in grades 4-5-6 only. Younger children have a difficult time maneuvering through the traffic around the school during peak hours. We encourage all bike and scooter riders to wear helmets to set an example others.

On the first day of school, your children will be bringing home an information packet prepared by our PTSA. In this packet, you will find information on important issues such as, the school crisis plan, behavior policies, dress code, calendar and general information about Hidden Hills' policies. Free and reduced lunch applications are available from the front office if you did not receive one in the school information folder. At Hidden Hills, we pride ourselves on being a community school, where the door is always open to family and friends, a warm, welcoming environment, where the concerns of the whole child are considered. Whether it is the academic, emotional or physical needs, our children come first.

Sincerely,

Lynette S. Geake, Principal