Hillside News Brief
October 1, 2021
Important Dates for You
Tuesday, October 5: Picture Day at Hillside. Say cheese!
Friday, October 8 - October 14: Scholastic Book Fair (in the Hillside library)
Wednesday, October 13th: 4:00-8:00 p.m. -- Parent Teacher Conferences
Thursday, October 14th: 8:00-4:00 p.m. -- Parent Teacher Conferences (no school)
Friday, October 15: No school (Teacher Comp Day)
Monday, October 16: No school -- Professional Development Day for Teachers
Friday, October 29: 2:00 p.m. is the start of the Halloween Parade at Hillside. We will start inside then will come outside to show our costumes to families. Families, please stand outside so you can witness the parade! Parties will be indoors in classrooms after the parade. We will be limiting parent attendance to parent helpers (there are 2 designated parent helpers per classroom). If you wish to help in a classroom this school year, please email Mrs. Bailey's administrative assistant, Mrs. Griffith, at griffith.barbara@westside66.net. Please let her know your student's name and classroom teacher. Community Club will be in touch with you regarding being a parent helper for this school year. Thank you!
Please see below for Halloween costume guidance.
Friday, October 29: 2:00-3:15 An alternative to Halloween festivities is the Fall Festival for students who do not celebrate this event. We will offer an alternate activity for those who wish to opt out of Halloween.
Friday, October 29: 6:00-8:00 p.m. Trunk or Treat Event at Hillside. See below for details.
Halloween Costume Guidelines
- Please be sure costume is simple and can be put on quickly and with little help from an adult
- Please do not send anything that could resemble a weapon to school
- Please do not send your child in makeup or expect that they will be able to apply makeup at school
- Please do not include the face/eye/head covering with the costume (children will already need to wear their regular mask/mouth covering during the school day)
- Please use judgement when choosing a costume; very scary costumes can frighten our youngest children. Please save the scary costume for your Halloween night fun!
- If your child needs a costume, please contact our school counselor, Mr. Maloley at maloley.zachary@westside66.net
Use TAGG (Together a Greater Good) to Help Hillside
1) Download the TAGG app
2) When in the app, choose Hillside as a place to support
When you are ready to process a purchase:
2) Touch the "TAGG a purchase" button
3) Touch "Hillside" when asked to choose whom to support
4) Find and touch the business that generated your receipt
5) Take a photo of your receipt
6) Upload your receipt
That's it! It's that easy.
Thank you for TAGG-ing your purchases regularly for Hillside!
HyVee Receipts
Hillside's Community Club used to collect HyVee receipts for a period of time during first semester, but no longer! TAGG benefits Hillside all year long and during the summer, too! Be sure to TAGG your purchases each time you visit HyVee. Thank you for supporting Hillside!
The October TikTok Challenge
I do not need to emphasize with any adult reading this newsletter how important it is to have a conversation with your older elementary student if you think he or she is viewing TikTok or might be aware of and swayed by this "challenge." This is not a challenge, by the way. This kind of action is not worthy of the word "challenge."
I do not want to put this in front of our younger students because they are, hopefully, blissfully unaware that anyone would want to strike a teacher anywhere on their body. I am hoping the adults in our kids' lives will be able to find a way to warn against any ill-advised actions that might happen as a result of viewing TikTok.
The damage to our restrooms at Hillside has abated somewhat, but my educator's heart still aches as I think about the kids who found it necessary to fulfill that September TikTok Challenge to destroy school bathrooms. The time we had to take to right those wrongs is time we could have spent attending to the needs of our Hillside Tigers.
Thank you for advocating for the peace and tranquility of our school. We are teaching and supporting kids here, and we would like to do so in October without being hit.
Cynthia Bailey, Principal
Set up an online account for the Book Fair!
Football Games: Important Information for Parents and Guardians
Westside families -
We are encountering problems at our Varsity Football Games at Westside High School involving our students. Specifically, we have noticed an increasing number of elementary and/or middle school students unaccompanied and/or unsupervised during and after games. This last week, our staff and security noted a group of younger students together in our parking lot more than 30 minutes after the stands had emptied; needless to say, it was concerning to see a group of 10-13 year olds, alone, at 10pm on a Friday night.
This is creating safety concerns, as well as crowd control and behavioral issues for our security, staff members, and other students and families. While we encourage our younger students to attend games, whether football, softball, basketball, etc., we remind you they must be accompanied and supervised by an adult. In addition, we remind all students they are expected to sit/stay in the stands to watch the game and not congregate near concession stands and restrooms.
Thank you for your support in helping Westside High to be a welcoming and safe place for all of our fans, student athletes and visitors.
Westside Community Schools
PBiS Skill of the Week for Next Week
Hillside announces daily the social Skill of the Week. This is the skill we are focusing on as a building for the entire week. Next week's Skill of the Week is: Accepting "No" for an answer. When you accept "no" for an answer you:
- Look at the person
- Say, "Okay"
- Stay calm
- If you disagree, ask about it later
This is a great skill to practice any time you need to get someone's attention in class.