Hillcrest Family Newsletter

We've all got the first day jitters! We are so excited for Tuesday to come when we have all of our learners back on campus with us. We want to make sure all of our children know they are loved and cared for by all of the adults here at Hillcrest. We hope that first day is full of fun and friends for each learner. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help with your child's first day.

See you Tuesday!!

Many families enjoy coming early and taking pictures on the first day of school. To help keep traffic flow going and keep everyone safe, please follow these reminders:

• The drop off lane is for students who are able to leave the vehicle without assistance. Adults should not get out of their vehicles in this lane. Students should exit out of the safe side of the car at the sidewalk; not into traffic. Do not drop off students before 8:30AM and folllow the directions of the staff member who is managing the crosswalk and traffic.
• Be sure you are parked in a parking spot when dropping off your child. Don't park on the grass or at the very end of the aisles. We need to keep room for cars to drive through the lot without driving on the grass.
• When walking your child to the playground, use the cross walk that is at the playground (not the one that crosses traffic). It is very hazardous to have people walk across traffic. There will be a staff member at the cross walk helping everyone cross.
• Do not use your cell phone while driving and take your time. We would not count anyone tardy who is in the traffic lane.

All buses are routed and managed through First Student. Please continue to check Infinite Campus through the weekend to see if your child's bus times have been changed. As more students have been routed, bus route times may change and some families are still waiting on routes.

During the first few days of school, your child's bus route will most likely run late as drivers are learning routes. Be sure to use the First Student app called First View - Bus Tracker which tracks your child's bus and will tell you when it is arriving at the bus stop. If you have any questions about your child's route or the status of your child's route, call First Student directly at 262-524-0667. This is the quickest way to connect to dispatch and they can give you the location of the bus if the app is not working.

Aramark provides breakfast and lunch for a fee everyday at school. If you are interested in your child ordering and receiving a lunch and/or breakfast, be sure to discuss this with your child. Lunch and breakfast menus are found on the district website and we've linked the lunch menus for September HERE. Money can be added to your child's account through the Infinite Campus School Store. Families are able to apply for lunch assistance if the cost of purchasing a lunch is a challenge for your family. Applications for free/reduced lunch prices can be found HERE.

Please make sure you have communicated the end of day plans for your child with your child's teacher. If there are any changes to your child's end of the day plans, please contact the office at 262-970-1805. End of day changes need to be made by 2:30PM. We check all of our students off before they board the bus so end of day changes should be communicated as early as possible to ensure communication to all parties. Teacher phones do not ring into classrooms during the student day and teachers are teaching all afternoon and do not check email. Calling the office allows us to communicate to all of the needed parties.

All 3rd through 5th grade students use planners every day to keep track of their assignments, reflect on their day and communicate with families. Your child will recieve this planner on the first day of school and there is a cost to families of $4. This year, we are able to assign this cost to you in Infinite Campus and then you can pay as you normally would for school fees. Directions are linked below.

Student absences should reported in Infinite Campus this year. Directions are linked below and you can also call the office and leave a message on our attendance line: 262-970-1816. We've got the "Too Sick for School" Guidelines posted at the bottom of each newsletter as well.

Our PTO (Parent Teacher Organization) is a committed group of parents who are excited to plan ways for each of our students and teachers to THRIVE. YOU are all a member of the PTO! Each month our PTO plans family events to help connect families to each other and the PTO plans fundraising opportunities to raise money that goes directly into your child's classroom. This year, make a commitment to get involved: volunteer one hour of your time to go to a meeting, serve on a planning committee or help run an event. This is a great way to get to know other Hillcrest families.

Your PTO board for this school year is:

Tiffani Prekop - PTO President

Megan Haynes - Vice President

Jennifer Gorst - Secretary

Eric Schofield - Treasurer

Abbey Dahler - Communications and Social Media

Each one of these leaders is open to feedback and look forward to serving you and your families this school year. If you have any questions, concerns or things to celebrate with our PTO, please reach out to hillcresthuskiepto@gmail.com

I would like to personally welcome you to the 2024-2025 school year! We are busy prepping our building and our teachers for the new school year as we know families are busy getting school supplies and squeezing out the final fun of summer. I hope your summer was magical and we really can't wait to see you all again.

You belong here at Hillcrest. In fact, everyone belongs! We pride ourselves on the relationships built with and among our entire community. We know that your role as a parent is essential to our success and the partnership with our families drives the success that our students experience every year.

Please take a few moments to read through our Family Newsletter. This newsletter will be emailed to all families once per week. It contains building specific events and information. If you aren't getting our communications (phone and text) and newsletters, be sure to reach out to so can make sure your Infinite Campus settings are correct.

Best regards,

Mrs. Faith Lincicum, Principal Hillcrest Elementary School

flincicu@waukesha.k12.wi.us