Hillside News Brief

It is hard to believe the 2019-20 school year is coming to an end. These last couple of months have been hard work, and the school year continues to break educators' hearts. Our mission is to find ways to help students, and we are accustomed to doing that in person! To find a way to connect through technology just doesn't feel right.

We at Hillside want you to know how much we appreciate your constant support, your dedication to your children, and your attention to a process we are still designing. More than ever, we are a community of teachers and learners!

Our hope is that we will be able to come back together in August to have the best school year ever. It will, I am sure, hold challenges for all of us. Using what we have learned this spring, I am hopeful we can make what we do at Hillside even better moving forward.

We miss you. We miss your children. We hope for you all good things this summer. Let us know if we can help you in any way.

Mrs. Bailey, Principal of Hillside

The University of Omaha College of Education recognizes Mrs. Erica Riffner as a UNO Mentor of the Year! Erica Riffner is dedicated to helping student teachers learn and grow in her cooperating classroom. She has been recognized by the University this year for her contributions to their teacher training program.

Each year, Hillside hosts anywhere from 6 to 10 student teachers. Because of the dedication of many of our veteran educators, Hillside consistently contributes a quality effort to teacher training in the Omaha metro region. We are proud of our cooperating teachers, and we celebrate Mrs. Riffner for this honor!

As you were informed earlier in the year, all elementary students in the Westside Community School District participate in academic screening in the fall, winter, and spring as part of our MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Supports) process. Due to COVID-19, we were unable to complete spring screening. However, screening will resume in the fall so that we can best assess each student’s skills and develop instructional plans to match.

Due to extended campus learning with COVID-19, classroom instruction and many reading interventions were interrupted. Each classroom teacher, special education teacher, and family has been doing their best to continue to support the learning of all our students. As we enter into the summer, it will be especially important this year to continue learning especially in the area of reading. We want to highlight a variety of ways you can help your child with their reading and access other programs over the summer. This link outlines opportunities to continue learning using apps located on the iPad that will be available through June 26th. We are also providing opportunities that do not require the support of a digital platform.

If you keep your student's technology, please note that, should problems with technology arise, please email Mrs. Bailey at bailey.cynthia@westside66.net for assistance in getting a repair set up.

Best wishes for a safe, healthy, and fulfilling summer!

Westside Community Schools Teaching & Learning Department

You may see an iPad update is available for your student's iPad. Please run these updates as they appear.

To update:

1. Open up Settings
2. Tap on General
3. Tap on Software Update
4. Install any updates that are there.

Repeat the process until it says that your software is up to date.

Report cards will look a bit different this year due to our shift to online learning. In your student's take-home bag will be a printed report from 3rd quarter with a message from the district. The week after school ends, you will receive a letter reflecting your child's participation in online learning this past quarter. Please let Mrs. Bailey know if you have questions about anything.

The factory where Art to Remember items are produced will start production back up on May 11. We are hopeful the orders will be ready soon after that, then shipped promptly. When they arrive at Hillside (most likely this summer), we will contact all families and orchestrate a pickup operation. Thanks for being patient. Your items WILL be in your hands before too long!