The Hillside Comet - January 2023
Monthly Newsletter
S C H O O L D I S T R I C T N E W S L E T T E R MISSION STATEMENT: The mission of the Hillside Public Schools is to provide all students the knowledge and skills needed to be successful, engaged citizens; citizens that contribute to the vitality of an ever-changing world through rigorous academic, culturally responsive, instructional student support programs. Hillside programs seek to strengthen character, cultivate innovation, and foster leadership.
Welcome to The Hillside Comet, the interactive and informative monthly newsletter for the Hillside Public School district in Hillside, New Jersey! There are multiple ways to engage with the content and information included in this publication. This brief tutorial will explain how to maneuver through the following pages to see all that each department has to offer! Use the backwards and forwards arrows to move from one page to another. Many icons and images within this newsletter are interactive! Hovering your cursor over certain images will open a pop-up that provides further information regarding a topic or event. You can identify interactive elements by the fluorescent glow and shape around them, as seen in the examples below: Some photos and elements can be clicked on to take you to different links, pages, or to open videos and additional media. There will be specific text to inform you of what to click, as well as buttons like this: Videos are embedded within the newsletter; you can press play, pause them, as well as turn the sound on or off!
TUTORIAL.....................................................................................................PG. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS................................................................................. PG. 3 SUPERINTENDENT'S MESSAGE ................................................................ PG. 4 MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD OF EDUCATION ........................................PG. 5 BUSINESS OFFICE ........................................................................................PG. 6 DEPARTMENT OF CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION .................................PG. 7 SPECIAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT..............................................................PG. 8 GUIDANCE DEPARTMENT...........................................................................PG. 9 BUILDINGS & GROUNDS DEPARTMENT...................................................PG. 10 ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT............................................................................PG. 11 DATA, STUDENT INFORMATION, & ACCOUNTABILITY DEPARTMENT..............................................................................................PG. 12 TRANSPORTATION & FOOD SERVICES DEPARTMENT...........................PG. 13 TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT....................................................................PG. 14 HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT.........................................................PG. 15
Welcome to the Hillside Public Schools' January newsletter, The Hillside Comet. The goal of The Hillside Comet newsletter is to inform you of the exciting events and occurrences that are happening within our school district. The Hillside Comet is an interactive newsletter that provides insight into how we strive to align our organizational and instructional activities to the five priority goals of the school district. The growth of Hillside Public Schools is predicated on the hard work and dedication that the staff and students exert, and the fruits of their labor are evident and on display in this edition of The Hillside Comet. It is my pleasure to serve as the Superintendent of this great school district, and I look forward to using The Hillside Comet newsletter to communicate with our students, staff, and stakeholders about all the great opportunities Hillside Public Schools have to offer. Click the image above to hear Superintendent Glover discuss Hillside Public Schools' Priority Goals for 2023!
GETTING TO KNOW THE BOARD'S ROLES: What is the role of the School Board and the Superintendent? The School Board has a dual role: to represent and relay the concerns of the citizens, taxpayers, and parents to the school administrators, and to relay the needs of the students and school district to the citizens, taxpayers, and parents of the community. The School Board does not operate the district on a day-to-day basis; that is the job of the Superintendent, who is the district’s Chief Executive Officer. The School Board sets the policies, goals, and objectives for the district – and it holds the Superintendent responsible for implementing these policies and achieving these goals. THANK YOU FOR ENTRUSTING THIS BOARD WITH ADVOCATING FOR YOUR DISTRICT AND COMMUNITY NEEDS!
On November 1, 2022, the Hillside Board of Education held a groundbreaking ceremony at Deanna G. Taylor Academy, in celebration of a much-needed addition to the elementary school building. "The 6,600-square-foot addition will enhance learning opportunities for our scholars by adding four new classrooms, a new cafeteria, and a multi- purpose room for visual and performing arts." Governor Phil Murphy kindly appropriated a $750,000 budget to fund this development and "jump-start the project." The appropriation was "secured through the collaborative efforts" of Senator Joseph Cryan (D) 20th Legislative District), Senator Ronald L. Rice (D) (28th Legislative District), Assemblywoman Annette Quijano (D) (20th Legislative District), Assemblyman Reginald Atkins (D) (20th Legislative District), Hillside Board of Education President Kimberly Cook, and Hillside Community Activist, Anthony Salters.
DIRECTOR OF CURRICULUM - DR. JAMES BEVERE Hillside’s Commitment to a Standards-Based Education “ Every Hillside student will be given a standards-based education to help ensure their success in the post-secondary world.” -Erskine R. Glover, Hillside Superintendent Hillside’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction's goal is to ensure that every Hillside student is provided access to instruction that strongly aligns with the New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS). These standards clearly state what students are expected to learn and demonstrate at all grade levels, Kindergarten to Grade 12. Additionally, these standards allow for every teacher, parent, guardian, and community member to clearly understand the learning expectations, which helps all community stakeholders support student learning and celebrate students’ individual growth as measured against these set standards. The student learning standards were initially designed as “Common Core Standards” in 2010, however, in 2016 they were realigned and given a name change after input from students, teachers, and guardians. As a result of the implementation of the New Jersey Student Learning Standards, there is a heightened level of accountability within each school and amongst all teachers for designing learning experiences and using resources that align with the standards for their given content area and grade level. Opportunities for ongoing review and reflection to our Hillside staff guide our teachers and inform their planning, instruction delivery, and student assessment methods. Having NJSLS-based instruction helps guide curriculum implementation and assessment of our student learning. More importantly, the NJSLS allows us to adjust to our learner’s needs. Student outcomes are mapped out through standards-aligned curriculums and include research-based scope and sequences that align with each prescribed standard. Using standards allows teachers to personalize instruction, ensuring that teaching practices purposely focus on agreed-upon outcomes and that students are continuously growing. The Hillside Curriculum and Instruction Department regularly reviews and affirms the alignment of our curriculums, across all content areas, to these standards. We have committed to the process of a rigorous review and evaluation of our curriculums, our instructional practices, and our students’ outcomes, as measured by the NJSLS, to ensure that high-quality teaching is being delivered and high levels of student learning are attained.
DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL SERVICES - DR. SANDY MERCEDES Welcome Juliana Alfano to the preschool special class program at A.P. Morris Early Childhood Center! We are excited to announce the implementation of our new Social Emotional Learning curriculum resource, the online platform "Move This World" ! SHOUT OUT TO HILLSIDE INNOVATION ACADEMY! THANK YOU FOR SHARING SOME OF YOUR PHOTOS FROM INCLUSIVE SCHOOLS WEEK IN DECEMBER!
DIRECTOR OF GUIDANCE - LYNN RANDLE SHOUT OUT TO HILLSIDE INNOVATION ACADEMY! THANK YOU FOR SHARING SOME OF YOUR PHOTOS SHOUT OUT TO HILLSIDE INNOVATION ACADEMY! THANK YOU FOR SHARING SOME OF YOUR PHOTOS FROM INCLUSIVE SCHOOLS WEEK IN DECEMBER! FROM INCLUSIVE SCHOOLS WEEK IN DECEMBER! BY THE NUMBERS!
CERTIFIED EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES MANAGER - DAVID DEFLURI Buildings and Grounds is always hard at work updating the facilities of Hillside Public Schools !
ATHLETIC DIRECTOR - HALIM IBN MCNEIL We are excited to announce that our NFHS network cameras are finally being installed in our high school gymnasium and at Woodfield Stadium. We will now be able to live stream all athletic events! We are proud to announce that Muwaffaq Parkman has enrolled into Syracuse University's Early Admission Program for the Spring 2023 Semester. He is the 1st athlete in Hillside history to do so! The Hillside Comets girls' and boys' Ellesus Idemudia has been basketball teams will play a double nominated for the 2022 header at the Newark Prudential National Girls and Women Center on February 13th, starting at in Sports Awards Program! 7:15pm. Tickets can be purchased Ellesus has a 4.0 GPA and is online by hovering over the flyer above, ranked 3rd in her class! and clicking the link!
DIRECTOR OF DATA, STUDENT INFORMATION & ACCOUNTABILITY - KRISTY WEAVER BY THE NUMBERS! We are excited to announce the implementation our new Social Emotional Learning curriculum resource, the online platform Move This World: DID YOU KNOW? The State of New Jersey only excuses six types of absences. Watch this video to find out what they are!
DIRECTOR OF FOOD SERVICES & TRANSPORTATION - MATT LEONARDIS TRANSPORTATION We transport our students through a combination of district-owned vehicles, as well as through partnering with outside transportation organizations. Did you know that the Hillside Public School district is the third most Hover over the school bus below for transportation efficient district in interesting information about our buses! Union County? Our goal is to take over the top spot! We have over 600 students eligible for our transportation services! FOOD SERVICES The Hillside Public School district has an onsite Chef! Our goal is to try to make the students' meal experience as positive as it can be while also complying with all government nutrition requirements. Hover over the vegetables below for more information about our initiatives and promotions!
TECHNOLOGY COORDINATOR - DEANNA DEFLURI Shout out to our technology student interns who have been working after school to assess and inventory chromebooks in all classrooms. It isn’t an easy job! Take a look at them The Technology Department has been in action! working diligently on the WiFi See Nikayla Stewart and Alexis Tanks configurations to accommodate the in the video below! increased number of devices added to our fleet! Upgraded network switches and access points are planned to be installed in the Spring!
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DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES - ALICIA WILTSHIRE-KING We are gearing up for recruitment season! Please encourage family and friends to follow our social media (@hillsidepublicschools) for updates and/or contact us via email at [email protected] for questions. Also, visit the school website for current openings! 1ST COHORT OF THE HILLSIDE LEADERSHIP ACADEMY! Congratulations to the 22-23 Cohort of the Leadership Academy! As we work to build an engaged workforce, we have taken a vested interest in recognizing the talent we have within the district. With that, we have developed a program to help and support these leaders of tomorrow. We are still looking for volunteers to join the Wellness Committee! If you are interested, please contact us at [email protected]
HILLSIDE PUBLIC SCHOOLS IS CURRENTLY IN DISCUSSION WITH OUR NEWSLETTER PARTNER TO ENSURE FUTURE EDITIONS ARE AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH AND OTHER LANGUAGES. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE AND STAY TUNED FOR UPDATES! Hillside Board of Education 195 Virginia Street, Hillside, NJ 07205 908-352-7664