September 2008

Dear Parents:

I hope you had a wonderful summer season. I am pleased to share with you that I will be the interim superintendent of the Hillside School District. During the year we will have time to meet and share ideas related to improving the educational opportunities available for our children.

The staffs of the Hillside educational family have developed new initiatives and programs to supplement the courses and activities offered during the past year.

Science is one of the areas that will see a number of positive changes. During the summer many supervisors and teachers attended workshops held at Princeton University. These workshops, with the assistance and sponsorship of Merck, are designed to increase the time all students, kindergarten through grade twelve, are engaged in hands on and minds on, scientific experiences. Children will practice inductive and deductive reasoning, build higher order thinking skills, utilize writing and mathematics to support investigations, build knowledge and increase engagement with unit projects.

The schools have been physically improved. Each school has benefited from some addition or modification. Schools received one or a combination of the following: bathroom updating, gym refurbishing, new classroom furniture, upgrading of the heating and air flow system, removal of old flooring, updating of lighting, improvement of security systems and modernizing of classrooms. We will continue this process as we provide a physical environment conducive to support learning and positive social development.

Should you wish to share information or have a situation that needs attention please contact me by phone, 352-7664 extension 6400 or make an appointment to meet with me. When the matter is related to something impacting your child that involves a specific teacher or school it would be best to first speak directly with your child’s teacher or principal of the school. This provides an opportunity to work directly with the people who are in contact with your child and together impact the situation in a positive way.

My best wishes to you and your family for a healthy and fulfilling fall season.

Sincerely,

Mr. Michael Roth
Interim Superintendent of Schools