Dear Families,
Thank you for helping us to have a wonderful first week back with our Grades 1-4 students! Your students were eager and ready to learn new ideas, make additional friends, and lean into our C.R.E.S.T values (Care, Respect, Excellence, Safety, and Trust). In fact, all week, we kept running low on C.R.E.S.T tickets, which are used to recognize students’ who are living out our schools’ core values! Frankly, it was a wonderful challenge to have. To us, this is a clear reflection of the strength of our joint partnership in supporting your students to develop, holistically, during their time at Hill-Roberts (and beyond) - thank you for everything you are doing at home!
On a personal note, Dr. Madden is excited to announce that he will most likely be out for the next two weeks on paternity leave. Ms. Hassan, who has been doing an excellent job overall and whom all your students have been getting to know during lunch hours, will be in charge until Dr. Madden’s return. In addition, Mr. BenHarris, who is currently an assistant principal at Wamsutta 5-8 and formerly a teacher at Coehlo 5-8 and an elementary assistant principal in another town, graciously offered to support the staff and school community during this time. In short, the school will be in very skilled hands.
Thank you again for a wonderful first week back! We are excited to invite our Kindergarten students into the Hill-Roberts community next week! For now, below is a quick table of contents for our second issue of the year.
Sincerely,
Dr. Paul Madden, Principal
Ms. Nora Hassan, Assistant Principal
Table of Contents
- Update - Upcoming Important Information & Dates
- Repeat - School Hours
- Update - Walkers/Car Drop-Off Info and update (please do not park on Roy Ave)
- New - 2023-2024 Dismissal Plans Update
- Update - Fire Drill - success!
- New - APS Community Fliers
- PTO Announcements
- Repeat - Information Packets and ASPEN
- Repeat - Breakfast, Lunch, and Snack
- Repeat - Message from School Nurse
- Repeat - New Administration Team
Upcoming Important Information & Dates
- Tomorrow, August 29: First Day of School for Gr. 1-4
- Friday, September 1: No School
- Monday, September 4: No School (Labor Day)
- Tuesday, September 5: Kindergarten Orientation - A through K from 9:00-9:45am; L through Z from 10:00am-10:45am
- Wednesday, September 6: First Day of School for Kindergarten
- Thursday, September 28: Welcome Back Night
- Friday, October 6: Early Release Day
- Tuesday, October 19: School Picture Day
School Hours
- Arrival begins at: 8:30 AM
- School Day: 8:45 AM – 3:25 PM
- Dismissal is at 3:25 PM
- Early Release Dismissal: 12:25 PM
Update and Reminder: Walkers/Car Drop-Off
Update: Please do not park on Roy Ave past the posted signs. Folks have been accidentally blocking our buses and making it unsafe for walker students and our students on buses. See “active drop-off” in the picture below.
Reminder: Please follow the process shown in the photos below for dropping your child in the morning and picking them up after school. For safety reasons, cars are not permitted in the circular driveway (i.e.. the main parking lot) in front of the school during arrival and dismissal times. This area is reserved for buses and transportation vans to load and unload students. It is illegal to pass a bus/daycare van with its lights activated. Walkers or students being dropped off at arrival will enter through the doors closest to the gymnasium.
2023-2024 Dismissal Plans Update
In order to keep up to date records of students' dismissal plans, please fill out this form as accurately as possible. Please fill out ONE FORM FOR EACH CHILD. Although it may seem redundant, doing so allows us to sort and find students easily and allows us to provide individual teachers with accurate information. Thank you! We know it is one more thing, but your child’s safety is yours and ours number one priority.
Fire Drill Success!
As your child may have mentioned, we had our first fire drill on Thursday morning. Students and staff did a wonderful job exiting the building calmly, efficiently, and silently. In addition to receiving a passing mark from the fire department, several new staff members marveled at our students’ exemplary behavior during and after the fire drill. As a note, there will be at least three additional fire drills this year.
APS Community Fliers
Visit the APS Community Fliers page to view the most recent events, opportunities, and resources happening within the Attleboro Community.
PTO Announcements
Welcome back, Huskies! We hope all students and staff had a great first week back to school. Looking forward to meeting K students and families next week!
If you aren’t yet familiar with the Hill-Roberts PTO, here is some information about this fun volunteer group. Please join us for the 1st PTO meeting of the school year on Tuesday September 12th.(more details below!)
And if you don’t already follow the PTO on Facebook, please join our group page at www.facebook.com/groups/hillrobertspto.
PTO- Summer Reading
The PTO is looking forward to giving out prize packs during lunch on Tuesday to all students who participated in our Summer Reading program! If your student missed turning in their packet this week, you can still email it to HillRobertsBookFair@gmail.com by Monday. Entering kindergarteners who participated can bring their packets to orientation on Tuesday to receive their prize pack. We are proud of our Husky readers!
PTO - September Shop and Give Back!
Beginning today 1st, the Hill-Roberts PTO will receive $1 for every $3 "Give back where it counts" bag purchased at the North Attleboro Shaws! This lasts the entire month of September, so be sure to stock up on those bags and share with your friends and family!
PTO MEETINGS
Monthly PTO Meetings are generally held on the second Tuesday of each month, unless otherwise stated.
Our first PTO meeting will be September 12th at 6:30pm , held in the school library but also available via Zoom and we invite all to attend!
For those who can’t attend in person, please join the Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87883686781?pwd=TlN2Rnk0QnY0OWd4blhsZkxEaFAwdz09
Meeting ID: 878 8368 6781
Passcode: HUSKY
9/12: PTO Meeting 6:30pm
10/10: PTO Meeting 6:30pm
10/13-10/20: Fall Book Fair
11/2: Race for Education
PTO - CONTACT US
www.facebook.com/groups/hillrobertspto OR hillrobertspto@gmail.com
Reminders from Issue 1
Information Packets and ASPEN
Information packets were sent home on the first day of school. Please be on the lookout and check student backpacks. Complete the enclosed forms and return them to school with your child as quickly as possible. As we try to move as much as possible to a digital format, this includes the use of Aspen as a way for families to review their child’s demographic and emergency contact information as well as view report cards and who the child’s teacher is. The, Parent ASPEN Brochure, will help families who are new to Attleboro as well as families who could use a refresher.
You may notice a small change to the student information form, specifically the "Do Not Publish" option. Please make sure you read the explanation underneath which clarifies that by checking the Do Not Publish box, you are identifying that you do not wish to have your child's image, name, work, etc. published anywhere, which includes our yearbook
Breakfast, Lunch, and Snack
Massachusetts has extended free school meals for another year. This means that breakfast and lunch will continue to be served at no cost to all students. Please note that even though meals will be free for all, it remains essential for families to complete the household Application for Free and Reduced Price Meals for the 2023-2024 school year. We strongly encourage ALL families to submit this form as it allows us to determine eligibility for P-EBT benefits and waive or reduce transportation, athletics, and other fees. Documenting qualifying families also significantly impacts state funding for our district, so completing the form is a direct way to support our schools.
The breakfast and lunch menu will be on the district’s website
We ask that lunches from home are nut free when possible.
Snacks - While sending your child to school with a snack please keep in mind our classrooms are nut safe and no student will be allowed to eat a snack if it is not nut free.
Message from School Nurse
If your child(ren) will need medication in school this year, please see your doctor for medication orders. These need to be renewed at the beginning of each school year.
Please make sure we have the most up-to-date vaccination records for your child. If your child has any allergies (e.g., food, bees, etc.), please reach out to me to make sure we have that in our records to help us keep your child safe.
Looking forward to seeing you all again soon!
Sherri Knight-Cloud, BSN, RN, NCSN
sknightcloud@attleboroschools.com or (508) 399-7560
New Administration Team
As new administrators to Hill-Roberts, we are overjoyed to be partnering with such a strong, diverse, and welcoming learning community. In the role of principal, Dr. Paul Madden is thrilled to continue his journey as an educational leader in Attleboro; having served as an assistant principal at Wamsutta 5-8 last year, he has made Attleboro his educational home. In the role of assistant principal, Ms. Nora Hassan is excited to join Attleboro’s strong community and to leverage her strong background as a special educator and an instructional coach in Boston Public Schools in support of all.