A Message From Out PTA President! Hello HES! Wonderful progress is being made by our community in their effort to learn more about our school, the system that supports HES and how their voice can make a difference for our students. I have some really terrific news to share! Did you know a new school is being designed for our community? Did you know the plan is for half of our student population, K-5, to be split between the two schools in a grand scale redistricting project? Did you know the land for the new school was a gift? That the land will be developed for a school with Parks & Rec facilities as well as a recreational park--with soccer fields, baseball fields and open space?! These are just some of the things I learned about tonight from our PTA meeting. Guest speaker, Beth Pasierb, Facilities Planner for FCPS, brought large graphics to help our families, and myself, understand the exciting plans for the Hillcrest community. I also learned that our students families are engaging! They want to help, but until now, they were not sure how. As one parent pointed out--we have 30 different languages, and even more cultures that are uniting to support the success of our children at HES. That is no small feat, but they are learning how to get involved and tonight I saw a true spark! That parent received applause after she passionately spoke out in support of our community coming together. A truly inspiring moment! The support does not just stop with our school, there are more people that want to see Hillcrest students (and Waverly...and all future Golden Mile students) have access to the programs and educational services they deserve. I am very pleased to share a letter from our Mayor to the County Commissioners, championing our cause! Please view the attachment. Folks, this is a pretty amazing show of support! The BOE have proposed our new school start the digging process FY16. Did you know that the BOCC is considering delaying the building of our new school? Seriously. We are getting 4 more portables next year, and likely 4 more every year until a new school helps carry the load. 989 Students strong as of today...and growing! I urge you to join in to support this movement. Please plan to attend the Board of County Commissioners meeting on March 18, at 7 PM. The families of HES are planning to meet out front of the school at 6:15 sharp, dressed in their HES Pride colors (Red & Blue), to caravan over to the meeting. If you would like to participate, please feel welcome. If you would like to travel directly, the address is Winchester Hall, 12 E. Church Street. There is a parking deck nearby, as well as on-street parking. You do not have to speak unless you would like to. Just coming in a large, unified mass of red and blue will speak volumes! Beth said it best tonight, advocates that are hard to forget, that stand out and are persistent--and creatively vocal--are given the attention they desire (have you noticed the other new schools in the Frederick & Urbana areas?). We need to come together. We need to show our colors and our spirit. If you would like to speak, please let me know. If you would like to inspire your students to speak up and advocate for their education, please encourage them! I was told about a Project Learning Club that worked diligently to plan a new school. I would LOVE for that group to attend the meeting, or make a video that we can share, because that is exactly the kind of advocacy that will get attention. March 18 is a week from tomorrow. Please help HES make a difference. Please help us hold up to our motto: Hillcrest Expects Success! In closing I will share a portion of a Facebook post from M.C. Keegan-Ayer, our HES activist (did you know we have some of those?): It is truly amazing how this group has gone from being totally overwhelmed at the beginning of the year, to a group which is now charged up, knowledgeable and ready to go...their advocacy training is almost complete! ;-) They will lead their community next Tuesday when they speak out at the public hearing on the CIP. Can hardly wait!! They are positive, they are committed, and they are fired up! This should be great!! Yeah, you go Hillcrest PTA! If you would like to contact the BOCC to help persuade them of our need for a new school and overcrowding solutions, please email: [email protected] Please also like us on Facebook, for updates on events like this one and the progress of our mission: facebook/HillcrestPTA2013. Lets get creative! Thank you in advance for your support. Kind regards, Kim Hellman HES PTA, President
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 08:14:12 +0000
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