Welcome to the new school year!
August 9, 2019
Dear Hillcrest Families,
Welcome to the 2019-2020 school year! Here at Hillcrest, we are all looking forward to another year focused on building new friendships, gaining new skills and exploring new ideas. Over the summer, Mr. Cloutier has been cleaning up the classrooms, shining up the floors and getting our building ready for you and your children to return at the end of August. Mrs. Prokowich has been managing supply orders, organizing the office and keeping us on track for those busy first days of the school year. I’ve been building schedules, meeting new students, working on teaching and learning plans, and participating in some valuable professional development with teachers and fellow administrators. Many Hillcrest staff members have been stopping by the building to say hello, to do some work in their classrooms and to check out their new teaching supplies. We’re all getting ready for the first day of school!
In the next day or two, you will receive a mailing from Hillcrest in which you will find important information about the start of the school year, including a school year calendar and a welcome letter from your child’s teacher. If you have a preschool or kindergarten student, you will also find information about your child’s Orientation Meeting on August 29th or 30th. Please note, the first day of classes for our first grade students is Thursday, August 29th and the first of classes for our preschool and kindergarten students is Tuesday, September 3rd. At the Preschool and Kindergarten Orientation Meetings, your child’s teacher will fill you in on all the essential details of the preschool and kindergarten schedules.
As we look ahead to those opening days, I am excited to introduce you to some new Hillcrest staff members. In our Health Office, you will meet Melissa Bednarski, who is joining us after working as a school nurse in the Greenfield Public Schools. In Special Education, Jesse Sinclair will be joining Pamela Reynolds and Michelle Tirrell as a member of the Kindergarten & First Grade Special Education Team. Mr. Sinclair previously worked as a special education teacher at Sheffield Elementary School and at Greenfield Middle School. I am also pleased to announce that Becci Eklund, who has been a Reading Teacher in Gill-Montague for the past several years, will be joining Laura Brown to provide reading intervention services to our kindergarten and first grade students. Halina Radosz, who has been our part-time Adjustment Counselor for the past two years, will now be our full-time Adjustment Counselor, working at Hillcrest five days per week. And, I am happy to let you know that Jessika Nadeau will return from her family leave to work as our Elementary Librarian. I am delighted to begin the school year with a very talented mix of new and veteran educators!
Please keep in mind that we place a high priority on home-school communication here at Hillcrest, and we really want to hear from you! If you have any questions about the opening days of the school year, please call us at school at 413-863-9526 and Mrs. Prokowich, Hillcrest Administrative Assistant, will be happy to help you. Please do not hesitate to contact me now or at any point during the school year. You can reach me by phone or by email at sarah.burstein@gmrsd.org. And, you can check for updates at our district website (www.gmrsd.org) and our school Facebook page (www.facebook.com/HillcrestEl). We are all looking forward to seeing you and your child here at Hillcrest very soon!
Sincerely yours,
Sarah Burstein
Sarah Burstein, Principal
The Gill Montague Regional School District does not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, marital status, race, color, creed, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, ancestry, genetic information or military service. The Gill Montague Regional School District maintains a commitment to ensuring that the school community is free from discrimination in education and employment.