Dear
Hillgrove Family:
Welcome to the 2010-2011 school year at Hillgrove High School
! I hope that all of you have had a great summer and are
ready for the new school year. Please allow me to share with you a lot of the
things that are going on for the new school year. If you know of a Hillgrove
family that does not receive the eNews, I would really appreciate it if you
would forward it to them. Thanks!
Parking:
If you
missed the June 30 parking deadline, you can still turn in your application to
the Front Office until August 4. Then you can pay for the decal at lunch on the
first two days of school (August 5 and 6). After this opportunity, decals will
be sold again the first two school days in September and then the first two days
of each month thereafter.
Sports Passes:
Would
you like to get into every Hillgrove home sporting event (except GHSA events)
without standing in line and buying a ticket? You can purchase a Hillgrove Sport
Pass during Hawkfest! In
addition to saving time and money, every dime collected through the sales of the
sports passes supports Hillgrove Athletics. The prices are for $80.00 for Adults
and $70.00 for Students.
Foundation:
You
should have also received an email about the new Hillgrove Foundation! The
Hillgrove Foundation will work in conjunction with the Cobb Educational
Foundation to secure the resources needed to make Hillgrove second to none. The
inaugural Foundation members see the group as an organization to support all
areas of Hillgrove including academics, the arts, and athletics.
While
the Foundation is still in its beginning phases, we realize that Hillgrove has
some pressing needs. One of the biggest concerns is the lack of visitor seating
in the stadium. In addition to not having ample visitor seating, the lack of a
visitor section creates safety and crowd concerns and also results in fewer
ticket sales. Ticket money is the main source of funding for all of our
athletic programs.
We
anticipate that the visitor stands will cost approximately $200,000. While
Hillgrove will receive some funds from SPLOST III for this important project, it
will not be enough to cover the entire cost.
Therefore,
the Hillgrove Foundation would like to begin our first fund-raiser as an online
fundraiser to raise the money needed to complete our stadium. Giving to
the Hillgrove Foundation is easy and is tax-deductible. If you
wish to give online, you may do so with your credit card by clicking on the
following link (https://ssl.4agoodcause.com/cobb/donation1.aspx?id=1). Please use the drop down menu and select “Hillgrove HS”
for the designation for your gift. You will immediately receive an email
thanking you for your contribution.
We are
also searching for members of the Hillgrove community that may be willing to get
involved with the Foundation. If you are interested in lending your time and
talents to this very new and worthwhile organization, please contact me at
robert.shaw@cobbk12.org.
Schedules:
I have
to thank the Hillgrove Administrative Team and Guidance Department for a lot of
work this summer scheduling all 2053 Hillgrove Hawks. Due to their hard work
and the support of the District, we have been able to keep our class sizes down
to what they were in previous years, despite the loss of some teaching
staff.
In
times past, parents and students have been given the option of changing their
courses over the summer. For example, a student signed up for US History, but
over the summer decided that they wanted to challenge themselves with Honors US
History. Or, maybe they signed up for ROTC but decided they would rather take
Culinary Arts. In these cases, our guidance department would work very hard to
accommodate these changes.
Likewise, the local schools often had the resources to adjust our
teaching schedule based on these changes. For example, we would be able to hire
another teacher or pay a teacher to teach “Extended Day” (which meant teaching
during their planning period).
The
financial resources needed to make these adjustments are simply no longer
there. Understand that even moving one or two students from a class can make a
difference between a class being over-loaded or having too few students to be
funded. Consequently, please understand that any requests to change a schedule
over the summer will simply not be honored. Please also understand that this is
due to the financial reality of this budget year. Exceptions will be made for
students who failed a course needed for graduation, have an issue in regards to
Special Ed, or are in a class they will not receive credit for (for example,
they already passed Math I but were accidentally placed in it again).
Agenda Books:
Due to
the high cost of printing the agenda books that Hillgrove students have used in
the past, they will not be available for the 2010-2011 school year.
New Start and End Times for All Cobb County High
Schools:
For
the 2010-2011 school year, the school day will begin at 8:20 am and end at 3:30
pm. These new hours apply to all high schools in the Cobb County School District . You can see the new bell
schedule by clicking here.
I am
sorry this so long, but there is a lot going on! Thank you so much for your
support of Hillgrove
High School . I look
forward to seeing all of you at school this year.
Go
Hawks!