• Dear Hillside and Early On Families, 
     
    I hope this letter finds you and your family happy and healthy.  Our Return to School committees have been working diligently to develop the Preparedness Plans mandated by Executive Order 2020-142. Our plans must contain detailed information about how we will meet the needs of the special populations served by our programs in each of the phases of the MI Safe Start Plan and in accordance with the MI Safe Schools Roadmap.  Our county is currently in Phase 4.  Please check out RESTORE - the image to the right - which describes the guiding principles we are keeping at the center of our planning efforts.  While plans are still being finalized, we wanted to update you on some of the things we now know will be included in the plan recommended to the AAESA School Board for approval on August 13, 2020.   
     
    Options for Families 
    In addition to face to face instruction and intervention, families will be able to choose an enhanced remote option. Our enhanced remote option will look similar to the programming provided under our Continuity of Learning Plan, but it has been enhanced based on feedback from our staff and families. 
     
    Phase 4 - Hillside Main Campus Schedule 
    In order to do our best to ensure safe, high quality programming, Hillside West and East students will attend face to face instruction 4 days per week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday).  On Wednesday, remote instruction will be available to all students and the building will be deep cleaned. 
     
    Phase 4 - Hillside’s Young Adult Campus (YAC) Schedule 
    Due to the size, physical space and enrollment at our Young Adult Campus, YAC students will attend 2 days per week with remote instruction available to all students the days they are not physically in attendance.  The building will be deep cleaned on Wednesday.  Specific student schedules are forthcoming. 
     
    Phase 4 - Early On Program 
    Decisions regarding whether in person home visits are offered will be made with families and based on factors such as purpose of the visit, type of service to be provided, ability of the family to engage virtually, developmental progress of the child and medical needs of the family.   
     
    AAESA has created Return to School web pages.  If you have discovered this letter, you found the web pages!   Please explore the linkes to the left which contain program specific information. We will continue to add to this site as our plans are further developed.   
     
    We recognize that this has been, and continues to be, a difficult time for all of our families.  We continue to strive to partner effectively with you to encourage your child’s growth and achievement.  Moving forward, please expect a communication with updates from myself or your program administrator - Ms. Lindsay Sichta for Early On and Ms. Amy Tomlinson for Hillside - each Friday.  Click here to access a form and submit any thoughts, question or concerns about our Return to School plans.  We are in this together! 
     
    Sincerely, 
     
    Rebecca L. Reed 
    Director of Specialized Instruction 
    rebecca.reed@alleganaesa.org