By Leila Sayar, Hillbrook School Parent Council (HSPC) President, Hillbrook Parent of the Class of 2025 and 2026
During the 2020-2021 academic year, our community along with countless others, has been deeply impacted by a global pandemic and wildfires that resulted in the displacement of many of our community members. However, the Hillbrook School and community has not missed a beat. From the outset, school leadership pivoted seamlessly to a distance learning model, and was later able to obtain a waiver from Santa Clara County to allow children back on campus. This waiver has provided an opportunity for our families who want to send their kids to school, to do so in a safe and healthy manner while providing the flexibility for our other families to continue with distance learning. When a blaze of fire was knocking on the door of some of our community members and they had to evacuate their homes, other members of the community didn’t hesitate in offering support in any way they could. This is truly the Hillbrook way and what makes our community so special. The school and the community spirit embody what it means to be connected and kind.
Because of the treasure we are as a school and community, this year the focus of the Hillbrook School Parent Council (HSPC) is to maintain our campus connections and reimagine togetherness in a time when so many of us have to be apart. In this challenging time, we have found opportunities to begin new traditions at Hillbrook and maintain the time-honored ones that make our community so fabulous. As such, it is important for us to reaffirm our commitment to to being a warm, diverse, equitable, inclusive and anti-racist school and community.
For example, for the first time in the school’s history we have two parent volunteers who will work directly with Gulliver LaValle (the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) to champion a Family Inclusivity Taskforce and various parent events throughout the year. This will allow us to recommit to our core values and what makes Hillbrook so special. Additionally, given that some families have chosen to keep their children at home during this pandemic, we understand that there is a need to bridge the connection gap and create a sense of community and belonging for families who may not have a physical connection to the campus for parts of the school year. In an effort to respond to this need, the school now has a Distance Learning Multi-Grade Level Parent, a parent volunteer, who partners with Grade Level Parents to help families who are participating in distance learning to feel more connected with the greater community.
These are some ways in which we have been able to create new avenues to strengthen our school and community all while we keep our time-honored traditions. Granted, we will have to reimagine our wonderful events such as the Halloween Parade, Grandparents/Special Friends Day, and many others, but rest assured that if there is a way to do it, Hillbrook School and the parent community will get the job done!