Every year, we get lots of new families at Hillside—many of whom are sending kindergarten or 1st grade students into T/E schools for the first time. Our Hillside Buddy Committee is made up of a group of existing Hillside parents who want to reach out to Hillside families who are new to the school. Our Buddy families would love to help answer your questions, and ease your transition to the school and our community!
Our Hillside Buddy Program is for both new families to the school/district, and for existing families that wish to join the Committee and help welcome our new families. This is a parent-to-parent program; while we try to match new families with families that have children in similar grades/schools, there is no expectation on students with the program.
This program is year-round. We encourage new and existing families to submit their forms in the summer or first week of the new school year, as we do most of our Buddy matches in early Fall. However, we continually match families throughout the year, so it’s never too late!
For families that are new to Hillside:
Please complete our online Hillside Buddy Program New Family Form, if you are interested in being contacted by the Hillside Buddy Committee. Please note that we will not automatically contact new families if they do not complete this form, as we want to respect families that may not be interested in the program. But we warmly encourage all new families to participate – we are eager to welcome you and make you feel at home! Once you submit your form, we will review your information and one of our Hillside Buddy families will contact you.
For existing HES families that want to become Buddy families
Please complete our online Hillside Buddy Family Form. We will only use the information you provide to us to match you with a buddy family. We will reach out with more information once we receive your submission!
For more information about the program, contact our program coordinator, Kathleen Thomas, BuddyProgram@hillsidepto.org.