Welcome to Hillcrest Elementary School!

Hillcrest Elementary School, "Home of the Huskies", is one of three elementary schools in the Crestwood School District.  We serve approximately 300 students in grades K – 4 in a safe, clean, and well-maintained facility.  Our professional and caring instructional staff includes eleven classroom teachers, three special education teachers, three intervention teachers, five specials teachers, an English Language Tutor, general education para professionals, and special education para professionals.  Our support staff includes a school counselor, school social worker, speech/language pathologist, school psychologist, occupational therapist, physical therapist, secretary, custodians, and lunch and transportation personnel.     

Hillcrest teachers deliver instruction in self-contained classrooms with some small group push-in and pullout support. We teach the state of Michigan’s Grade Level Content Expectations in reading, writing, math, science, and social studies. Students also participate in five weekly specials: art, music, physical education, Spanish, and technology. Hillcrest has three special education classrooms: one resource room for students with learning disabilities and two cross categorical rooms for students with cognitive impairments and autism spectrum disorder.
Hillcrest staff analyzes local and state assessment data to determine and address the academic needs of our students. Special consideration is given to meeting the needs of our at-risk students. Active goals have been identified to make improvements in writing and reading. Maintenance goals have been identified to maintain excellence in math.

Hillcrest has a Child Study Team who meets weekly. The team determines specific interventions for students experiencing difficulty mastering the state’s achievement standards or for students who are performing below grade level on local assessments. The team also determines interventions for students experiencing social/emotional difficulties. Teachers and support staff implement various research-based strategies and interventions to meet the needs of individual students. Progress is monitored and documented, and then the team determines if further interventions are needed.

Hillcrest has an active and supportive parent organization, Parent Advocates for Children and Teachers (PACT). PACT works directly with the principal and teachers to help organize learning activities as well as extra-curricular activities. Some PACT sponsored activities include Open House, Student Council, Holiday Shop, Beach Day, March-Is-Reading-Month, Fun Night, Book Swap, Capri Sun Recycling Program, Play-It Take-It Night, Title 1 Parent Dinner/Literacy Night, and Field Day.

Thank you for your interest in Hillcrest Elementary School. 

Hillcrest Elementary School Mission Statement

Our mission is to ensure that each child develops socially, emotionally, and academically within a safe and caring school environment where mutual respect is expected and modeled in order to encourage life long learning.

The Hillcrest Motto

"Learning today, Leading tomorrow"

The Natural History of Hillcrest Elementary School

Stand behind your school 
On that gentle grassy slope 
Look and listen for the brook 
Flowing through the trees.

In ancient times a wide river 
Flowed past this place 
Ice melt from nearby glaciers 
As its source.

The valley deepened, broadened 
From the river's might 
Then shrank with glacier's melt 
A remnant of its height.

Ten thousand years ago 
Summer came back to the river's strand 
Birds, trees, grass and flowers 
Graced this land.

Indian's ancestors camped here 
And pitched their tents 
Listen! You can hear ancient echoes 
Of their children playing.

Let us learn from the wisdom 
Of those who first saw this river 
And loved this land 
Listen to their voices even now.

Keep our river clean 
It belongs to all of us down the ages 
Long before you came 
Share the beauty that you see

Care for our land! 
(Richard Ensign, Poet and Teacher, October 4, 1999)