Our Vision: Empowering people. Dedicated to learning. Committed to growth.
Our Mission: A welcoming community dedicated to empowering and challenging students in a safe, caring, and inclusive environment.
Hillendale Elementary School is located in the rolling hills of Chadds Ford, Chester County, Pennsylvania. The Chadds Ford area is rich in history and culture. While maintaining many aspects of a rural farming community, much of the open spaces are becoming residential developments and corporate centers. Hillendale Elementary School is one of four elementary schools in the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District. Hillendale Elementary School was originally a museum, which was converted to a school for fourth and fifth graders from 1989 to 2002. Beginning with the 2002 - 2003 school year Hillendale underwent a transition to a kindergarten through fifth grade school.
It is with great excitement that I introduce myself to you as the new principal of Hillendale Elementary School! It is an honor to begin this new journey as leader of the staff and students at Hillendale within the Unionville-Chadds Ford community. I am so excited to begin what will be a terrific school year this upcoming Monday, August 30th!
My journey as an educator that led me to UCFSD is one that has prepared me to inherit and lead a school of the highest quality like Hillendale Elementary. Before becoming principal at Hillendale, I have had the distinct pleasure of leading both Pennell and Parkside Elementary Schools as principal in the Penn-Delco School District. Prior to becoming principal, I taught elementary school in the Penn-Delco School District and at Mastery Charter School in Philadelphia, PA. My combined experiences afforded me the opportunity to hone my skills as an instructional leader and champion for inclusivity.
As an educator, it is one’s core beliefs that create a foundation for success. I believe in the power of rigorous and relevant curricula combined with the intentional development of each child's social and emotional skills. An approach balancing the state’s instructional standards with the development of students’ critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration, and citizenship skills will lead to long-term success beyond the walls of our UCFSD classrooms. I believe, whole-heartedly, that elementary school, not Disney World, should be the "happiest place on earth!"
It was wonderful to meet so many of you at both "Sneak-a-Peek" and Mr. Claypoole's retirement celebration this past week. I greatly look forward to my opportunity to introduce myself to every child, family, and community member at Hillendale this year at Back to School Night, our annual Husky Hustle, parent conferences, PTO meetings, concerts, and the many celebrations we hope and plan to hold this school year.
COVID-19 presented us with challenges we never thought possible as parents, teachers, and school leaders. It is with my absolute confidence that I promise to provide your children with the highest quality educational experience while ensuring the health and safety requirements put forth by local governmental agencies are followed to ensure an extremely safe and successful 2021-22 school year.
Please feel free to reach out to me via email or phone: 610-388-1439 with any questions regarding our upcoming school year or simply to introduce yourself!
Gratefully yours in excitement for the 2021-22 school year at Hillendale,
After an adventurous and highly educational cross-country trek, our beloved Husky arrived at Hillendale Elementary in February of 2006! The Husky felt his destiny was to be the mascot of a very special school, so the Husky left his home in Alaska to make our elementary school his permanent address!
It took two weeks for the Husky to travel across our beautiful country. He made many stops along the way, all the while reporting in to our Principal, sharing details about the people he had met, the beautiful landscapes he had traveled and the things that he had learned about each state. We all learned some interesting facts about our country! Lucky for us, the Husky's final steps of his cross-country journey brought him into the Hillendale gym where he received a very spirited welcome from the entire student population. It was LOVE at first sight!
Now, the Husky permanently resides at Hillendale in a special part of the school. Over the course of the school year, the Husky can be seen at various school events sniffing out fun and fetching for spirit. The Husky is dedicated to keeping spirits high and ensuring the love of learning. Make no bones about it, the Husky LOVES the kids AND staff at Hillendale Elementary!
We're so lucky to have such a faithful friend. If you're interested in learning a little more about our beloved Husky, read on!
DogBytes:
Birthplace: Juneau, Alaska
Parents: Retired sled dogs from Alaska
Height: Ranges from 5' 6" to 6' 4"
Weight: Varies tremendously
Eye Color: Bright Blue
Favorite Song: "Who Let the Dogs Out!"
Favorite Food: Hotdogs
Favorite Color: Red AND Yellow
Hobbies: Learning new things, Reading, Taking long walks and Practicing new tricks
Pet Peeves: Snow Days! (odd, considering he's from Alaska)
Favorite Activity: Being side-by-side with the happy students of Hillendale Elementary!
Our School was once a museum that offered a unique look at America between the years of 1490 to 1890. A visitor could stroll through the Passage of Time, listening as a cassette recorded narrative brought Verrazano, Cortez, Cabot and other explorers to life in a way no book could. In concert with the narrative, a series of colorful dioramas lit up the darkened Passage, and recreated the gradual but ultimately revolutionary discovery of North America as the explorers themselves experienced it. Lounges furnished in Spanish, French, English and Victorian styles maintained the illusion of a world centered in Europe, moving West.
Note: Information and pictures were taken from a Hillendale Museum brochure.
Hillendale Museum was located off Route 52 about 10 miles northwest of Wilmington, Delaware, it was a hidden treasure just over the horizon. A two-hour tour through the Museum would transport you from today's world of supersonic transcontinental flight to a world where the horizon marked the boundary between the known, and the unknown, unperceived and unimagined... a world where dense fog hid the San Francisco Bay from explorers for two hundred years and the Appalachian chain kept the English tied to the sea as the French outflanked them via the central waterways. At Hillendale Museum you experienced how the diverse North American geography directed the course of history from 1490 to 1890.
Interesting Fact: The Hillendale Museum, which is now Hillendale Elementary School, has approximately 360 kindergarten through fifth grade students. When Hillendale was a museum no student below seventh grade was admitted.
