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Dear Ox Ridge Owl Families,
Thank you for a wonderful first week back at school! Everything has been going quite smoothly. Students are loving the new spaces that have recently opened. I have seen lots of smiles and connections being made. A huge thank you to the PTO for their support this year and in years past. We had a delicious staff lunch the other day which was greatly appreciated! I look forward to meeting all of you in time and am honored to be serving this community.
Our Open House will be held on Thursday, September 14, 2023 between 6:00pm - 8:00pm. Please save this date for child care. We will be sending a more detailed schedule including 30 minute slots for parents to visit classrooms and meet teachers. This is an important opportunity for you to engage with teachers who work with your children. Please plan on attending! We are excited to welcome you.
Please also note that school photos will be taken on Wednesday, September 13 through LifeTouch.
As you may be aware, the Darien Public Elementary Schools use School Dismissal Manager (SDM) to track student dismissal plans. Parents are asked to enter their child's dismissal plans into SDM by 2:15pm so that teachers are clear about how their child is going home each day.
At this time, School Dismissal Manager is having technical difficulties, and we are not sure when it will become available for use. For now, the only information we have about student dismissal are bus assignments that are already noted in Aspen. Because of this challenge, we need you to take the following steps to ensure that your child will be dismissed the way that you and your child have planned.
1. Check Aspen for your child's bus assignment. If this is correct and you plan for your child to take the bus home, you do not need to do anything else.
2. If your child has not been assigned to a bus, or if you plan to pick your child up or have him/her walk home instead of taking the bus, please email your child's teacher and copy our terrific secretary Mrs. Mariana Begonja with his/her dismissal plans by 2:15 pm on a daily basis until we alert you that SDM is active. Please note, you may not receive a reply to your daily email given the amount of information that we are processing.
At that point in time, SDM will provide you with information about how to create or update your account, and you will begin to use this system. We apologize for the inconvenience and want to thank you in advance for your diligence in emailing, your patience, and your support and understanding.
I also wanted to make you aware that the district will soon be using an app called FirstView™. FirstView™ helps you to know the location of your student's bus, estimated arrival times at your student's stop, and the bus's arrival or departure from school. Mark your calendars now as the First View app will be going live on Monday, September 18th. For more information, please go to the Darien Public Schools website under "Departments; Transportation; First View".
If you have any questions regarding First View, please reach out to Dani Powers in our transportation department after September 18th. You can reach Dani at: dpowers@darienps.org
I hope the start of the school year has been as good for you as it has for me and all of our teachers and staff at Ox!
Sincerely,
Melissa Kay
Interim Elementary School Principal
Ox Ridge Elementary School
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