Hello Dolphin Community,

It has been a busy start to the school year here in D-Y. We have had several great things going on that connect back to our Core Value of Community taking place in these first few days of school. This week, D-Y has been a big part of welcoming The Wall that Heals to Yarmouth. The Wall that Heals is a 3/4 size replica of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C. It began on Tuesday when students and staff from Station Avenue Elementary and the Dennis-Yarmouth Intermediate and Middle Schools lined Station Avenue to welcome the Wall and the motorcade to town. The following day, student volunteers from our cross-country and football teams (pictured) assisted in the assembly of the Wall on its site. Today, high school students are visiting as part of their U.S. History classes. You can learn more about the Wall that Heals by following this link. 

This week also began "Open House Season". We had Open Houses at D-Y High School, M.E. Small, and D-Y Intermediate and Middle Schools. As has been my experience each of my now four Open House seasons here in D-Y, it has been a fabulous turn out thus far. It has been absolutely wonderful to see all the families, students, and staff interacting in the schools as we all work together to ensure student success. Since arriving here in D-Y, I have continued to be impressed by the dedication and commitment that our families show to our schools and school community.

Finally, as we start the school year, I would like to put in a plug for student attendance. Next week will be the public release of MCAS data. We had a webinar with the State earlier this week to preview state trends, and they shared with us that students who attend school regularly achieve at much higher rates than students who are chronically absent (miss 10% - 18 days or more) from school. This pattern has been consistent in both the state's data and D-Y's data for multiple years. This is one of the reasons why, as a district, we are focused on student attendance as part of our strategy to improve academic achievement. We continue to seek families support in this effort. We made a lot of great progress last year. We dropped our district-wide chronic absentee rate from 22% down to just over 17%, but there is still room for improvement. If you are having trouble getting your child to school, please work with your child's school early to find ways to solve that problem together. 

Thank you for your ongoing support,

Marc J. Smith, Ed.D

Superintendent