How do I obtain news about Alden School?
The Alden School page of our district’s website www.duxbury.k12.ma.us is updated on a weekly basis. Families are asked to visit our webpage at least that often, to stay abreast of matters pertaining to our school. ‘Connect-Ed’, the automated phone messaging service, will also be used to remind families of deadlines and activities throughout the school year. Classroom teachers will likewise send home regular correspondence about the events specific to their classrooms.
What should I do if my child is absent?
A note to your child’s teacher informing him/her of the reason for your child’s absence should be brought with your child upon his/her return to the classroom. If your child has a contagious illness, please notify your child’s teacher and the school nurse as soon as possible.
If a child is reported by the classroom teacher as being absent, families will be notified by an automated phone message that the child did not report to school for the day.
Families are encouraged to schedule their vacations in line with the school calendar, which is posted on the d istrict’s web site. To sustain an optimal learning environment, students should be in place for instruction during school hours.
Parents of incoming 3 rd graders should check the school calendar for the dates of their child’s Reading and Math MCAS tests to ensure their child’s attendance on those days.
How do I get involved at Alden School?
There are many opportunities to become involved in the activities of Alden School. The School Council , an elected group of faculty members, family representatives, and a community representative, meets on a monthly basis. These meetings are posted in the calendar section of the Alden School webpage and are open meetings. Another way for parents to get involved is to join the Alden School PTA . Membership forms are available to all families in the beginning of the school year; the Alden School PTA provides a wide range of volunteer opportunities that include working in the school library, being a homeroom parent, and coordinating evening events for students and families. Routine updates on
PTA activities may be accessed on the PTA section of the Alden page of the d istrict’s website.
How and when do I meet my child’s teacher?
In late August, familie s will be informed by mail of their child’s teacher assignment. Prior to the beginning of the school year, families and their children are invited to an evening “walk-through” to locate their child’s classroom (teachers will not be present) in Alden School. Please visit the school website for dates/times.
An evening Open House will be held in September so that families may meet their child’s teacher.
First things first: How do I get to Alden School?
The main entrance to Alden School faces the salt marsh, not the playing fields. The main doors to Alden School face the drop-off circle.
Visitors to Alden School should enter campus from Alden Street; pass the Duxbury Free Library (on the right); continue straight between the Alden School gymnasium (on the left) and the library’s playground (on the right); bear left at the bend in the driveway; and park in the visitors’ parking spaces , which are opposite the drop-off circle and flagpole. If all of the visitor spaces are occupied on the right, visitors should proceed on the same road and park behind the Performing Arts
Center (PAC).
All car traffic must follow this route while classes are in session. Only buses may use the roadway that skirts the playing field.
What are Alden School’s hours?
Classes at Alden School begin promptly at 7:45 a.m., by which time students are expected to be in their classrooms ready for instruction to begin. Students are dismissed for the day at 2:00 p.m. The Alden School office is open from 7:00a m ‘til
3:00pm.
How do I contact Alden School?
By telephone:
By fax:
By email:
(781) 934-7630
(781) 934-7636 kwhitaker@duxbury.k12.ma.us

Whom should I contact?
Once the academic year has begun, the first contact about any issue should be your child’s classroom teacher.
Classroom teachers have most direct contact with each student. Indeed, they are second only to students’ families in t erms of knowledge of strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, interests and anxieties. Your child’s teacher will provide you with his/her email address once the school year begins. To email any staff in the Duxbury Public Schools, use this template: first initiallast name@duxbury.k12.ma.us
Of course, our school counselor, school nurse, school secretary, office assistant, and administrators are always available to help teachers, families, and
– of course – students.
Who’s who?
School counselor:
School nurse:
School secretary:
Office assistant:
Curriculum Supervisor:
Ms. Shannon Jones
Ms. Kathy Carney
Ms. Miriam Harriman
Ms. Lynne Lenhardt
Ms. Ritamarie Benoit
Assistant Principal:
Principal:
Ms. Donna Moffat
Ms. Karen Whitaker
What is the drop-off procedure?
Families dropping students off for school may do so beginning at 7:15am. Families are asked not to enter the circular driveway (which will be blocked-off with orange pylons), but rather to pull-over to the left of the roadway (alongside the entrance and exit of the circular driveway) to unload students. Families are asked to pull-up as far as possible, so multiple cars can unload at the same time.
How big is Alden School?
Alden School has just under 750 students in Grades 3, 4, and 5. In the 2013/2014academic year, there will be ten classes of Grade 3; eleven classes of Grade 4; and eleven classes of Grade 5.
Alden’s physical plant is expansive, consisting of the academic wing; the gymnasium; the library; the one-story wing off the main entrance (where the main office and health office are located); and the PAC wing, which includes both the
Performing Arts Center and Alden’s cafeteria.
Is each grade on its own floor?
Because we aim to make an admittedly large school feel not so large by establishing smaller learning communities, each floor has a combination of grades 3, 4 and 5. This allows for a consistent feeling of community and atmosphere of a grade three through five elementary school.
What is a typical day like at Alden School?
In addition to spending much of each day studying math and literacy (using Everyday Math and Reading Street , in addition to teacher-designed materials and assessments), students at Alden School also study social studies and science.
Also, all students have one special area class per day. Art, Spanish and Music classes are held once per week and
Physical Education classes are held twice per week. Students visit the library weekly to select and check out books.
Instructional technology is used across the curriculum, affording students opportunities to access information and conduct research, to create projects and documents, and to participate in teacher-directed exchanges with other schools and communities.
What about lunch and recess?
Students pay for school lunch using an automated system. Students may continue to use the PIN’s that they were assigned at Chandler. There are 45 minutes each day devoted to lunch and recess and students at Alden School go to recess prior to eating lunch. Students sit at tables with their classmates and eat lunch with students from other grades in the school’s cafeteria. Wednesday will be the day that is slightly different as each grade will eat together. This gives students the opportunity to see their friends and play together at recess. Teachers, as well, have found this to be a treasured time to see each other. It also gives an opportunity to address an entire grade on specific topics. The times for the recess/lunch periods are:
First recess/lunch: 11:00-11:45
Second recess/lunch: 11:45-12:30
Third recess/lunch: 12:30-1:15
Students may bring balls from home to play with during recess; but hand-held electronics are not allowed at school, or on the bus.
What is the pick-up procedure?
Students being picked up must bring a pick-up note to school and give it their teacher on the day he/she will be picked up.
‘Dismissal Notes’ may be found in the main office of Alden or on the Alden page of the District’s website: www.duxbury.k12.ma.us
Those picking up their child should park their car in a visitor space and wait for their child in the lobby, in front of the main office. Please see the staff member with a clipboard, who will check off your child’s name from the list.
If a child is being dismissed prior to the end of the school day, please come to the office, sign the “Early Dismissal’ page, and the office assistant will contact your child’s teacher.