A Message from the Principal: 

3/25/20

Dear Parent/ Guardian, 

I hope this newsletter finds you and your families well. I know I speak for my entire staff when I share how much we miss having our students in our building and in our classes. 

While I am hopeful we will be back to normal operations soon, the truth is we look ahead into our third week of school closure with the end not yet in sight. In fact, Governor Baker just announced an extended statewide school closure until May 4, quite literally, minutes ago. Our goal at DMS moving forward is to both maintain the continuity of learning for all of our students, and to move towards a more structured and rigorous learning environment for our students. Students at DMS will be expected to complete and submit assignments and interact with their individual classes for 2-3 hours total per class per week. To be clear, student engagement in these resources and activities is expected and is in support of their continued learning and skill retainment during this period of closure. 

In order to facilitate a streamlined communication of these assignments, my weekly newsletter will serve as a vehicle for team and department based newsletters. This Monday, you will receive a newsletter from me that will provide organized information regarding the educational activities we are providing to your students. Not only will this will provide you with a clear outline of resources and rigorous learning experiences provided to your child, my goal is that it might assist you in supporting your child plan their day and interact with these educational materials as effectively as possible during this period of closure. The format of the newsletter will also include any relevant school updates and resources. Please keep an eye out for this communication in the morning on Monday, March 30th. 

In the meantime, our teachers have been working to provide enrichment materials to students directly on Schoology. I want to remind our parents and guardians that you all have access to Schoology accounts which provides you a window into your child's experience on that platform. If you need assistance with setting up your parent account, please take a look at this helpful resource from our Technology Department. Reach out if you need more specific support. 

Course Selection Information

We have updated a number of deadlines related to selecting courses for next year. These updates can be found by clicking the Quick Links section of our website under "Course Selection Information" or by clicking here.  As you can see, we have adjusted the window for students to select their courses to April 6-17, 2020. I also encourage all families and students to review our Program of Studies available on our website, or by clicking here. 

Instructions for how to select courses on Aspen can be found by clicking here. 

Additionally, we have provided a video recording of the information we'd planned to review in our Course Selection Information night. Please view that presentation at the Course Selection Page of our website. 

Have a question? Please email your child's guidance counselor. 

6th grade- Ms. Sifflard asifflard@duxbury.k12.ma.us
7th grade- Ms. Limmer slimmer@duxbury.k12.ma.us
8th grade- Mr. Corbin mcorbin@duxbury.k12.ma.us

Tech Support for Students:
All students and/or parent/guardians should email techsupport@duxbury.k12.ma.us if you need device or application related assistance. Students/parent/guardian should include the following information: student name, school, teacher's name, asset tag number located on the bottom of the device or next to the keyboard on a Chromebook, and description of the issue. The email will automatically start a ticket in our Tech Support System (TSS). 

Stress Less Week:
I want to send a special thank you to our DMS Student Council and their advisor Ms. Sheehan for setting up last week's Virtual Spirit Week, and this week's Stress Less Week. We have had many students and staff participate in our daily virtual events (we have an awesome surprise guest today from the Bruins for "Workout Wednesday"!) and I invite you to follow our accounts on Twitter (@MsSheehan_, @Duxbury_MS, @MrsCoyneAP) and Instagram (@duxms_stuco, @Duxbury_MS, @mrscoyneap) to stay in the loop on these events. 

Grade Level Assemblies
Next week, we will be inviting students to some grade level assemblies. We look forward to seeing students "there"! 

Interface
I want to remind you all of a resource available to all residents (child, adolescent, adult, senior citizen) in the town of Duxbury is the William James INTERFACE referral service.  The information below is taken directly from their website linked below. Many DHS families have had great success utilizing this service and I would recommend it to anyone in need. 

"The William James INTERFACE Referral Service is a mental health and wellness referral Helpline available Monday through Friday, 9 am -5 pm, at 888-244-6843 (toll free). This is a free, confidential referral service for individuals across the lifespan living in participating communities.  The list of participating communities can be found on Communities Tab above. Callers, from participating communities, are matched with licensed mental health providers from our extensive database, on average, within 2 weeks of their call to INTERFACE. Each referral best meets the location, insurance, and specialty needs of the caller."

If you have any questions, concerns, or would like to connect, please do not hesitate to reach out. 

Sincerely, 

Sarah McGuire
Principal 
Duxbury Middle School
781-934-7640
smcguire@duxbury.k12.ma.us