Darien Public Schools 2020-2021

Going to Darien High’s Graduation Today? Police Have These Traffic and Parking Regulations

Superintendent: Masks Still Mandatory in School Buildings, But Not Outdoors on School Grounds

National Recognition for Music Education in Darien Schools

UPDATE: Darien Families Can Register Kids, 12 and Older NOW, But Expect High Demand

Some Parents: Schools Need to Teach Kids More About Bigotry — Officials: We Agree

School District Announces Yet More COVID-19 Cases, Quarantines; Health Dept Issues COVID-19 Update

Hindley School Principal Julie Droller Appointed District Director of Elementary Education

Thursday Night Announcement: Another 63 in Schools Quarantined, Including Eight With COVID-19

Schools Superintendent: After Spring Break, Darien Schools Will Be on Remote Learning for a Week

Thirteen More COVID-19 Cases in Schools Announced Monday and Tuesday, Total of 71 New Quarantines

COVID-19 Found in Four More Individuals in Darien School System, They and 39 Others Quarantined

Superintendent Updates School District on COVID-19 Developments

First Selectman, Superintendent Issue COVID-19 Updates

State of the Town: Board of Ed Chairman: Covid’s Been Expensive, But District’s in Good Shape

Schools Superintendent Alan Addley Goes Into Quarantine After Spouse Tests Positive

Darien High School 2020-2021

By DARIENITE.COM | June 16, 2021

Coronavirus 2021

By DARIENITE.COM | May 21, 2021

Education

By DARIENITE.COM | May 15, 2021

Coronavirus 2021

By DARIENITE.COM | May 11, 2021

Darien Public Schools 2020-2021

By David Gurliacci | April 28, 2021

Coronavirus 2021

By DARIENITE.COM | April 10, 2021

Darien Public Schools 2020-2021

By DARIENITE.COM | April 9, 2021

COVID-19 2021

By DARIENITE.COM | April 9, 2021

Alan Addley 2021

By DARIENITE.COM | April 8, 2021

Coronavirus 2021

By DARIENITE.COM | April 6, 2021

Coronavirus 2021

By DARIENITE.COM | March 28, 2021

Coronavirus 2021

By DARIENITE.COM | March 26, 2021

Coronavirus 2021

By DARIENITE.COM | March 5, 2021

Darien Public Schools 2020-2021

By DARIENITE.COM | December 7, 2020

Alan Addley 2020

By DARIENITE.COM | November 18, 2020

The Darien Police Department advises that the following traffic regulations are being put into effect for the area surrounding Darien High School on Wednesday June 16, starting at 4 p.m.
— an announcement from Darien police
—As in previous years, all traffic will enter the high school grounds via Noroton Avenue. Vehicular traffic will not be permitted to enter the area via High School Lane or Nutmeg Lane. Officers will be present to direct all vehicles to appropriate and designated parking areas. —All vehicles will be properly parked so as to facilitate and expedite the safe flow of vehicles at the conclusion of the graduation ceremony. —If needed, vehicles will be parked on both sides of Nutmeg Lane and High School Lane facing away from Darien High School. —Motorists are asked to pay particular attention to posted “No Parking” areas. Previous experiences have resulted in illegally parked vehicles blocking driveways or restricting access to emergency vehicles.

Students must wear masks in school buildings for the rest of the school year, as state and federal guidelines state, Darien Superintendent of Schools Alan Addley told parents and staff in an email late Friday afternoon. But students and staff are allowed to go maskless outside on school grounds, he said. Addley wrote (boldface in original): “[E]ffective immediately, masks are no longer required for staff and students while outdoors or on school grounds. Masks will still be required to be worn on buses. For all other events taking place outdoors and on school property, masks are no longer required, regardless of vaccination status.” Addley made clear that the school district is following “updated guidance” from the CDC, state Department of Public Health and state Department of Education on the in-door rule.

Darien’s school district has been recognized as one of the “Best Communities for Music Education” by a national foundation. The district shares the honor with 23 other school districts in Connecticut. — an announcement from Darien Public Schools’ Music Department

The recognition comes from the National Association of Music Merchants Foundation. Now in its 22nd year, the Best Communities for Music Education designation is awarded to districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement in providing access to music education for all students. “We are incredibly proud to receive this recognition,” said Colleen Thompson, Darien’s Director of Music.

Updated, 6:45 a.m., Wednesday:
Same-day registrations for COVID-19 vaccines and walk-in vaccination visits are unlikely because of the expected new demand for shots, now that children ages 12 to 15 are eligible for them, a health official has told Darien parents. But in her email to Darien school district parents late Tuesday night, Darien schools Nursing Director Alicia Cassucci also offered links to Web pages where parents can register for nearby vaccination sites. “We will continue to send more information about clinics as we hear about vaccine clinics in our area,” Cassucci wrote in the email received by Darienite.com at 9:59 p.m., Tuesday. Full Text of Cassucci’s Message
Good evening Darien Families,
We have just received more information and links for the Community Health Center Pfizer COVID vaccine clinics being held at the Lord & Taylor Vaccine Site in Stamford. The registration links are below. Given the anticipated demand at the opening of this age group it is unlikely there will be same day registrations or walk-in appointments available.

Several parents of students, backed up by support from school parent-teacher organizations, have told the Board of Education that the school district needs more extensive efforts to teach kids about making schools more welcoming to minorities and teachers need to know how to handle cases of bigotry. “Look back at all of the awful, hurtful and despicable instances of racism that have occurred in our schools and act forward in ensuring that our teachers are equipped and have the resources and training in knowing how to have these difficult conversations with our children in the classroom,” Belinda Fang of Beach Drive said. Some of the parents indicated the recent vandalism at Holmes School, where a swastika was found, alarmed them. Others brought up recent violence against Asian Americans around the country. “Not enough of us know what to say or even what to do, but we know that silence cannot be the solution,” Fang said.

Five more individuals in Darien Public Schools have COVID-19, the school district announced Friday night, resulting in a total of 15 quarantines at Darien High School. Also, Darien Health Department released its COVID-19 update showing 28 new positive cases in town from April 2 to 8, but no new hospitalizations or deaths (the complete 10-slide report is at the bottom of this article). The one person at Tokeneke School who tested positive for COVID-19 was last in the building on April 1, and that resulted in no quarantines. Four of the five new COVID-19 cases at the high school, resulting in 10 other quarantines of people deemed to be in close-enough contact with them. Two of the people who tested positive for the coronavirus were last in the school on April 2, and the two others were last there on Tuesday, April 6.

Julie Droller, principal of Hindley School since the summer of 2019, has been appointed by the Board of Education to the new position of director of elementary education for Darien Public Schools, the district announced Friday. Droller was appointed in a unanimous vote by the board when it met Thursday night. She will continue as principal of Hindley through the school year, then take to the new new job on July 1. She was director of elementary education in Westport Public Schools from 2014 to 2018. Droller was interim principal at Hindley for a year, starting in August 2018, before she was named principal.

Coronavirus illustration CDC wide for facebook

A total of 63 people in the Darien school district — students, staff or both — were quarantined after eight of them tested positive for COVID-19, district officials announced late Thursday night. The people quarantined include 34 (with five people testing positive) from Darien High School; one from Middlesex Middle School (who tested positive); and 21 from Tokeneke School (which had two people testing positive). The announcement from Schools Superintendent Alan Addley and district Nursing Director Alicia Casucci was received by Darienite.com at 9:15 p.m.

The people testing positive at Darien High School were last in the building April 1, 6, 7 and (in two cases) Thursday, April 8; the one at Middlesex on April 1; the two at Tokeneke on March 31 and Thursday, April 8. Before the Thursday night announcement, the school district said on its website that as of 10 a.m., Thursday, there were 216 school district community members in quarantine, including 26 testing positive for COVID-19. Twelve hours later, at 10 p.m., the “dashboard” page on the website was updated to state that there are now 34 people associated with the district that have tested positive and 248 in quarantine (see image, below).

School Data Dashboard updated April 8, 2021

Be careful on spring break, but just in case, schools will be on remote learning, Schools Superintendent Alan Addley said in a message Thursday afternoon to parents and staff. A survey of the district’s staff showed that so many would be traveling over the spring break (Monday through Friday, April 12 to 16), that they would have to quarantine themselves when they get back — so the district can’t find enough replacements to hold classes inside school buildings. So remote learning will take place from April 19 to 23 (Monday through Friday), the week after spring break. (Friday, April 23, is a professional learning day for teachers at the high school.)

First Selectman Jayme Stevenson also issued a COVID-19 update on Thursday in which she said there have been 66 new cases in the last two weeks and Darien’s test positivity rate is about a percentage point above the state’s. Addley pointed out that even though the governor has removed mandates for quarantining after out-of-state travel, health officials at the local, state and federal level recommend it, and the school district wants it.

In the past two days, 13 people in Darien Public Schools, either students or adult staff, have tested positive for COVID-19, and a total of 71 people have had to be quarantined for at least 10 days, school district officials have announced. The vast majority of positive tests, nine, came from students or staff at Darien High School. One came from Middlesex Middle School, three from Hindley School and one from Royle School. On Monday, seven people in the district tested positive, resulting in new quarantines for a total of 46 people. Five of the positive tests were of Darien High students; one from Middlesex; two from Hindley and one from Royle.

More individuals in Darien Public Schools have tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday and Wednesday, resulting in a total of 43 quarantines, including the 39 others who were in close enough contact to have caught the coronavirus, district officials said on Saturday. The school district’s COVID Response Team was notified about the new test results on Saturday, according to an email from schools Superintendent Alan Addley and Alicia Casucci, director of nursing services for the district. The email received by Darienite.com was sent at 8:45 p.m., Saturday. Three of the positive COVID-19 tests were for Darien High School individual, resulting in a total of 32 quarantines. The other positive test was for a Middlesex Middle School individual, resulting in 11 quarantines, including that individual.

Schools Superintendent Alan Addley acknowledged in his Friday COVID-19 update that the increase in COVID-19 cases among individuals in the school district and the disruptions caused by contract tracing and quarantines have been difficult this past week. It’s all a “reminder that we are not out of the woods,” he said. “It is also a reminder that we should not become complacent about our everyday behaviors and commitment to keeping each other safe by exercising travel, and health practices” that authorities recommend, he said. He noted that some students have been quarantined “several times over the last few weeks, and sometimes consecutively.” But he added that the state requires the school district to quarantine.

In a message to families of Darien Public Schools students and school district staff, Superintendent Alan Addley noted that the district would have a vaccination clinic for teachers and staff on Friday and Saturday. He also said that two parents per player can now attend sports events. Also, First Selectman Jayme Stevenson issued her regular COVID-19 update to the town on Thursday. “As of March 1, teachers, school staff, licensed child care providers and anyone 55+ became eligible for vaccine,” she said. She also noted that Darien Library is expected to be closed until this Wednesday after a staff member acquired COVID-19.

David Dineen Board of Education State of the Town

Darien Board of Education Chairman David Dineen delivered his first State of the Town report to the Representative Town Meeting on Monday. “As of Friday, Dec. 4, the District had 16 active COVID-19 cases with a cumulative total of 881 persons quarantined,” Dineen said. “As school, town, country and state cases continue to rise, decisions on the school learning model will be reviewed on a regular basis,” in consultation with or with attention to town, state and federal officials and agencies, he said. “Presently, total COVID spending is $3,294,477, less grant and transfers of $2,477,939,” Dineen said.

Alan Addley Superintendent Darien Public Schools

« August 2022 »

Darien Schools Superintendent Alan Addley announced to parents on Tuesday night that he is going into quarantine after his spouse tested positive for COVID-19, although he tested negative. “Upon leaving work on Monday, I was tested for COVID-19,” Addley said in the announcement, emailed Wednesday night. “My PCR test was negative and I immediately started my 14-day period of quarantine,” he continued. “I am feeling well and following the directions from the CDC, District protocols and my physician.” Addley said the quarantine period will end on Tuesday, Dec.