About Us

Absence from School:
You will want to send your child to school regularly, but please, DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD TO SCHOOL IF HE/SHE IS ILL. On the day of your child’s return from an absence, it is required that he/she bring a written excuse to the attendance office stating:

Date(s) of absence.
Cause of absence.
Type of illness (if absence is due to an illness).
Parent or guardian’s signature.
Appointments During the School Day

If it is necessary to take your child for a doctor, dental, or other appointment during school hours, please report to the attendance office to have your child called from class. A written notice should be sent to the teacher in advance, if possible. In an emergency, parents should call the main office to let them know that a student will be picked up and who will be picking up the student. Your child must be signed in and out at the main office.

Attendance:
Each day is important! You must be in school unless you are ill. Our school day begins at 9:00 AM and ends at 3:22 PM. Please be on time. If you are late (after 9:00 AM) you must report to the attendance office before going to your classroom. The child will receive a pass indicating the time signed in. 

Books for Birthdays:
Each day we celebrate students' birthdays by announcing their birthday on the morning announcements and having them come to the office where the Principal lets them pick a new book from our "Books For Birthdays" box and signs the book. Thank you to the Dryden Elementary PTA for donating all of the books.

Bus Advisory Procedure:
Due to extreme inclement weather, the Superintendent of the Dryden Central School District may declare a “Bus Advisory”.  The notification of a bus advisory will be transmitted to parents and students in the same format as emergency closing/delay announcements via TV and Radio announcements, as well as posting on the Dryden Central School District Web Site.During a bus advisory, school bus drivers will not expect students to be waiting at the pick-up point upon arrival.  Students that normally walk to a school will be offered busing to their school.  The bus assigned to a pick-up point will make a complete stop at the designated location.  If visibility permits, it is expected that students will exit their residence in time to meet the bus.  There will be a full and complete expectation that students picked-up at a stop will promptly exit their residence to demonstrate a presence and that the distance to the bus will be covered as quickly as it can be safely accomplished.It should be expected that the bus, as it progresses through its scheduled route, would start arriving later than usual.  This may, near the end of the route become upwards to 10 minutes.  To maintain a basic schedule during a bus advisory, it will not be possible for bus drivers to wait for extended periods of time for students to walk up to .5 miles or for door-to-door pick-up.  Therefore, if the designated pick-up point is not at a residence but at a point separated from a residence, (at an intersection for example), it is our sincere hope that some type of protective measures will be taken by the parents/students to insure the safety and welfare of the students.

Four-Day Schedule:

The Dryden School District operates on a four-day cycle for special class schedules. School days are numbered one through four on the lunch menu to help parents know when their children are scheduled for art, music, physical education, library, and technology classes. In the event of emergency closing days, day cycle numbers will not be skipped. For example, if Monday is day one and we have a snow day on Tuesday (scheduled day two), it will be a day two on Wednesday when we return to school. Your home calendars (menu) will need to be adjusted.

Home School Connection:
DES wants to keep our lines of communication open between home and school. Sometimes a parent doesn’t know who to turn to with concerns about their child’s classroom/school experience. Always start with the classroom teacher; S/he knows your child the best and will work with you to solve a problem. We recognize that some problems or concerns may be difficult to speak about with the classroom teacher. Trust that, when calm and respectful communication exists, there is nothing that cannot be solved. Your child’s teacher wants to know how they can make your child’s experience better!  If continuing communications with your child’s classroom teacher do not solve your concern, then feel free to please bring it to building administration. We can work with both you and the classroom teacher to come to mutual understandings and positive actions. In this way home and school communication is supported and positive.

Late Arrivals, Bus Passes & Early Dismissals:
From time to time it is reasonable and necessary that a child either arrive to school late or be excused early from school. When this occurs, please sign your child in or out at the attendance office. When picking your child up early, please stop at the attendance office to have him/her called from class. Please do not go directly to the classroom. It is also reasonable to expect temporary changes in bus transportation needs. If it becomes necessary for your child to be transported to a different location after school or be picked up early from school, please send in a note with the name and address of the drop off location, date, child’s full name, teacher’s name and include parent/guardian signature. Bus passes are issued for daycare purposes only. We do not accept bus changes over the telephone. If you need to change your child’s drop off location during the day, please stop in the main office with a written note, send an  email to [email protected] or send a fax to 607-844-9449  (There are sample bus change notices in the back of the handbook that you may send with your child to request a bus pass.)  All notes are due by 2:15. Please make other transportation arrangements for your child(ren) to go to friend’s houses after school to play, or for birthday parties, etc. Thank you. 

Lost and Found:
Many lost items are turned in to the office throughout the school year. If the item is labeled with a child’s name, it will be returned to them. Please put your child’s name on all of his/her belongings. If you have lost something, there is a bin located in the main lobby for lost items.  Please feel free to stop in and look through the collection to reclaim items that belong to you.  We will donate items not picked up to the Rescue Mission during the December break and at the end of the school year.

Recess:
Recess is an important time of the day. It is an opportunity for students to socialize and organize themselves into games and activities. Our recess periods are 30 minutes either before or after a grade level lunch period. Supervision aides monitor recess and ensure that students are safe and respectful towards each other. We have several fields, basketball hoops, a creative playground, and a blacktop area behind our building. We also have a 1/5 mile track that students regularly use for walking and running. Dryden Elementary School has an organized walking/running club called the Mileage Club. For every five miles (25 laps) a student walks/run on the track, he/she will be recognized during morning announcements and receive an award token. Students receive ribbons for 10, 25, 50, and 75 mile accomplishments. Weather conditions are carefully monitored during the cooler months.  Inclement weather that would result in indoor recess includes precipitation, or a cold temperature or wind chill.  During winter months when there is snow on the ground, students are encouraged to wear snow pants and boots.  Students without the proper winter gear will not be able to play in the snow or, when conditions permit, sled on the side hill. It is essential that all children come to school prepared to go outside for recess. This should include appropriate outerwear and footwear that can be removed upon re-entering the building. Children will be permitted to remain in the building only if there is a medical reason.  Your cooperation is appreciated.

Visitors:
We welcome you at anytime, however, for the safety of our children; all visitors to school buildings must sign in. Please come to the window located outside the attendance office, sign in on the visitor or volunteer sign-in sheet and obtain a badge to wear from the receptionist while you are in the building. If you wish to visit a classroom, please make prior arrangements with the classroom teacher. For the safety of our children, all visitors to school buildings must use the main entrance on Union Street (all other entrances will be locked) and sign in at the attendance office. If you have an appointment with a teacher, if you are volunteering in a classroom, or if you need to be in school for any other reason, please report to the attendance office upon your arrival.