What is DYSOS ?

DYSOS stands for Dennis-Yarmouth Support Our Schools

In July 2009 a group of concerned citizens began meeting to discuss how we might provide factual and positive information about our Dennis-Yarmouth schools to the residents of our two communities.

Our foremost goal is to highlight and bring attention to the many ways our schools benefit their students and our overall community. We believe it is critical for the vitality of our towns to continue the bedrock commitment to education which has always defined Dennis and Yarmouth.

Our Dennis-Yarmouth Support Our Schools (DYSOS) group includes former and current educators as well as parents of children in the DY schools. Current Board members are: John Ameer, Jim and Ruth Driscoll , Joyce Flynn,  Lois Grebe, George Higginbottom, Dick McGarr, Phil O’Leary, Pat O’Riordan, Margarita Perez, Crystal Gips, Anne Quinn, Dick Sentner, Kristin Sulivan-stone, Nancy Waldron and Phil Wick.

We sponsor an one hour “Support Our Schools” on Channel 99 (formerly ch 17) which can be viewed on Mondays at 4:00 PM, Tuesdays at 10 PM  and Thursdays at 7:00 PM. Crystal Gips, is the host. To date, more than 70 programs have aired covering a range of  DY educational topics with various administrators and teachers.

Programs have also included parents, students, civic leaders and policy makers.  We have had positive feedback about the quality and depth of these discussions.  For a current schedule of programs and a listing of past shows go to heading Channel 99 in this blog.

A number of past shows are now being rebroadcast on channel  22.   A schedule for these shows can be found on the DY Regional Website under the heading, Channel 22.

Recorded discs for 30 shows are now available through the South Yarmouth Library and the CLams system.

This site will provide basic information about the DY schools and about innovative and successful school programs as well as relevant educational issues.

We hope these initiatives will further engage our communities with our schools. We welcome anyone who shares similar interests and concerns.

contact us by email:

 dysupportourschools@gmail.com

Articles on the RESOURCE  page:

Wixon Middle Level Academy

Ezra Baker and the Community

Achievement in D-Y  Schools Must Not Be Ignored.

Science, Technology,Engineering and Mathematics, STEM

Family Resource Center

Kudos for Channel 17  Education series

DY Open House Big Success

MacArthur After  School Programs

Parents Speak Out Against Lifting Charter School Cap

QUEST (Quality Education for Every Student) is a group of parents who have come together to fight for quality, equity and transparency in the Boston Public Schools. We can be found on facebook at facebook.com/questbps and can be reached at qualityforeverystudent@gmail.com.

That’s why I signed a petition to Rep. Alice Peisch (MA-110) and Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz (MA-33), which says:

“Inadequate funding of public education is eroding the ability of municipal school boards across the Commonwealth to provide quality education to every student in public schools, as is their right.
In the Boston Public Schools, the majority of 128 schools face significant cuts in staff, in programs and in resources to support the education of more than 57,000 of our children. The $87.5 million in aid given to two-dozen charter schools in the city of Boston contribute to these losses. (This is especially concerning as it is 42% of the total amount of Chapter 70 aid given to the city, despite the fact that 75% of all school aged k-12 students attend BPS.) We are concerned about these losses, as well as a number of other issues related to the strengthening of a separate system of schools, one that does not equally serve the needs of all children.
We respectfully request the following:
– The cap on the number of charter schools in the commonwealth should remain in place until the consequences to traditional public school districts, financial and otherwise, have been more clearly understood.
– Full reimbursements, as stipulated under Chapter 46, must be made to cities for losses due to charter schools. (This year only 63% of reimbursements were made, leading to a $28 million shortfall across the state, and a $10 million shortfall in Boston.)
– Improved Systems of accountability must be put into place to assure that charter schools successfully serve the needs of all children, including English language learners and those with special needs and to assure that charters serve their intended purpose to supplement, not supplant, district schools.
“

Will you sign the petition too? Click here to add your name:

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/adequate-funding-for?source=s.fwd&r_by=2433819

Thanks!

Contact us

You may contact us on:

dysupportourschools@gmail.com

 

False Use of DYSOS

Recent online communications and a Facebook page is falsely using the DYSOS name.   These communications do not represent D-Y Support Our Schools.

dick mcgarr

D-Y Celebrates Gershwin

Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School Concert Band and the D-Y Chorus celebrates George Gershwin and his music.

Pianist Jeremy Piper, along with Kristy Piper, jazz vocalist,

will perform with D-Y school musicians in tribute to George Gershwin.

When: 7 p.m. Thursday, April 4 and Friday, April 5.

Where: Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School, 210 Station Avenue, South Yarmouth.

 

Tickets: $10 starting Monday, March 18 at

Showtime Pizza in Dennis

Jack Conway Real Estate in South Dennis

Cultural Center of Cape Cod in South yarmouth

Riverway Lobster House in South Yarmouth

Grand Prix Driving School in Hyannis,

The Tyranny of high-stakes testing

JOHN PIERRE AMEER
November 05, 2012     Published in the Cape Cod Times as My View
On the Cape and throughout the commonwealth, the public has been subjected, yet again, to the annual ritual of published MCAS results. As usual, the results have been received, alternately, with keening or with celebration. This school went up five points in math; that school’s eighth-graders went down six points.
Whatever supposed information the public is supposed to gain from this exercise is overwhelmed by the reality that high-stakes tests destroy teaching and learning. The scores tell nothing important about teachers, schools and students. The idea of a one-size-fits-all test has been rejected for centuries — first by the intuition of educators and, in recent years, by research from cognitive psychology, classroom observations and evaluations of tests.
We know that students learn at differing rates. Even though a group of students is the same age, they will be at different levels of development. In direct rejection of this scientific knowledge, we put all students of the same age into the same room and give them the same test. We even include students who have various learning disabilities as well as English language learners still working at mastering academic fluency in English. In disregard of these critical variables, we force all students through the same batteries of questions in a setting and manner reminiscent of the testing of new military recruits.
The system further compounds this destruction by using these highly problematic test scores to evaluate teachers, schools and districts. Were it not for the negative and harmful consequences of doing so, the entire process could be written off as farce.
The situation, however, is far from humorous: Students, teachers, administrators, districts and, by association, parents all suffer humiliations based on these absurdities. School funding may also suffer (except for funds to publishers who construct these tests). Students have the best part of their learning — the potential excitement of discovery and intellectual growth — drowned in the pool of supposedly objective testing.
Little is objective about the MCAS system. Selecting questions, determining grading scales and grading itself lie in the hands of particular people at particular times who function within particular pressures. Critical areas of study — arts, social sciences, physical education, vocational courses, many sciences — are allocated limited time and resources because these are redirected toward achieving ephemeral gains in verbal and math scores. Teachers are intimidated away from productive paths of learning — those invaluable teaching moments that make learning exciting — because of pressure to “get scores up.” Students find a significant part of their learning corrupted by this destructive nonsense.
Why do we continue with this abomination? The private and parochial schools pay no attention to the MCAS system. If it is such a valuable tool, why don’t these schools, which charge so much tuition, participate? Why do the admissions offices of private colleges care not a whit about MCAS scores? Why can students from private schools be admitted to state colleges without MCAS results while public school students must have passed MCAS?
High-stakes tests exist only because they were designed by people responsible for teaching and learning who were unable to understand the complexities of learning. Unable to translate these complexities into simple metrics, they reduced them to simple data points — a reductionist concoction upon which to make judgments.
At this time, only the objections and protests of parents, teachers and other community leaders will pressure the state Legislature to abandon this system and return schooling to the professionalism of teachers, the concern of parents and the excitement of students.
John Pierre Ameer of Yarmouthport is adjunct professor of education at Worcester State University.

 

D-Y jazz band goes platinum

The Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School Jazz Band under the direction of Alex Pendleton earned platinum status at the Great East Music Festival in Palmer, May 20.

The band has been offered as a class at D-Y for two years.  “The Judges couldn’t believe we got a platinum that quickly,” Pendleton said Monday.  Students performed before two judges, both professional jazz musicians.  “We only do this once a year,” Pendleton  said, “It’s a great opporutnity for the kids to compete against themselves, not against any other group.”

The Register, thursday, May 26 2011.

For more, visit widkedlodatdennisw.com or wickedlocalyarmouth.com.

 

 

 

DY Jazz Band Concerts

The award winning D-Y Jazz Band will hold three concerts in Dennis and Yarmouth

Celebrate the coming of spring with the award winning D-Y High School Jazz Band.  Under the direction of Alex Pendleton, this 24-piece big band will perform music in the styles of Swing, Latin, Cool Jazz, Be-Bop, and Dixieland.  Come hear what some are saying is “The best student jazz band in the area”.

Sunday,  April 21 at 3 p.m.

Cultural Center of Cape Cod

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Yarmouth Senior Center

May 30, 2012 at 7 p.m.

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Dennis Senior Center

May 11 at 7:00 p.m.

Family Recourse Center

In order to address the needs of homeless children of all ages and their families across the district, DY  recently established a Family Resource Center. The center is located at Wixon Middle School on Route 134 in Dennis.

For the full article go to OTHER RESOURCES at the top of the page and scroll down.

Technology Takes the Center Stage: Interactive Whiteboards at DY

Since the fall of 2004 125 classrooms in the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District have been revolutionized by the installation of a touch-sensitive screen that works in conjunction with a computer and a projector providing interactivity for students and teachers. Some, skeptical at first, did not believe in ability of the interactive whiteboard (IWB) to redefine the delivery of classroom content. That belief did not last long as the first classroom pioneers, middle school math teachers, started using their IWB to enhance instruction. With the renovation of Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School came the installation of IWBs in classrooms, computer labs, library and seminar room. Since then, IWBs have found homes in all schools in the District. There are numerous models of IWBs; Dennis-Yarmouth chose the SmartBoard™. Most of the boards have been purchased with high school renovation or grant funds.

So what does an IWB do and why is having one in their classroom the envy of teachers and a magnet to students? The following is a few of the many capabilities of the IWB in the classroom.

Recognizes the handwriting of our youngest users

Capture images and text during a lesson for review

Links directly to the Internet for view by the whole class

View classroom textbooks and math journals

Manipulates shapes during geometry lessons

Creates interactive games

Teach geography by taking virtual field trips

Visualize simulations of scientific processes

Peer editing by displaying student work

Emulates a graphing calculator

Capture portions of video content for playback later with notes

Students absent may replay lessons

When asked about the impact of having a Smartboard™ in their classroom, enthusiastic responses were received. Grade 6 teacher, Peter Cross says, “Adding a SmartBoard™ to my room brought my instruction from the Dark Ages of chalk to the daylight of the current age of technology. The students love the SmartBoard™, it is part of their techno crazy world. They love working at the board and demonstrating information and procedures.”

Sandi Nagle, 2nd Grade teacher, responded, “The possibilities are endless. The Smartboard™ has opened a portal to best practice in teaching.  Teachers can differentiate instruction, support multiple intelligences and address the needs of all learners. Without a Smartboard™, I feel that my instruction would be less explicit, interactive, and effective.”

Tracie Siege, 3rd Grade, comments, “Having a SmartBoard™ in my classroom has completely affected all aspects of my instruction!  I am able to provide supportive visual aides for every possible content area and lesson.  I have been able to incorporate so many types of multi-media components in order to bring the “real life” into the classroom. It has also been an invaluable tool for teaching MCAS prep and showing actual student examples.”

2nd Grade teacher, Cheryl Warren says, “The SmartBoard™ has changed the way I deliver instruction. I use the SmartBoard™ in every aspect of the day. The students expect it. The SmartBoard™ is an intrinsic part of our school day. The students of today need this technology to keep their minds active and learning. It gets their brain to where it needs to be in an efficient and cohesive way. With the SmartBoard™ they are completely engaged in their learning.

Kate Franklin, Grade 7 and 8, responded, “As a seasoned veteran of teaching, the SmartBoard™ has revolutionized my classroom and the way I plan my lessons. It has encouraged me to grow as a teacher. I am learning new ways to connect and communicate and can use that with the struggling learner, as well as the gifted student.”

Finally, DYH Math teacher, Jen Legge, rattles off the many uses for her board, “visual seating charts, attendance by students by tapping their name or picture, show actual Math textbook, YouTube, class PowerPoints©, share work that has been scanned, real time problems, copies of class notes made available online for students, easily switch from one screen to another for reference, save student work when groups do work from a wireless tablet, just too many.”

Two fourth graders from Marguerite E. Small School, Chris Carey and Joey Tierney, sum up having a SmartBoard™ in their classrooms, “It helps us learn better!”

Lory Stewart, Director of Instructional Technology