Darien Public Schools

Last updated

Darien Public Schools
DarienCTEducationOffices07302007.JPG
Board of Education offices facing the lower parking lot, Town Hall
Address
35 Leroy Avenue
Darien, Connecticut 06820
United States
District information
Type Public
GradesPK–12 [1]
SuperintendentAlan Addley
Schools7 [1]
NCES District ID 0901050 [1]
Students and staff
Students4,681 (2023–24) [1]
Teachers422.54 (on an FTE basis) [1]
Student–teacher ratio11.08 [1]
Entrance, Ox Ridge School DarienCTEntranceOxRidgSch07252007.JPG
Entrance, Ox Ridge School

Darien Public Schools is a school district headquartered in Darien, Connecticut, United States. The district has seven schools.

Contents

The many members of the Board of Education in Darien are part of the Darien town government, and the total school budget must be approved by the town Board of Finance and Representative Town Meeting, although the Board of Education has ultimate control over how its town-appropriated budget is spent and their website is darienps.org.

The town has five elementary schools: Hindley School, Holmes School, Ox Ridge School, Royle School, and Tokeneke School. A $27 million addition was completed in 2000 to the town's middle school, Middlesex Middle School, and a new $73 million campus for Darien High School was completed in the fall of 2005. [2]

Students

Measurement [3] YearDarienDRGState
Eligibile for free/reduced price meals2005-061.2%1.1%26.9%
Eligible for free/reduced price meals2002-031.1%n/a25.4%
Non-English language at home2005-063.0%2.5%12.6%
Non-English language at home2000-013.9%n/a/12.5%

"DRG" (District Reference Group) — "A DRG is a classification of districts whose students' families are similar in education, income, occupation, and need, and have roughly similar enrollment." [3]

Schools

High school

Middle school

Elementary schools

View from Ox Ridge School parking lot OxRdgViewFromParkingLotDarienCT07252007.JPG
View from Ox Ridge School parking lot

The farthest north of Darien's elementary schools, Ox Ridge School sits behind a small, private equestrian estate. The school's current mascot is Hootie the owl, with the school colors of green and blue. The school's Kids Care Club puts together "Holiday Hope Chests" — decorated shoe boxes with small gifts — for children served by Norwalk's Family and Children's Agency. The students give out the gifts at the agency's annual Christmas party. [4]

Royle School serves about 430 students from kindergarten through fifth grade. The school's colors are blue and white. Its mascot, Sir Learn-a-Lot, is a suit of armor that stands at the main entrance of the school. Professional hockey player Hugh Jessiman (b. 1984), attended the school, as well as Ox Ridge School. [5]

When the Royle School was in a building on the Post Road, movies were shown there until the town movie theater was built in the 1920s. [6]

As of 2003, the school had held an annual "Royle Wrap Up" fundraiser for 17 years. Students sell wrapping paper, candles and gifts in their neighborhoods for the fundraising drive, which accounts for 70 percent of the school Parent Teacher Organization's annual budget. The school enrichment program, funded by the PTO, brings in authors and drama companies to the school and includes an annual class field trip. [7]

The school has held an annual "Back to School Family Picnic" in September. There are competitions among classes, with prizes for boys and girls, making all participants winners. Events include a sack race, "balloon pop race", a water-balloon tossing contest, a tug of war, and the launching of 20 silver balloons (one for each classroom) with postcards attached. [8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Search for Public School Districts – District Detail for Darien School District". National Center for Education Statistics . Institute of Education Sciences . Retrieved November 11, 2025.
  2. ↑ Prevost, Lisa, "A Haven for Both Sailors and Commuters,", The New York Times, December 14, 2003. Accessed July 14, 2003.
  3. 1 2 state Department of Education's Strategic School Profile 2005-05, for Darien School District, accessed March 13, 2007
  4. ↑ "Kids Care Club: Makes holidays special for others", Darien Times, December 6, 2007, p. 1C.
  5. ↑ Buono, Steve, "Huge Specimen" is Rangers' giant asset", article, The Darien Times , June 26, 2003, accessed via NewsBank Web site (www.newsbank.com), accessed November 15, 2007
  6. ↑ Durland, Ann, "A look back at the Darien that was Along the Way", The Darien Times, March 15, 2007. Accessed via NewsBank November 15, 2007.
  7. ↑ News brief, "'Royle Wrap Up' underway", The Darien Times, September 25, 2003. Accessed via NewsBank November 15, 2007.
  8. ↑ "Royle School students have a blast during the annual 'Family Picnic'", no byline, article in The Darien Times, October 2, 2003. Accessed via NewsBank November 15, 2007.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.