The goal of the DPS page is to keep students, families, staff, and the community informed and connected by sharing important updates, events, and celebrations happening at Dyersburg Primary School. DPS is a Pre-K through Grade 2 School. The length of our student school day is 7 hours with the teacher’s day 7.5 hours. We operate on an extended calendar of 180 classroom instructional days.
There are one-week intersession periods in the fall and spring with breaks in fall, spring and late December. The DPS facility consists of 4 wings. Each wing is capable of supporting up to 16 regular classrooms that have restrooms, environmental controls (HVAC and lighting), Internet connections, and A/V connections appropriate to support the instruction in each classroom. Each grade level for DPS is housed in its own dedicated wing. Special classes, such as speech, Reading Recovery, pre-K, special education, technology labs, and a variety of activity classes are located in a manner to maximize instruction and ease of use. The facility has a large cafeteria, activity room and playground areas to accommodate our student population. Security cameras are located throughout our building to provide continuous monitoring of activity within DPS. Our custodial and maintenance staff implements an ongoing program of maintaining our facility. Our curriculum offerings include a variety of programs designed to meet the instructional needs of our DPS students. Mandarin Chinese instruction is offered to students in the first and second grades. Participants are selected based on high STAR Reading scores. HOSTS Readiness is a mentoring program that utilizes community volunteers to mentor identified at-risk kindergarten students. It is an individualized program that provides reinforcement of reading and writing readiness skills. One week Intersessions are offered during the fall and spring. Class sizes are minimized to provide individualized attention for each student. The primary goal of intersession courses is to assist students in academic improvement That will lead to proficiency. A second goal of intersession is to provide students who participate in enrichment class an opportunity to grow academically, socially, and/or emotionally beyond the opportunities available in the regular classroom setting. The Extended School Program (ESP) is a before and after school program that provides supervised care for students from 6:00 A.M. A variety of activities are offered in this program that allow students to actively participate within their age level to develop interactive and cognitive skills and simply to have fun in a safe and secure environment. A variety of Special Education Programs are available to students who meet state criteria for eligibility. These programs serve children with learning disabilities, developmental delay, health impairments, speech and language deficiencies, and intellectual giftedness. The focus is to coordinate and integrate federal, state, and local services and programs in such a way that the whole child and family are supported. Dyersburg Primary School currently has five Pre-K classrooms. These classes are designed to provide educational services for at-risk four year olds in our community. DPS has two classrooms for three and four-year-old special needs preschoolers. In the spring an open house is held for all students and parents transitioning to a new grade. In April, Dyersburg Primary School hosts Kindergarten Pre-Registration. We encourage each student and his/her family to come and participate in the day’s activities. They are also assessed on their developmental preparedness for Kindergarten. Parents are given information about skills their students will need to be successful in the Kindergarten Program. Parental support and involvement at DPS is found in many forms. It is important to note that parental involvement and parental input regarding programs and activities are an integral part of providing the students of DPS with a comprehensive learning experience. Some examples of parental involvement include helping in the library, on field trips, in PTO, SMART Goal celebrations and materials, Kid’s Night Out and May Day. Parents also participate in orientation, open house, and end of the year activities. In order to assure communication with the parents, Tuesday Folders are sent home weekly with information about academic progress, school calendars, and community news. Other means of communication with parents are the school system website, the local newspaper, television channel 4, and the local radio station. Parents provide feedback and direction for DPS and the Dyersburg City School System by being involved in Principal and Superintendent Advisory groups, the school improvement plan, and surveys. The parents participate in the development and review of the school improvement plan at regular intervals throughout the year.
