Here are some explanations to commonly answered questions.
First, let us say WELCOME! We hope you find this helpful. The first half of this is to provide information about the town and district, while the second half is specifically about the Hindley Parent Teacher Organization (PTO).
Town of Darien
In the event of a town emergency, information is provided by the First Selectman. If you would like to sign up for this information on town emergencies or other important notices from our First Selectman, click here.
District
The Darien Board of Education and the schools will often use outside resources to assist in communicating with families. For some of these resources listed below, you will need to either create an account in order to access the information provided or the district will provide you with account information so you are connected to the right place. Guidance will be provided when you register any new child to the district.
Aspen
This is the district’s main system for all information and communication. First it is most important that your information is current and accurate (personal information, emergency and health information for each child) as teachers will communicate with parents through this system in addition to communicating grades and report cards. If you have never used this before in Darien, you will need to request an account, click here. Once you have an account, you will be able to access it to update with your password, and the district will notify you of the posting of grades and report cards.
School Dismissal Manager
At the beginning of the school year, you will set a default as to how your child will be getting home each day here. The school will provide you with a password to your account and teachers will only be allowed to send your child home based on the instructions you provide. If there are exceptions such as a playdate, you will need to change that in the app or on the website to allow them to go home with someone else. Hand written notes are not accepted. Also, please make sure this is updated and current each day prior to 1:30pm, as the office is a busy place in the afternoon.
First View
This is an app that you can download once your child has been assigned to a bus. It will provide a gps update as to where the bus is along the route. This is helpful for kindergarten parents as an adult is required to be present to allow a kindergartener off the bus, even at their own home.
K-12 Payment Center
Each child when they are registered, will be provided with a school lunch
account. This is a pre-paid account that allows students to electronically pay for snacks or school lunch. The child’s account number is the same as their student ID that is found in Aspen. If you choose to use this account, you will deposit money into the account, and the balance will decline until there is about $5.00 left in the account, at which point you can opt to be notified by email, text message or both. There is a handy feature where if you pay the flat fee of $10, you can access your child’s purchase history for their entire time at school. Without this prepaid feature to view history, you just see the total they spent for the day.
Do you have a question for the district beyond this information? Please click here to see the Chain of Communication and find the right person to ask your question.
PTO
All Hindley families are automatically part of the PTO, there is no fee to join, however, we are separate from the school, so read below for ways that the PTO executive board and its committees will communicate with you.
A to Z Directory Information
The PTO does not have direct access to ANY personal information about the students or their families attending Hindley. However, you can opt into the school directory by clicking the link when provided in late August and completing the form with your name, telephone number and home address. This information will be included for other Hindley families who purchase access to it, either by receiving a printed hardcopy and/or by using the online app.
Hindley Wire
Each week, the PTO receives submissions about upcoming events from committee chairs, and/or from the community. As a service to all families, the PTO curates all the information and sends a weekly digest including the school calendar for the week, information about upcoming events at Hindley, as well as a community events that Hindley families might be interested in participating. You can sign up to receive the Hindley Wire every Sunday morning by clicking here.
Pay4schoolstuff.com
All PTO events are handled separately from the district, and a secure
website has been set up for all ticket sales to events. From time to time, other items will be for sale through pay4schoolstuff.com as well. When this site is used, you will receive a direct link for payment. The first time you use it, you will need to create an account, and add a new student (as many who attend Hindley), and link to the classroom teacher. Once linked, you will see any upcoming sales we have available for purchase.
If you have any questions for the PTO (such as how to get involved?) please see here for the list of the PTO slate of officers and find the name of someone who can help you further.