Hello Dolphin Community,

Last weekend I had the privilege of traveling up to Boston and joining a strong D-Y contingent in cheering on our DYHS Unified Basketball Team as they competed in the Andrew James Lawson Invitational Tournament at TD Garden. It was an absolutely fabulous event, and our Dolphins came out victorious in a back and forth battle with hoop rival Barnstable. A special thank you to Ms. Traci Wyse for all her work to make this special event possible for our students and their families. More pictures and video are available on our social media.

I am sure that many folks are wondering the big question today. I know I have gotten it many times already in the past few days. It has gone something like this, "So, what are you thinking about Monday? Are we going to have school?" For those of us that have lived in New England for a while, and particularly on Cape Cod, you know that the weather can be very fickle. This makes predictions very difficult. As such, I am not going to be making a decision today. We will continue to track the storm over the coming days, and I will stay in touch with a wide variety of folks that help inform decision-making. I always try and make the decision as soon as possible, as long as Mother Nature is willing to cooperate. If you missed the district's message about weather related emergencies and where you can find out about where information gets posted, please find that here.

Finally, we continue to work on the 2026-2027 school budget. It is a long process that will occur over the next two and a half months. On Monday, Dr. Susan Gilson (Director of Finance and Operations) and I will update the School Committee on our latest budget projections. Over the last few weeks, we have done significant work reviewing budget requests and got our original projection of a 6.35% increase over last year with no initiatives included down to a 5.88% increase over last year that does include some of our initiatives and priorities. If you are interested in learning more about the process, seeing the documentation, or watching the meetings, they are all posted on our website shortly after airing live. You can find them here. Upcoming on February 9th is the Budget Hearing, which is an opportunity for the public to ask the School Committee questions about the budget. That hearing will take place at 6:30 p.m. in the DYIMS cafeteria.

Thank you for your ongoing support,

Marc J. Smith, Ed. D.

For any families with an uncertain immigration status and that may be concerned about the care and custody of their children in the event of a sudden detention or deportation by immigration officials, please see this resource created by the Office of the Attorney General that provides guides and legal options. The guides are provided in English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Haitian Creole.