News from the Nest!

Dear Palmer River Elementary School Community,

What a great first two days of school! It was wonderful to welcome almost all of our Falcons back to the nest, and we’re looking forward to having our PreK students join us on Tuesday!

This upcoming week will start to feel a little more like a regular school week with four days together. We’ll end the week on Friday by wearing red, white, and blue as we honor and remember the 25th anniversary of September 11th.

We also hope you’ve enjoyed seeing our new Falcon mascot, Falco, around PRES! Falco got his name last spring thanks to Mrs. Jefferson’s Kindergarten class, who submitted the winning name during our district-wide Name the Falcon contest. We’re excited to have Falco as part of our school community and hope you’ll consider showing your Falcon pride by purchasing some of our new spirit wear!

We’re off to a great start and are so happy to have our Falcons back in the nest. Have a wonderful long weekend, and we’ll see everyone on Tuesday!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Kristine Kefor, Principal and Mrs. Cassey Monte, Assistant Principal

#WeAreDR

• Open House for Grades 1-4: Tuesday, Sept. 1st
  
• PTSA Playground Playdate: Tuesday, Sept. 1st (same time as Open House!)
  
• First Day of School for Grades 1-4: Wednesday, Sept. 2nd
  
• Kindergarten Open House: Wednesday, Sept 2nd
  
• Fall Benchmark Assessment Window Open: Wednesday, Sept. 2-Friday, Oct. 9th
  
• First Day of Kindergarten: Thursday, Sept. 3rd
  
• PreK Open House: Thursday, Sept. 3rd
  
• NO SCHOOL Holiday Weekend: Friday, Sept. 4th-Monday, Sept. 7th
  
• First Day of PreK: Tuesday, Sept. 8th
• September PTSA Meeting @PRES: Thursday, Sept. 10th
• 9/11 District-Wide Wear Red, White and Blue Day: Friday, Sept. 11th
• 4th Grade Bullying Presentation w/ Brian Rose from AG’s Office: Thursday, Sept. 17th
• Together, We Are All Falcons Spirit Day: Friday, Sept. 18th

• October PTSA Meeting @PRES: Thursday, Oct. 8th
  
• NO SCHOOL Holiday: Monday, Oct. 12th
  
• PTSA Trunk or Treat: Saturday, Oct. 17th
  
• Fall School Pictures: Friday, Oct. 23rd

With the launch of our new districtwide PK–12+ Green & Gold branding, we are all Falcons now! To celebrate, we’re excited to provide PRES families, students, and staff with the opportunity to show their Falcon pride through our new online swag store.

We are proud to partner with Strange Planet Printing to offer a variety of apparel featuring our new PRES branding, with many items available in both youth and adult sizes. Be sure to check back frequently, as new and seasonal offerings will be added throughout the year!

Wear the Green. Wear the Gold. Show your Falcon pride!

SHOP THE PRES FALCON SWAG STORE

Together, we are DR!

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the tragic events of September 11, 2001. As a district, we will recognize this important anniversary with “DR Never Forgets,” a districtwide day of remembrance, unity, and gratitude. On Friday, September 11, we invite students and staff across all five schools to wear red, white, and blue as we honor the nearly 3,000 lives lost, remember the extraordinary courage of the first responders and everyday Americans who stepped forward to help others, and recognize all those whose lives were forever changed by that day. For many of our students, September 11 is history rather than memory, which makes our responsibility to teach its lessons even more important. Twenty-five years later, DR remembers—not only what our country lost, but the courage, compassion, service, and unity Americans showed in the days that followed. #DRNeverForgets #WeAreDR

On Friday, September 18, our district will come together for “Together, We Are All Falcons!” - a celebration designed to ignite our districtwide spirit, honor our unified PK–12+ Falcon identity, and celebrate the pride that connects all five of our schools. Students are invited to show their school spirit by wearing Green & Gold. This celebration builds on our long-standing Green & Gold Spirit Day tradition while giving it new meaning: from our youngest learners to our graduating seniors, we are all Falcons now. Let’s fill our schools with Green & Gold and celebrate what it means to be part of one district, one community, and one Falcon family. Together, We Are DR!

Please see the PDF below for an invitation to join the district's Wellness Committee.

Please click the button below to open and download the district calendar of events for the 2026-2027 school year. Each student will also receive a PRES take home folder that has the district calendar included.

Reminder: All volunteers must have a valid CORI on file with the school district. These background checks are good for three years. If you have questions about this process or would like to verify the status of your CORI, please contact the PRES office.

Our student information system has a section called "Permissions" that needs to be completed by all new families, and reviewed by returning families. Please be sure to log into your Aspen account and select your "Permissions" for each of your children.

We wanted to send a special thank you to our first responders from the Rehoboth Police Department and Rehoboth Fire Department who joined us at arrival on Wednesday to help welcome our students back to school!

We are so fortunate to have such supportive community partners who consistently show up for our students, families, and staff. We truly appreciate all that they do for PRES and for our community each and every day—and especially all they do to help keep us safe!

Thank you, RPD and RFD!

One of the required "Permissions" you’ll be asked to sign in Aspen is the Student Handbook. Please take a few moments to review the handbook to ensure you are familiar with both school and district guidelines. Click below to review our student handbook.

If your child needs to take medication during the school day, please help us ensure their safety by following these important steps:

Complete the required medication forms
Provide a doctor's order for any prescribed medication
Send all prescription medications in their original container, clearly labeled with:

• Your child’s name
  
• The name of the medication
  
• The correct dosage

🚫 Please do not send medications to school with students.

Parents and guardians should contact the health office to arrange drop-off.

📩 To coordinate medication drop-off or if you have any questions, please reach out directly to our school nurse, Mrs. Elizabeth Ferreira, at eferreira@drregional.org.

Thank you for your help in keeping our students safe and healthy!

We are fortunate that the Greater Attleboro Council for Children has donated backpacks and school supplies to support our students. These resources help ensure that every student starts the school year feeling prepared and confident. If your student would benefit from receiving a backpack or supplies, please reach out to Mrs. Monte or Mrs. Kefor, who are happy to assist. We will respect your confidentiality through this process.

We’re pleased to share that school breakfast and lunch are provided free of charge to all students each day. This ensures every child has access to nutritious meals to support their learning and growth. On early release days, only breakfast will be served, so students should plan accordingly. To help families stay informed, weekly menus can be found in our family newsletter.

While meals are free, milk and water are available for purchase each day for students who would like an additional drink option with their lunch.

As the year progresses, we’ll be offering snacks for purchase in the cafeteria. These will first become available to students in grades three and four. Then, once our younger students have had time to settle into lunch routines, we’ll begin offering snacks to kindergarten through second grade students later in the fall. To keep things simple, students may purchase one snack per day, and because of food allergies and intolerances, they are not permitted to buy snacks for others.

For snack and drink purchases, families are welcome to send cash or checks. However, we also offer the MySchoolBucks website and app, which many families find convenient. Through MySchoolBucks, you can create an account, reset passwords, check account balances, and deposit funds directly into your child’s meal account.

Even though meals are free, we ask all families to complete the Free & Reduced Lunch Application, as these forms directly impact school funding and grant opportunities. The application is linked below.

Palmer River Elementary School's instructional day begins at 9:05 a.m. Students may enter the building starting at 8:55 a.m. The school day ends at 3:20 p.m., and dismissal will proceed according to prearranged locations. Please inform the school office (ahalajko@drregional.org & dsarrazin@drregional.org) and your child's classroom teacher of any changes to dismissal plans before 2:45 p.m. each day.

The AM PreK session begins at 8:45am and ends at 11:15am.

The PM PreK session begins at 12:30pm and ends at 3:00pm.

Please click below for more information about our morning arrival procedures for students who arrive via car/drop off. Please review the map so you can plan for drop off in the morning.

Please click below for more information about our dismissal procedures for students who leave school via car/pick up. Please bring photo identification whenever you pick your child up at PRES.

This section will feature information about upcoming community events and activities. Check back each week for new events and updates!

The Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School District

Website: https://pres.drregional.org/

Location: 326 Winthrop Street, Rehoboth, MA 02769

Phone: 508-252-5100/Fax: 508-252-5110

Dighton Rehoboth Regional School District does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other legally protected group.