DEXTER — Staff, parents and students of the Wassookeag School will attend an open house from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, Aug. 24, at the school located off Route 23 on the Arno Road in Dexter.

Paul Docken, newly appointed school director, said the open house would provide an opportunity for residents to discuss the programs and curriculum with school staff and parents who have children in the alternative school.

Parents also will be able to meet with two new staff members at the school, Debby Bell-Smith of Orono, who will work with Peggy Smith heading the full day program; and MaryBeth Littlefield of Hartland, the new preschool teacher.

This year’s programs include a preschool program for 4-year-olds, three mornings a week; a kindergarten program for 5-year-olds meeting five half-days each week; and the full day program for children 6 and older.

Bell-Smith comes to the Wassookeag School from Asa Adams Elementary School in Orono. She holds bachelor’s degrees in English and education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and has received her teaching certification from Maine and Massachusetts.

She also has completed several postgraduate courses, workshops and seminars. Her resume includes employment with the Hampden school district and Stillwater and Orono schools. Bell-Smith took part in the start-up of Camp Molly Molasses in Sebec in 1985.

Littlefield has been teaching since she graduated from the University of Maine at Farmington in 1985. She has participated in professional training programs and project and committee work.

She has worked in schools in Pittsfield, Hartland, Skowhegan, Clinton and last year worked in a second-grade classroom at Dexter Primary School.