Good Evening Caregivers & Students,
We want to thank the families who attended our Caregiver Zoom Presentation on Wednesday, August 19th. We had approximately 280 families viewing and answered over 250 questions. We appreciate your thoughtful questions and willingness to stick with us for the entire meeting. If you missed the meeting and would like to view the recording, it is available on our Youtube channel or by clicking this link: Caregiver Presentation Recording
If by chance we did not get to your specific question or you were unable to attend the meeting, here are some Essex North Shore administrators to contact should you have any further questions:
- Scheduling
- Sandy Goldstein, Director of School Counseling sgoldstein@essextech.net ext. 3110
- Special Education
- Sue Stevens, Director of Special Education sstevens@essextech.net ext. 1110
- Technology
- Joseph Marino, Director of Technology jmarino@essextech.net ext.1504
- Transportation
- Kathy Russo, Director of Transportation krusso@essextech.net ext. 7401
Update on Return-to-School Safety Protocols
We are very excited for students and staff to return to school and want to reassure you that we are taking every precaution so that we all have a safe return to campus. These photos were included in our Caregiver Zoom Presentation on Tuesday to show what our hallways and classroom setups look like.
Driver’s Education
We have received several requests for information about Driver’s Education. Tanner City will be holding their classes online this fall with several options for classes. The information has been posted to our website, please use the following link to review the information: Drivers Ed Info
Schedules
Here is an update on the 2020-21 schedule:
- The scheduling team continues to work on the master schedule.
- There was an unexpected error with Aspen this afternoon where students in Grades 10, 11, and 12 were able to view their schedules. These schedules may not have been accurate or may have been incomplete. We have disabled student and family accounts and we let you know when the schedules are available.
- Grade 9 students will receive their schedules at New Student Orientation.
- In order to finish the schedule and accommodate for the necessary safety precautions we need to make this year, we will not be making any course changes.
Updated Calendar
We have adjusted the school calendar for the 20-21 school year. This change reflects the 10 teacher professional development days at the start of the year as required this year by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Given this, our first day of school for students will be Wednesday, September 16, 2020.
Calendars for Hybrid Learning
In order to make it easier for families to know when their child is scheduled for remote learning and when they are scheduled for on-campus learning we have created grade level calendars to help identify each day. Please note that the regular school calendar, posted above, will still contain important information and should still be used as a resource.
Commissioner Riley Guidance on Regional Schools and Reopening
Today, Commissioner Riley posted state guidance related to the reopening of regional schools and the metrics posted by Governor Baker. It is stated that the “key municipality” will be the city or town with the largest number of students enrolled at ENSATS. This city is Peabody. Peabody is currently in the yellow zone which allows us to continue with our Hybrid plan. In fact, Peabody passed a new Hybrid model for their high school students three days ago. Please keep in mind that the metrics refer to a number of cases based on 100K residents. We believe, with proper social distancing, the wearing of face coverings, proper personal hygiene, and everyone doing their part, we will be able to bring our students and staff back to do what we do best, preparing our future workforce.
Freshman & New Student Orientation
We are excited to welcome our new students to the Essex Tech family! We will be hosting a parent Zoom orientation on August 25, 2020, at 6:00 pm. This will take the place of our in-person New Parent Orientation. On Tuesday, September 15, 2020, all new students will come in person to school for a formal orientation! More information to follow with details about New Student Orientation over the next two weeks.
Freshman Integration Summer Academy
This week we completed our first-ever Freshman Integration Summer Academy where twenty-six students and five teachers planned, designed, prototyped, tested, and sailed a vessel that carried “cargo” across our school pond. “The Great Shipping Challenge” required students to integrate their learning of engineering, physics, history, and social studies while working together in socially-distancing teams. We did our final sale Wednesday on campus and a fun time was had by all. This program was funded by a grant from MA DESE, and we will be offering similar programs in the fall on the weekends and in the winter around February vacation. Here is a picture of the final shipping event:
Sincerely,
Heidi T. Riccio, Ed.D., Superintendent-Director
Shannon Donnelly, M.A.T., Principal
Thomas O’Toole, Ed.D., Asst. Superintendent
