Message from ENSATS 12/10/2021

Good Evening Parents, Guardians, Caregivers, and Students:

This has been a fantastic week at Essex Tech. Today was Hawk Holiday Hope day. As a community, we were able to purchase gifts for 200 children in DCF care on the North Shore. Each child received at least 8 gifts along with a plush toy generously donated each year by our friends at PetSmart. That is over 2000 gifts! It is amazing to witness the generosity of our hawks and how excited the students were to make the holidays magical for children in need. We would like to express our gratitude to the many families and community members who donated gifts, wrapping paper, decorations, or time to assist with our HHH festivities. Lastly, to the many staff members who planned and organized every last detail, Hawk Holiday Hope would not be possible without you!

Upcoming Schedule

Here is a preview of the schedule for the next week.

Monday, December 13	Day 4: Blue
Tuesday, December 14	Day 5: Blue
Wednesday, December 15	Day 6: Green 8:45 am Late Start
Thursday, December 16	Day 7: Green
Friday, December 17	Day 8: Green

Inappropriate Behavior

It came to our attention that there were racially inappropriate comments made during the day today. We will be investigating this incident as well as any related incidents again on Monday. It is deeply saddening and frustrating that this type of situation occurred at school, especially on a day like Hawk Holiday Hope, when all students should have been able to focus on kindness. Please know that this type of behavior is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Furthermore, there were some students who did not believe the rules apply to them. We all must work together to create a safe learning environment both physically and emotionally! We are teaching our kids to be productive members of society which means treating ALL people with respect. No employer will hire nor maintain workers that cannot adhere to basic human behaviors. When someone hurts a HAWK, it hurts all of us. We applaud the students and staff who had the courage to stand up and report this. This is exactly what we need to change as a community. It starts with us.

Mask Requirement Changes

As we explained in the memo last week, we have created a Reopening Task Force to review our vaccination data and determine our plan moving forward as it relates to relaxing the mask-wearing for vaccinated staff and students. At the School Committee meeting on Thursday, December 9th, the Reopening Task Force proposed that we relax the mask mandate on Tuesday, January 18th. The School Committee approved this request and we have received permission from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). Therefore, beginning on January 18th, vaccinated students and staff will not need to be masked. Students and staff who are not vaccinated will need to continue wearing masks per DESE regulations. Please note: this is an option for vaccinated students and staff. Anyone who wishes to continue wearing masks is absolutely welcome to do so. The task force will continue to meet and monitor COVID-19 metrics to ensure that we can continue safely without masks.

Ski Club

We have had a few students and staff members approach us about the possibility of starting a Ski Club. We would like to gauge interest to see if this is something that many students would be interested in. If your child would be interested in Ski Club, please complete this survey.

Holiday Shopping

Our school store is still up and running online at https://shop565.square.site/ or you can visit to shop in person daily from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm.

Softball Survey

Please complete this survey if you are interested in playing softball this spring. If you have any questions, please email Mrs. Deleskey, jdeleskey@essextech.net.

Salem Hospital Family Rounds

The Family Health Resource Center at Salem Hospital is hosting an online meeting as part of their monthly Family Rounds about Kids and the Impact of Toxic Stress. The meeting is on Thursday, December 16th from 12:00-1:30 pm. Please click here for more information.

Activities: Week of December 13, 2021

The following document includes activities for the: Week of December 13, 2021.

COVID Dashboard

Here is the link to our COVID Dashboard. This will be updated every week with the number of positive COVID-19 cases and the number of close contacts.

Have a great weekend!

HTR SBD TJO