January 19, 2021

Good Afternoon EPS Community,

I hope everyone had a nice long weekend.  I would like to take this opportunity to remind all members of the Easton Public Schools about our EPS Travel Guidelines that can be found in the Return to School Covid 19 Playbook on page 24-25.  If any student travels outside Massachusetts to a red state, they must quarantine until a negative PCR test can be produced.  A PCR test can be taken on day 5 (or more) after return to Massachusetts.  If the PCR test is negative AND there are no symptoms, student may exit quarantine on day 8 after return. Continue to watch for symptoms for 14 days from exposure. Students will be able attend all classes remotely during quarantines, but may NOT participate in other in-person school activities, including athletics. PCR testing is required as a rapid antigen test may result in errors/exposures.

We appreciate your immediate attention to this matter.  I am attaching the Playbook to this email.  It can also be found HERE on our website on the left hand side.

Sincerely,

Crissy Pruitt

Assistant Superintendent

Return to School Covid-19 Playbook 

January 3, 2021

Dear EPS Community,

Happy New Year! We are excited about what 2021 will bring our schools and our community. We also know that all of the progress we will make this year will likely come to fruition after the winter. Therefore, we have only a couple of months of vigilance left. We can do it! With that in mind, we are asking you to review these VERY IMPORTANT reminders for the return to schools in January...

1. Students should have clean masks ready to go for each day they are in the buildings.

2. Parents should resume screening their children each morning for COVID symptoms before coming into school. 

3. If students have any COVID symptoms, they MUST stay home, contact their primary care physician, and email the school nurse.

4. If students have been COVID tested, they MUST remain home until they receive negative results, even if the child exhibits NO symptoms. Test results should be sent to the school nurse.

5. If a student is identified as a CLOSE CONTACT to someone who is COVID positive, they must follow the recommendations (from the Board of Health or State    Contract Tracers) as to when to return to school. Please email the school nurse if you need more information about quarantine periods.

6. If you have traveled out of Massachusetts or gathered with large groups during the holidays, students MUST remain home until they submit a negative PCR test emailed to the school nurse or the principal. 

7. When in doubt, KEEP CHILDREN HOME! They can learn remotely while we determine the details for their safe return.

We are expecting to be inundated with communications from parents in the first week we return to school. Please understand that the school nurses and administrators will be responding to messages/emails beginning Monday afternoon, to the best of their abilities.

We remain steadfast in our commitment to provide quality learning experiences in facilities that are nurturing and safe for all students and staff. Please continue partnering with us to make this possible. We are grateful for your patience and support during this pandemic, and it is working. We look forward to the days, soon-coming, when we can celebrate together having come through this challenge with determination and cooperation, showing our children the true measure of what it means to be a community.

Please see all of our COVID-related information, including the "Return to School Playbook," on the district website.

Peace and best wishes,

Dr. Lisha Cabral

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Easton Public Schools

Dr. Lisha Cabral, Superintendent 

50 Oliver St. 

North Easton, MA 02356 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020 

Contact: Leah Comins 

Phone: 781-428-3299 

Email: leah@jgpr.net 

Two Oliver Ames High School Seniors Recognized by Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents 

EASTON -- Superintendent Lisha Cabral is pleased to share that Oliver Ames High School seniors Sofia Anestam and Samantha Streton have been awarded the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents (M.A.S.S.) Award of Academic Excellence. 

“I am pleased to have presented Samantha and Sofia with this award," Superintendent Cabral said. "They are both well-deserving of the recognition and have shown significant dedication to their academics, extracurriculars and community, even during the challenging circumstances of this year." 

The M.A.S.S. Award of Academic Excellence is presented by the superintendent to a deserving student in each school district throughout Massachusetts. To be considered

for the award, the students must be a member of the senior class with a cumulative GPA that places them in the top fifth percentile of their class. The nominee must also consistently demonstrate traits of leadership, social responsibility, respect for their fellow students and involvement in various aspects of the school community. 

Sofia Anestam has been a varsity member of the school’s field hockey and lacrosse teams and has also competed as a member of a club field hockey team outside of school. Academically, Anestam is enrolled in multiple Advanced Placement and capstone Honors courses. 

Beyond her academic and athletic commitments, Anestam has been a dedicated member of her class executive board and student council. She has participated in three service-based school clubs and has been a member of the school’s DECA chapter for two years. Anestam is the recipient of an RIT Book, was a Poetry Out Loud finalist as a junior and was recognized as a College Board National Recognition Program Scholar. Anestam is planning on studying Environmental Science or Engineering in college. 

Samantha Streton is a four-year member of the OA Swim & Dive Team, serving as a captain this year. She is also a competitive swimmer with her club team, the Bluefish Swim Club. Streton is enrolled in multiple Advanced Placement and capstone Honors courses. She is a Dartmouth Book Award recipient, a three-time Hockomock League All-Star and an AP Scholar with Honor. 

Streton volunteered this summer at the Easton Historical Society, where she redesigned the group’s website and digitized archives. She is working in collaboration with the Historical Society and the Oliver Ames Social Studies Department to develop a formal internship program for future students. Streton also volunteered for four summers at the Easton Children’s Museum where she ran programs and assisted the staff. 

Streton participated in the Junior State of America Virtual Leadership Institute, a five week program where young leaders cultivate democratic leadership skills and engage in political discourse. Streton plans to study political science in college. 

Both students were recognized at the virtual Easton School Committee meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 24. Click here to see a recording of the meeting.  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, Sept. 14, 2020 Contact: Leah Comins Phone: 781-428-3299 Email: leah@jgpr.net Easton Art Teacher Kristyn Shea Selected as Secondary Art Educator of the Year Oliver Ames High School art teacher Kristyn Shea was selected as the Massachusetts Art Education Association (MAEA) 2021 Secondary Art Educator of the Year. (Photo courtesy Easton Public Schools) EASTON -- Superintendent Lisha Cabral is pleased to share that Oliver Ames High School art teacher Kristyn Shea was selected as the Massachusetts Art Education Association (MAEA) 2021 Secondary Art Educator of the Year. The 2021 MAEA Awards Ceremony will not be held this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but award winners will be celebrated and honored at the next awards ceremony in November 2021. “I feel so thankful to have received this award from the MAEA. Art has been my passion for as long as I can remember and has been a means of communication and self-expression in my life,” Shea said. “I feel so blessed to be an art teacher and to share my love of the art world with others. Witnessing the discoveries my students make in themselves and their own individual artistic journey is more rewarding than what I could have ever imagined. My students, past and present, have amazed me with their brilliance.” Shea has worked at Oliver Ames High School as the only full-time art teacher for 15 years. Since then, she has helped to grow the art program in Easton and at Oliver Ames, serving as not just an art teacher, but also the K-12 Visual Art department chair of the district. As part of this role, she oversees the administrative tasks of the department, including being the Art Department curriculum leader representative on the district's curriculum leaders council and leading professional development workshops across the district. Shea’s mission is to encourage each student to use art as a form of communication and expression that they are able to explore and discover in their own lives. Shea’s curriculum is based on participation, collaboration and imagination that allows each student to voice their opinions and learn from others. Her goal as an art educator is to provide opportunities for her students to share their creativity with the public as much as possible. "Art-making encourages self-expression and can build confidence as well as a sense of individual identity. It enables students to overcome and explore the many outcomes and challenges they will encounter in life with optimism and originality," Shea said. "Allowing students to make discoveries and connections to the world around them is crucial to building a sense of purpose and fostering innovative thinking. Engaging in the artistic process cultivates patience, perceptiveness and perseverance, with an understanding that there are multiple solutions to one problem. Most importantly, students will remember how it felt when they overcame creative obstacles, instilling the motivation in them that they can accomplish anything they put their minds to." Shea often spends long hours outside of the classroom as adviser to the art club, completing numerous murals with art club students throughout the high school that celebrate the school community. She is also committed to showcasing her students’ work in national and regional art competitions and events. Most notably, many of her students have been honored at the regional and national levels of the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers Scholastic Art Competition and the Congressional Art Competition. Her students have earned over 200 recognitions for their artwork and have broken records within the Oliver Ames High School Art Department. In Shea’s 15 years as an art teacher, she has received eight national medals in instruction from the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers. Shea has organized art exhibits to display the Oliver Ames art program throughout the community. Work has been displayed at the Attleboro arts museum, the Art Gallery at Patriot Place, Bridgewater State University, the Queset House in Easton, the Oakes Ames Memorial Hall, the Easton town offices, and the Newton and Attleboro offices of Congressman Joe Kennedy III. The University of Massachusetts Amherst also invited both Shea and her students to display their artwork at the Herter Gallery in a 2017 show celebrating the strength of Massachusetts visual arts teachers and their outstanding public school programs. "Kristyn is the epitome of excellence in education. She is dedicated to her students and her discipline in ways that leave me humbled and grateful," Oliver Ames Principal Wes Paul said. "Respected and loved by her students, their parents and her colleagues, Kristyn has made her mark every year, and the notoriety of OA's Art Program is a legacy passed down from one great art teacher to the next. During Kristyn's tenure, art education and student engagement in the pursuit of excellence in art has grown by leaps and bounds, and I am proud to call her a colleague." "We are very proud of Kristyn and congratulate her on this outstanding achievement," Superintendent Cabral said. "Her passion for art shines through in her work, and her dedication to helping her students share their creativity within our community is admirable. We are so lucky to have her at Oliver Ames." Shea holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in art education with a minor in art history and a fine art work concentration in painting from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She also holds a Masters of Arts in Teaching from Bridgewater State University. Oliver Ames High School student artwork can be found here. About Massachusetts Art Education Association (MAEA): An affiliate of the National Art Education Association since 1975, MAEA is Massachusetts’ professional association for art educators. The mission of MAEA is to advance high quality visual arts education throughout the state by empowering art educators to excel in the practice, instruction, promotion, and celebration of visual art. Recipients exemplify highly qualified individuals active in the field of art education today: leaders, educators, students, scholars, researchers, and advocates who make significant contributions to the profession. For more information, please visit the MAEA website at www.massarted.com. ###