Gator Bites
Gateway's weekly newsletter for information, events and more
Welcome to the 2022-2023 School Year!
August 25, 2022
Upcoming Opportunities to see our Schools
Chester Elementary: K - 5 Meet and Greet on Tuesday, August 30 from 2:00 - 2:30pm.
Popsicles with the Principal will follow the Meet and Greet from 2:30 - 3:00. All families are invited!
Littleville Elementary: Meet Mr. Samuelson, the new Principal and take a peek in classrooms with school secretary Ms. Fairman on Tuesday, August 30 4:00-6:00pm!
Gateway 6th - 9th Grades: Open House: August 30th from 3:30 - 5:00pm. This is a casual drop-in opportunity for students to get their schedules, find their classrooms, see our school and have questions answered.
*Students who are unable to attend the open house will get their schedules on the first day of school!
22-23 School Year Teacher Information
Elementary families should hear from their child's teacher or principal by this Friday, August 26th with teacher assignments and other information to prepare for the school year. Chester Elementary is a one track school, meaning that there is only one teacher per grade level. Please reach out to vmaffuccio@grsd.org if you have questions about your child's teacher at Chester.
Middle and high school students will receive their schedules on the first day of school unless they come to open house.
Bus routes are posted as of 8/24 for the entire district. Drop off/pick up information will be send directly from school principals.
First Week Of School Schedule
Middle/High School: 7:30am to 2:10pm
Chester and Littleville: 8:45am-3:20pm
Thursday, September 1st: Second Day of School (normal schedule)
Friday, September 2nd: HALF Day of School for all students
Middle/High School: 7:30am to 10:40am
Chester and Littleville: 8:45am-11:40am
**Lunch will be served to students before leaving**
School Lunches
On July 28, 2022, Governor Baker signed into law a one-year extension of School Meals for All for the 2022-2023 school year. This means that breakfast and lunch will be free for all students this academic year! For tracking purposes, students will continue to put their student numbers in when they get their lunch, and "extras" will continue to have a cost.
Statewide Covid Updates and Information
- DESE is not recommending universal mask requirements, surveillance testing of asymptomatic individuals, contact tracing, or test-to-stay testing in schools.
- Any individual who wishes to continue to mask must be supported with that choice.
- DESE and DPH strongly recommend vaccines for all students and staff, as now children as young as 6 months are now eligible to receive their vaccination. COVID vaccines, unlike other vaccinations, are not required for school attendance.
- Masking IS still required in the nurse’s office for all.
- Students and staff who test positive for COVID still must isolate for at least 5 days. If they are asymptomatic or symptoms are resolving, with no fever, they may return after day 5. If there is a negative test result on day 5 or later, a mask is not required. If there is still a positive test result, a mask is required through day 10 or can return only with a negative test result.
- Students and staff with mild symptoms must be tested on site and have a negative test result to remain at school. Students will need an opt in form to be tested at school. If testing is not completed, the individual should be sent home until symptoms improve, a negative test result is obtained, or a medical provider makes an alternative diagnosis.
- Individuals who came in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID no longer need to quarantine. The school will not conduct contact tracing. Masking for close contacts is recommended through day 10.
TEST KITS:
Even though the state is not providing test kits this school year, the district has a limited amount of test kits to distribute to any student or staff who would like them. Unlike the state testing program from last year, accepting test kits does not bind you to report results every week or take the test on a certain day of the week. They will be for you to use at your discretion to support our community to stay healthy.
Please complete the opt in form here if you would like to receive test kits by September 7, 2022.
We are unsure how many each person will receive at this time, because we will see how many people opt in and take the test kits we have and distribute all to those who would like them.
Daily Attendance Calls
In compliance with Massachusetts regulation, daily attendance calls will be made in the event your student is absent and one of the following conditions exists:
A call to the school by a parent/guardian has not been made or
A note from a parent/guardian stating the student will be absent from school has not been turned in
Calls will be placed to the phone number listed in PowerSchool only for parent/guardians NOT to emergency contacts. Please make sure your contact information is correct when you re-enroll for the upcoming school year.
A Busy Summer At GRSD
Chester Elementary had their half day camp, Littleville Elementary hosted Wrap Around Camp, our middle and high school had the 5th - 10th grade Gateway Getaway camp, and our Special Services Department had their camp. Each of our camps were busy providing fun and educational opportunities inside and outside of our buildings. If your child was unable to attend we hope to see them next summer!
Middle School Exploratory and Specials
Students will continue to rotate through their Specials classes. Our traditional specials are art, PE, health, and music and will be on our students schedules. 7th grade will also take Cultural Studies and 8th graders will take Introduction to Spanish.
Good News About Grants!
1 - We were awarded $374,471 from the Skills Capital and Career Technical Initiative Grant. With this funding we will be updating all of our welding equipment in the shop. We will be working on creating our new "state of the art" welding shop throughout the year. Not only will our students be benefitting from this grant but adults in the area will as well. We will be offering evening welding classes to adults in and around our community. Keep an eye out for more information.
2. - We were awarded 210,000 in the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Supporting Additional Learning Time Grant. This grant will be used to continue to grow and improve our after school as well as summer learning opportunities in the district. We are more than thrilled to be able to continue top-notch educational and fun programming for our students after school and in the summer districtwide.
Soccer and Cross Country Tryouts for Middle and High School
Boys Cross Country: On 8/22, 8/23, 8/24 - 2:30pm -4:00pm. On 8/25, 8/26 - 2:30pm -4:30pm
Boys Soccer: On 8/22 thru 8/26 - 5:30pm -7:30pm
Girls Cross Country: On 8/23 thru 8/25 - 3:00pm - 5:00pm
Girls Soccer: On 8/22 thru 8/26 - 9:00am -11:30am
**If you have a student new to the district or that didn't have information about try-outs that would like to try out for a fall sport please contact Mr. Bonefant at the email below.
Question can be sent to Mr. Bonenfant at
Open Positions in our District
Positions available:
Paraprofessionals at multiple levels
High School Special Education Teacher
Speech Pathologist
Braillist/Vision Impairment Services Assistant
Grade 6 Teacher
Substitutes
Part-time Chorus Director
Gator Gear for the Family
A link to our new online store will be COMING SOON!!!
Gator Bytes from our Tech Department
Chromebooks:
Gateway Regional is proud to continue its’ one to one Chomebook program for grades K-12 for the upcoming 2022/2023 school year. All students in grades K-12 will be assigned their own Chromebook for the duration of their education with us at Gateway! This year, we are pleased to announce that there are some changes to our student Chromebook insurance policy
There will no longer be any charge to the families to purchase the insurance. All students in grades K-12 will be provided insurance covering accidental damage and/or manufacturer defect of the device at no charge.
There will be a standard charge of $100 for any intentional damage of Chromebooks. Examples of Intentional damage include (but are not limited to):
Drawing on any part of the Chromebook with marker, pencil or pen
Scratching the case or any part of the Chromebook with a sharp utensil
Placing stickers on the Chromebook (other than those placed by staff)
Removing any part of the Chromebook (keys, pads, screws, camera lens or asset tags)
Cutting into the case of the Chromebook
Any other damage deemed intentional by technology department staff
Students who lose or fail to turn in their Chromebook or charger will be subject to the following charges:
Chromebook $350.00
Charger $18.00
Please visit each of these examples with your student ahead of time to avoid unexpected charges due to misuse of the Chromebooks.
Chromebooks are an integral part of your student’s education. If students are permitted to bring their chromebook home, it is their responsibility to remember to bring it back to school daily and to ensure it is charged for daily use. A very limited number of loaners will be made available, however, it will be up to the discretion of the faculty and staff to issue the loaners based on past experiences.
Students will not be allowed to bring personal devices to school to use on the district’s network. Chromebooks or other district owned devices are the only devices students will be allowed to use during the school day.
High School Digital Photography upgrades:
The Digital Photography computer lab was updated with the newest, most up to date Apple Mac Studio computers designed to give students the best possible experience in digital photography editing and content creation. Additionally, the monitors were upgraded to enhance the visual aspect of the curriculum. Students will be experiencing the highest levels of productivity and creativity by utilizing the new set up.
Additionally, new digital cameras are being provided to the Digital Photography class. The updated cameras provide much better focus accuracy, higher resolution, faster auto focus speed and more. The old cameras were repurposed to the middle school/high school AfterSchool program.
Gateway Regional School District
Email: mclark@grsd.org
Website: https://www.grsd.org/
Location: 12 Littleville Road, Huntington, MA, USA
Phone: 413-658-1102