Good afternoon,

Our town of Easton is home to Architects and Landscape Architects.  To recognize some of these members of our community we present ‘Easton Architects as Artists’.  This special invitational exhibit highlights seven of our local architects including Christopher Hull, Dave Beem, Jeri Barrett, Eileen Duffy, Ray Duda, Howard Raabe and Beatriz M. De Santiz.  These creative licensed professionals will be showing projects that represent their designs of decades of training and experience. This exhibit is curated by Dolly Curtis and Sheila Weaver, board members of the Easton Arts Council and will be on display in The Small Gallery from February 19 – March 30 at the Easton Public Library.  A reception is scheduled Saturday, February 25, 4-7pm.

A Call For Artists in our community to join the ‘Art In The Country’ Fine Art Show sponsored by the Easton Arts Council. Artwork receiving is Saturday, March 25th, 10am-1pm at the Easton Public Library.  View the entry form/prospectus at eastonartscouncil.org.

As a reminder, our Health Department is part of the Aspetuck Health Department.  Please call 203-227-9571 or check the website at https://www.eastonct.gov/aspetuck-health-district for further information.

Last week I mentioned the terrible tragedy that occurred next door in Redding. The following is from our superintendent Dr. McKinnon:

Our students come to school for an education and today included the typical routines that occur in schools. But our students receive more than an education in Redding. Teachers are driven by the virtues of compassion, empathy, kindness, and respect. Caring is enabled through relationships and cultivated during times of sadness. 

Brien was a beloved and visible student known by all. Losing him suddenly deeply impacted his friends and teachers. A larger than usual adult presence was in our schools today. Counselors from surrounding districts volunteered their support and professionals from the Western Connecticut State University crisis response team were on hand. Our leadership team helped Melissa and Jennifer coordinate support and a small loving cohort of therapy dogs offered furry hugs and kisses.

The district is incredibly grateful for the support shown by the broader community.  Visiting counselors remarked that our students and staff clearly live our mission and the kind and caring Redding community was evident throughout the day.

Close family friends, Jessica Jacob and Elissa Williams, have established a Go Fund Me effort. They wrote the following: So many wonderful family and friends have reached out to see what they can do, and we would love to streamline efforts to help them to begin to rebuild the essentials. We know they are truly grateful to all of those reaching out to support them. When we experience our darkest moments, it is the people that lift us up that help us see the light.

If you can support the Karlson family, please use this Go Fund Me link: https://gofund.me/cfe4f133

Support will continue into next week. Please contact me or your school leaders if you have any questions or need assistance. 

In past weeks, I have talked about the need to renovate the Joel Barlow fields with better facilities and upgrading the turf fields. There was an excellent article in the Courier about the project and its value. https://eastoncourier.news/2023/02/20/joel-barlows-nest-and-fields-impro.... Even if your kids are far away from high school, the additional turf fields at Barlow will benefit them greatly as we already make tremendous use of the stadium field for numerous youth programs. To donate please go to https://thenestatbarlow.square.site/   or https://www.myschoolbucks.com/ver2/stores/catalog/getproduct.action?prod...

Have a great weekend,

Dave