HATHORNE — Superintendent Heidi Riccio is pleased to announce that Essex Tech has received an $84,000 state grant that will help the School to improve equity and access to Career Technical Education programs.
The English Learner Recruitment and Successgrant will enable the District to further develop, coordinate, and deliver outreach programs to students, prospective students, and their parents in the District’s diverse member communities. The District identified recruitment of English Learners as an important priority following a review of three years of application and enrollment data.
Funding will be used to support the expansion and recruitment efforts by hiring a English Learners recruitment specialist, and by holding recruitment events throughout the year.
Essex Tech will develop a Middle School Outreach plan, in which Essex Tech counselors will work with Grade 7 and 8 counselors in member districts to expand communication and outreach to interested English Learner students and their families. School counselors also will work with prospective English Learners and their families through the application and interview processes.
Essex Tech also plans to develop a Newcomer Program,a targeted admissions process for about 20 English Learners from Peabody and Salem who will enter Grade 9 in the 2022-2023 school year.
Other facets of Essex Tech’s efforts will include professional development on equity issues with staff members; transportation services to Essex Tech’s annual Open House; and promoting and advertising Essex Tech and its Career Technical Education offerings in multiple languages.
“Essex Tech has made tremendous strides in the areas of equity and diversity. We see a clear need to make Career Technical Education more accessible to English Learners in our District,” Superintendent Riccio said. “Thank you to the Baker-Polito Administration for providing this grant, which will help us achieve this goal.”