Ethan School District 17-1

REMINDER: Today is the last day to order from Sungold in order to get your rustler apparel in time for Christmas!

For the 12/11 Boys Basketball Game @Hanson these are their school's policies. There is no limitation on the # of fans who can attend Masks are required for fans and for players when they are not in the game. Ø Hand sanitizer will be available at each door entrance and on the score table. Ø We are encouraging social distancing as much as possible. Ø Masks are mandatory except for active participants, officials, and bench personnel during the contest in which they are participating. Ø Areas behind the benched will be designated to distance fans from players, managers and statisticians.

PEH Gymnastics is selling T-shirts and Blankets for a Fundraiser! Orders are due THIS Friday, December 11th! Please click links below and order online! https://stores.inksoft.com/peh_gymnastics/shop/home https://stores.inksoft.com/peh_fundraiser/shop/home

Ethan FFA is selling shirts for a fundraiser! See News feed or Facebook for form! Forms due: Monday, December 14th, 2020 Please return Payton Riggs, Morgan Hinckley, or Mrs. Roudabush!

Good evening parents, As stated last week, we are going forward with limiting the number of fans that are able to attend our games this winter, at least for the first few weeks. Each family with a student/athlete listed on the roster will get two tickets. We will also allow staff members and students into our ballgames, but would ask that they stay home unless they absolutely feel it necessary to come to the games. Our goal is to try to minimize the number of people in our gymnasium as much as possible. This is a fluid situation and things may change at any time. This decision was not an easy one, but after considering all variables involved, I believe it is the best one for all people involved. Is it fair for everyone, no, but I believe it is as fair as it can be. Nothing about this pandemic is fair, but it is here and it is something that we have to deal with. I am hoping that the two tickets will be used in a way that every student/athlete is represented by his or her parents in the stands. If one or both parents are unable to attend, those tickets may be given to someone else to use that evening. I would prefer that other family members be given the opportunity to use them. Several people have asked me why we are limiting our crowds for basketball but did not do the same for volleyball. Several factors are involved here. First, the number of infected individuals in Davison County are nearly triple of what they were in September and early October. Second, we have been receiving many more calls from parents in the last five weeks about positive tests or close contacts than we did in the previous nine weeks. Third, the Department of Health is telling us that we should be seeing a spike in numbers in the next few days because of gatherings during Thanksgiving, and then see another one in early January because of holiday gatherings for Christmas and the New Year. Lastly, crowd sizes are historically much larger for basketball games than they are for volleyball games, and if you consider that most of our games are double-headers, that means even a bigger number of fans. As I also mentioned last week, all of our home games will be broadcast on our Santel Channel as well as our Ruslters Live Channel. Also, since we do not have a video feed in our new gym, we will be video-taping the junior varsity game that is played in there, then sending it out on both channels as well. Unfortunately, it will not be able to be viewed “live.” Again, a lot of thought has been put into this decision, it was not made lightly. I certainly wish we were not in this situation, but we are, and we must deal with it. As I told another individual, we are all part of a team right now. Every coach will tell his or her players that sometimes, we must make individual sacrifices for the good of the team. That is what I am asking of all of you at this time. Thank you for your understanding during this difficult time. Now more than ever, we need to remain ETHAN STRONG! Mr. Hawkins

We will be taking 7-12 Girls and Boys BBall pictures on Tuesday, Dec 8th starting at 2:45pm. Forms are being distributed and should be brought home today!

Good evening, After giving much thought, taking into account the current situation with the COVID-19 virus, we have decided to cancel our “live” elementary and high school Christmas Concerts that were originally slated for the evening of December 8th. This was not an easy decision but one that we felt is in the best interest for the health and safety of our students and community members. We will now be presenting a virtual Christmas Concert on our Rustlers Live channel and our Santel channel. This concert is slated to take place on the evening of December 22nd at 7:00 PM. Due to copyright laws, we will only be able to air this concert one time. This concert will consist of all of our students, Preschool thru 12th grade. Preschool and kindergarten students will have their pieces recorded on Tuesday, December 15th and students in 1st - 6th grade will be recorded on Thursday, December 17th. Mrs. Tilberg is requesting that all students wear a red or green shirt, or an ugly Christmas sweater on the day their recording is to take place. We will send out another reminder, as those days get closer. Mr. Hawkins

Ethan Rustler fans, Sungold has just added Rustler apparel, stocking caps, etc.. to their online store. Great gift ideas for your Rustler fans. Orders are due by 12/9/2020. Orders should be printed by December 17, 2020. Follow the link listed here for more information. https://https-sungoldsports-com.printavo.com/merch/ehs-2020-winter/ Also, just a reminder that Janet has Ethan Rustler caps and Ethan Rustler lanyards available at the school to purchase. Caps are $20. and Lanyards are $10. Nicole has new items listed on The Ethan Booster Club Apparel Facebook page.

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! May everyone stay healthy and safe this Thanksgiving break. We are so thankful for our staff, students, and parents for each and everyone putting in so much effort and staying positive this school year!

Good evening parents! I have two pieces of information that I would like to share with you. In both cases, these are things we are considering for the future as we continue to deal with the pandemic. Nothing is set in stone, we are simply in the early stages of talking about and considering our options. If or when we make our decision, I will get that information out to you immediately. First, our fall sports season has quickly come to an end with the state volleyball tournament being held this past weekend. This means our winter sports season is ready to begin in just a couple of weeks. With the current level of community spread COVID in our area, and with the majority of our basketball games being double-headers, we are considering a limitation on the number of people we allow in our building as spectators. Our games will continue to be broadcast on our Santel cable channel and will also be live-streamed on our RustlersLive site for any fans who may potentially not be allowed in the building. Secondly, for those families that choose to be at home for the spring semester, we are considering putting those students 100% on-line using the SD Virtual School or the Black Hills On-line Learning Community. We are finding that it is a tremendous burden for our teachers when they are preparing lessons to be delivered in two different means. We are also seeing a loss of learning time when our teachers are waiting for our on-line learners to join the class, fix computer issues, wait for assignments to download, etc. The school district would absorb the cost of the on-line courses and students would be able to work at their own pace. If this is the direction we go, we will be in contact with you to get registered for spring classes. That is all for now. We will be discussing these situations and hope to make a definite decision by early next week. Mr. Hawkins

Nicole has added items to the Facebook Ethan Booster Club Apparel page just in time for Christmas. She has added items for Ethan basketball, gymnastics and wrestling and the previous Rustler and Seahawk gear is still available. SPECIAL NOTE: Due to Covid- Inventory on some apparel styles/colors are extremely limited so plan to order early. Christmas gift orders need to be into Nicole by end of day-Sunday, December 5th. When ordering online please inform Nicole whether this is a Christmas gift order or just a regular order. We will not be sending out any order forms this year. Also, hopefully by the end of this week the Sungold online store will have Ethan Rustler items available to order. Thank you for supporting the Ethan Booster Club and the Ethan School.

Sneakers, Sneakers, Sneakers Our Home, Inc. is looking for old sneakers, new sneakers, worn out sneakers. Please help Our Home collect as many athletic-type shoes as possible. If you were going to donate or throw them away, this would be a perfect time to donate them to us! We can only accept athletic-type shoes (basketball, football cleats, soccer, wrestling) and tennis/running shoes. Shoes that still have some wear to them will be sent to countries like Bolivia, Chile, Ukraine, Haiti, and El Salvador just to name a few. And if you think your shoes have completely served their purpose, think again – they get recycled into tracks, playgrounds and other athletic surfaces in the USA! Our Home, Inc. is a non-profit residential treatment center for youth 12-18 years old in Parkston, South Dakota! You can drop off your shoes at any time at Our Home; just ring the doorbell and tell the person who answers they are for the sneaker drive or easier yet – there will be a box at the school by the front doors just drop them in. Check out www.gotsneakers.com for more into. Thanks for helping our youth of tomorrow!

Ethan Booster Club is selling Fruit Boxes!! Orders Due Monday, November 23rd @ 9AM. Fruit delivered to school Tuesday, December 8th. For order forms please contact a 7th through 12 grader. If questions, contact Janet.Gustafson@k12.sd.us. Thanks!

Breakfast and Lunch Menu has changed for 19th, 20th, & 23rd. Thanksgiving Meal will be November 20th, see Dining/Lunch Menu for details.

It is with great sorrow that, due to the pandemic, we are unable to hold our annual Veteran’s Day Program today. This program is something that I, as well as our staff and students look forward to each year. Since I will not be able to talk to our area veterans in person, I would like to take this opportunity to say “THANK YOU” to all of you, as well as all individuals that continue to serve our country today. Each and every day, I have the freedom to come to this school and work with the best staff and the greatest students this state has to offer. None of this would be possible if it were not for the sacrifices so many have given over the years. Although there is no way I could ever truly show my appreciation for all you have done, please know that you all hold a special place in my heart, and your service is not going unnoticed. On this special day, may you all feel a great sense of pride for all you have done for this country, a country that we can proclaim “THE LAND OF THE FREE AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE!” God bless each and every one of you, and HAPPY VETERANS DAY! Mr. Hawkins

SEAHAWK FOOTBALL PEP RALLY Thursday, November at 6:30pm in the new gym in Emery. Masks are highly recommended! SEAHAWK FOOTBALL WELCOME HOME/SOCIAL Friday, November 13 at the Old Lumber Co.(upstairs-loft) in Vermillion at 5:00pm Menu and prices are as follows: Pasta Buffet featuring a red and a white sauce-meatballs and diced chicken-a salad with dressing-breadsticks and Seahawk cookies. Parents/fans--$13.oo w/drink add another $2.00 water will be on the tables. There will be a mini bar set up. Sanitizing your hands must be done each time you go through the buffet. Masks are highly recommended when not eating or drinking.

Good morning. In order to obtain tickets for the Football Championships this week you will need to order tickets through the USD ticket office. This year the schools were not provided a set of tickets like has happened in years past. Using the CODE: SeahawksDOME20JV you will need to contact them via phone (605-677-5959) or email @tickets.usd.edu Their phone/email has been swamped the last 3 days and I would caution you to expect significant delays when trying to contact them. Masks are required at all USD facilities/events.

We have a slight change to that girl's bball meeting I had posted about yesterday. The location and times are the same, but it will be held on Sunday November 22nd instead. Sorry for the confusion.

Parents We were notified yesterday afternoon of another positive case of the corona virus within our high school. We have identified one student that was considered to be a close contact as well. We also have a couple of other students that are home with potential symptoms, as well as some parents. As always, please be on the lookout for symptoms with your students, and if they are showing, please keep them home. Cases in the Mitchell area have increased dramatically over the last couple of weeks and we need to do EVERYTHING we can to keep our doors open. We are highly encouraging ALL STUDENTS AND STAFF to wear their masks at this time. Thank you! Mr. Hawkins

There will be a parent/player meeting on Sunday Nov. 8th @6:00pm (Players) and @6:15 (Parents) in the gyms at the school for grades 9-12 girls basketball. If you are unable to attend, please contact myself here at the school, or coach Tom Young to answer your questions.