New swing sets have been installed at Essex Elementary School but at the moment, there are no schoolchildren to swing on them.

Last fall, according to Essex Elementary School Principal Jennifer Tousignant, the school had decided that the existing swing set, some 20 years old, was no longer serviceable. With a grant from the Essex Education Foundation and fundraising by the school’s PTO, enough money was raised to purchase a completely new set, not just new seats but a new frame as well. There are 12 swings in all in the apparatus.

Some $9,000 was budget for the swings, but the project came in for approximately $300 less.

No decisions have yet been made at the state or local level about how schools will proceed next fall. Tousignant said that the electronic learning that has been necessary since COVID-19 forced closure of the schools has worked well for Essex students. Some 107 Essex Elementary students were provided with Chromebooks, she added, to make the computerized learning possible.

The school playground is closed now, but Tousignant looks forward to the time when it will be once again filled with the happy shouts of youngsters playing on the new swings.