As the first day of school quickly approaches, I wanted to take a moment to welcome you back and share some exciting developments for this school year.
Academically, we are very excited about the opening of our new
Lego STEM Lab at Pleasant Elementary.
This Lego lab will allow our children to use their natural curiosity to
creatively solve problems, fine tune their critical thinking skills, and
explore the curriculum in exciting ways.
The opening of this lab allows for the exploration of STEM opportunities
for all students from second grade through high school.
We have also collaborated with our staff to add an
additional 15 minutes of instructional time to our school day for students in kindergarten
through sixth grade. Over the course of
the school year, this additional 15 minutes adds up to 2,685 additional minutes
of instruction or a little over 7 additional instructional days. Due to this
change Maplehurst, Pleasant, and League Elementary Schools will all start at
8:45am. Main St. School will start at
8:30am.
In the area of school safety and security, the Norwalk Board
of Education committed over $60,000 of our permanent improvement funds to make
major upgrades at all of our facilities.
As you return to school you will notice additional fencing at Pleasant
Elementary, vastly updated video surveillance at district buildings, and some
additional “behind the scenes” facility
improvements that strengthen our response to a variety of situations.
After conducting a security audit of district operations
last year, we have determined that NCSD will no longer allow Norwalk High
School students to leave the building unsupervised for their lunch period
(known as open lunch). Due to the
unsupervised nature of this practice, it can no longer be endorsed by the
district. In addition, bookbags will no
longer be permitted to be carried throughout the school day. Bookbags will only be permitted to be carried
to and from school at arrival and dismissal. Please see your child’s student parent
handbook for more information on this new bookbag policy.
NCSD will also partner with Norwalk Catholic School, the
Norwalk Police Department, the Norwalk Fire Department, and the Huron County
Sheriff’s Department to provide emergency response training on August 21 to all
staff members. This training will
further improve our capacity to keep our children safe as well as our response to
medical emergencies. Looking forward,
NCSD will be exploring grant and community partnerships to improve our access
to mental health services for our students.
Maintaining a strong partnership with our community is a
core belief of the Norwalk City School District. I encourage you to continue to be an active
part of your child’s education and contact me personally if I can ever be of
assistance.
Go Truckers!
George E. Fisk
Superintendent