Board Update: June 12, 2026

Testing & Accountability 

The State testing window for Smarter Balanced ELA and math and NGSS science closed on June 5.  Schools and the district are monitoring scored results through the Centralized Reporting System.  The State has provided guidance on the use of preliminary results and emphasized that these results should not be released publicly. Schools will use preliminary results to plan for next year. 2026 state testing results will be released in late August. Performance indices used for Next Generation Accountability for elementary and middle school reports are based on student outcomes from these state testing programs.  

Research & Analytics  

The team continues to make progress on the Phase III implementation of the Portrait of a Graduate, which will launch during the 2026-27 school year. Current work includes, but is not limited to, developing communication and marketing language to support districtwide rollout efforts, as well as designing the professional learning arc for summer learning experiences for NPS leaders and staff. Last week, a team comprised of Central Office staff and Norwalk High School educators visited Farmington High School to learn about their Vision of a Global Citizen implementation efforts. During the visit, the team met with school administrators and educators and observed a senior Vision of a Global Citizen capstone presentation, providing valuable insights into how Portrait competencies can be assessed and showcased. Building on this learning, the team is developing a draft of Norwalk High School’s Portrait of a Graduate assessment implementation plan, with an alignment to the NEASC accreditation expectations.  

Summer Leadership Retreat

District leaders are actively preparing for the annual Leadership Retreat, scheduled for July 13–16. This important professional learning experience brings together all district and school administrators, along with members of many schools’ Instructional Leadership Teams, to engage in collaborative learning focused on launching the district’s priorities for the upcoming school year.

Planning for the retreat includes identifying current research, evidence-based practices, and district data that will inform learning sessions and discussions. Through this shared experience, leaders strengthen their collective capacity to support high-quality instruction, improve student outcomes, and ensure alignment across schools as the district begins the 2026–27 school year.

School Improvement Plans

This is a critical phase in the School Improvement Planning process. Instructional Leadership Teams across the district are analyzing multiple sources of data to reflect on their progress and accomplishments during the 2025–26 school year. As part of this work, teams conduct a comprehensive needs assessment to identify priorities and establish School Improvement Plan goals for the 2026–27 school year.

District leaders actively support schools throughout this process by organizing and analyzing data, facilitating needs assessment discussions, and partnering with school teams to develop meaningful goals and aligned theories of action. This collaborative approach ensures that school improvement efforts are grounded in evidence, responsive to student needs, and aligned with district priorities.

Food Services 

As the school year comes to a close, students and staff are looking forward to the many exciting end of year activities like Field Days, picnics, and other end-of-school celebrations. We ask all schools and families to remain mindful of the District Wellness Policy regarding outside food and beverages. These guidelines help ensure the health and well-being of all students, including those with food allergies and dietary restrictions. Please review the district WELLNESS POLICY for additional information. 

We would also like to remind families to verify and update their contact information with their child's school before the start of the 2026-27 school year.  

Please ensure the following information is up to date. 

• Home address 

• Phone numbers 

• Email addresses 

• Emergency contact information 

This update is especially important as Norwalk Public Schools will be returning to the Family Meal application process for the 2026-27 school year. Accurate household information will ensure families receive important communications, application materials, eligibility notifications, and other district updates from our Determining Official in a timely manner. 

During the summer months we will be serving meals to any student 18 and under. Breakfast and Lunch will be available at eight different sites. All Mealtimes and sites can be found HERE and on the NPS Food Service website.  Menus at these sites are also listed in nutrislice on the Norwalk Public Schools Food Service website. 

School Safety 

Mr. Goñez and IT were able to remove all of the surveillance cameras and security servers at 1 Park Street. We were able to relocate a few cameras to NHS, thus solving a few critical blind spots. The Family Center has been updated to its new location on all of our security platforms. The FBI has reissued its training on Responding to SWATTING, which has picked up activity over the past few days locally. Training for administrators is June 11 at 8 a.m., 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. online. Participation is optional but encouraged for anyone interested in learning our response protocols.  

Transportation 

The Transportation Office is preparing for the last weeks of school scheduling, including early dismissal for high school final exams, graduation/promotion practices, field trips, and off-site high school graduations. Please click here for District-Wide Early Dismissal Schedules.  Please make sure your students' dismissal arrangements are scheduled. 

Health Services 

A full-time school nurse, with extensive experience, has been hired for a retirement vacancy. 

Narcan, an opioid antagonist, will be distributed to every NPS school today as the current lot expires over the summer. This is a potentially life-saving medication for an individual experiencing opioid overuse. 

Professional development for nurses is being scheduled for the upcoming school year; proper use of the otoscope and its findings, dermatology, and electronic records training are just a few topics to be addressed. 

The Lion’s Club will be presenting a donation to NPS on 6/15 for the purposes of supporting eye and vision care. 

Humanities

We have had quite an exciting week of literacy events for our students. Thanks to TransAd and Norwalk Transit, our partners for the Words in Transit Poetry Contest, our student poems and artwork have been installed on the backs of six Norwalk Transit buses. We will be hosting our final presentation of the poems on the buses for family and friends on June 13 at Brien McMahon High School from 9-10:30 a.m. for anyone interested in attending. 

Ms. Fedor’s kindergarten class at Cranbury teamed up with the Norwalk High Ceramics class for an exciting Monster Swap project. Our kindergarteners drew monsters and created an information sheet about them to share with Ms. Hansen’s high school students. These students then learned about pinch pots and used clay to make these monsters “come to life”. The Cranbury students took a field trip to Norwalk High for the big reveal and to meet their high school artist partners. 

Seventh grade students across the district came together to hear Dr. Rameck Hunt speak to them about his journey from a challenging childhood to becoming a physician. All seventh graders read Dr. Hunt’s book, We Beat the Street, during Unit 3 this year as they reflected on the essential question “What makes a dream worth pursuing?”.  Students from each middle school were selected to ask questions about what they read or things they were still curious about after reading. 

STEM 

This time of year is always interesting, bridging the end of something and the start of something new. We are preparing for high school math HQIM for next year, sending out new pacing guides for math in younger grades, and supporting the last of our science piloting schools with visits. Enjoy some pictures of first graders experiencing the loud sounds of waves being transferred through string. 

Family Center

The Family Center is now open to the public for registration. We are currently in the process of conducting pre-k and kindergarten MLL assessments.

We are also excited to announce that Monday, June 15 is the official Family Center Opening Day.

Marine Science

It has been an incredible, milestone-setting season for our Marine Science program! Our students have been diving deep into hands-on, experiential learning that connects classroom curiosity directly with our local aquatic ecosystems:

• A Milestone Celebration for West Rocks 8th Graders! A huge congratulations to our West Rocks Middle School 8th graders! These outstanding students are the very first to complete a full, three-year sequence in our Marine Science program. As our trailblazing inaugural class, they have set a wonderful example of dedication, curiosity, and environmental stewardship for all future students to follow.
• 4th-Grade Farm Creek Field Trips: Our fourth graders stepped into the roles of real-world field biologists during immersive trips to Farm Creek. Students explored local salt marsh ecology and observed vibrant coastal wildlife firsthand.
• Squid Dissections at Jefferson: Fourth graders at Jefferson Elementary School became true hands-on marine biologists during an exciting squid dissection lab! Students explored anatomy and unique adaptations up close, sparking incredible curiosity about life beneath the waves.
• Annual Trout Release: Bringing their classroom conservation units to a beautiful close, students from West Rocks and Nathan Hale middle schools proudly released their student-raised trout into local freshwater streams to support the ecosystem. They are the first two of five district schools that will be participating in trout releases this year!
• Research and Education Station (R.E.S.A.) at Manresa Wilds: Norwalk Public Schools is thrilled to be a founding partner in the newly launched R.E.S.A. consortium at Manresa Wilds! Alongside the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, The Maritime Aquarium, Wesleyan University, and Sacred Heart University, this incredible partnership will turn a transformed 125-acre community park into a hub for scientific discovery. Our students have already been out on-site planting pollinator gardens, and this collaboration will provide them with unparalleled hands-on learning, environmental stewardship skills, and unique career pathways for generations to come.
  https://www.coastalconnecticuttimes.com/manresa-wilds-launches-new-research-and-education-station/

School Counseling & Workforce Development

The City of Norwalk, CT MTSS-SEB, RISE, and Social Emotional Health Planning Meetings continue at the district for the School Counseling Department Education Administrator, as well as attendance at the Talk Tuesday Attendance series. A district-wide support tool has been developed by RISE and shared with all high school counselors to inform their senior community about the opportunity for Free Community College. Our first of three Class of 2027 Workshops were hosted at Norwalk High School/P-TECH and Brien McMahon/Center for Global Studies in the Career Center in June, ​​with 39 schools in attendance. Scholars who attended these workshops will soon receive their college and university Virtual Assistant. The Superintendents’ Student Council is hard at work on their Spring Projects and had the opportunity to present at the June 2nd Board of Education meeting to ​share their lived experience in College & Career Readiness. The College & Career Specialists are working with scholars on scholarship support and supporting the Class of 2026 Post-Secondary Plans, to name a few.

The CT State Norwalk College for Kids course catalog is available for Grades 1 - 12, and registration is ongoing. In partnership with CT State Norwalk, we are working on our Certification Programming for Fall 2026, as the course catalog is currently in development. The Pathways to Construction Partnership is meeting to determine the Fall 2026 cohort offerings to our NPS Scholars. In partnership with Wegmans, our scholars at the Future Ready program had the opportunity for a hiring visit. Junior and Senior Scholars have been invited to enroll in the OSHA 10 Training Pilot Program based on their RISE Survey Tier 2 Post Secondary Planning data. Interested scholars should check their NPS Emails for an invitation. The OSHA 10 Hour course is designed to teach entry-level workers how to identify, avoid, and prevent on-site hazards. It focuses on construction standards and rules, such as fall protection, scaffolding, and electrical safety. The NPS Internship Program is expanding so that our scholars will have a greater diversity of internships to choose from. The NPS Internship Application will be launched in August 2026, once school begins. NPS hosted its Bi-Annual Workforce Development (WD) Advisory in June, in which we met with our valued WD stakeholders. There will be an Apprenticeship Application Event on June 25th in Norwalk for our NPS Community and Senior Scholars who are 18+. This is an opportunity to visit the office in Norwalk to fill out an Apprenticeship Application!

For all NPS Workforce Development Opportunities and more, visit www.norwalkps.org/careertraining. Please be sure to bookmark the site and check back regularly for new and exciting opportunities!   

Early Childhood Education

As we wrap up a highly productive school year, we want to celebrate the remarkable growth of our Pre-Kindergarten students, the strong partnerships built with our families, the incredible dedication of our Pre-Kindergarten teachers, administrators, and service providers. This year marked an exciting milestone as we officially transitioned our Pre-K classrooms into the elementary buildings, creating a stronger, more unified Norwalk Public Schools community. 

By integrating our youngest learners into the elementary school environment, we have also seen several other incredible benefits this year, including:

• Increasing Seamless Kindergarten Transitions: Because our Pre-K students are already navigating the hallways, participating in Specials, and playing on the school playgrounds, the typical "new school" anxiety is eliminated. They are already comfortable in an elementary school  building, meaning they will enter Kindergarten ready to learn on day one.
• Vertical Alignment and Collaboration: Being in the same building allows our Pre-K teachers to collaborate directly with Kindergarten teachers. This ensures our routines, academic foundations, and social-emotional expectations are perfectly aligned with what the students will experience in future years.
• Continuity of Special Education Services: For our students with IEPs, being in the elementary school allows for a much smoother transition of services. Our related service providers (Speech, OT, PT) and special education teams can collaborate across grade levels and schools, ensuring no gap in support when the child moves up to Kindergarten.
• Access to School-Wide Resources: Our Pre-K classrooms now have access to the broader elementary school ecosystem, including the school library, unified arts spaces, and participation in school-wide community events like spirit weeks and assemblies.
• Older Peer Mentorship: Sharing a building with older students provides our preschoolers with wonderful neurotypical peer models. Opportunities like "reading buddies" or simply interacting with older students in the hallway fosters confidence and early leadership skills.
• Deepened Family Experiences: For families it allows parents to have a broader experience  in a school community earlier, joining the PTA, and being a part of school-wide events.

Overall, bringing Pre-Kindergarten into the elementary schools has not just changed where our students learn, it has expanded their community and set a stronger foundation for their entire educational journey.

Infrastructure

We have begun collecting all Chromebooks from students in grades 1–8 as part of our end-of-year device management process. This collection will allow our technology team to assess devices for needed repairs, complete maintenance, and reorganize inventory so that Chromebooks are ready for student use at the start of the next school year.

This summer, we will also be upgrading wireless access points in multiple buildings across the district. These upgrades are intended to improve network connectivity, strengthen wireless coverage, and provide a more reliable technology experience for students and staff throughout our schools.

Enterprise Software

Work continues on the updated Staff Portal site. We anticipate completion over the summer.

End of year tasks are in process along with summer plugged in resources and we continue to provide daily support for all end users.

Digital Learning

Naramake Library Media Specialist Lauren Sweeney has been selected as the CT Southern New England Rosen Publishing School Librarian of the month for April 2026.  As part of this award, her lesson titled, "Improving Writing Through AI Image Generation"  will become part of SNE’s bank of best practices to be shared with educators across the state.  She will also be recognized at the 2026 CASL Conference in November. In addition, Lauren will have the opportunity to select and receive a free set of books from Rosen Publishing for her school library.

The Southern New England Rosen Publishing School Librarian of the Month Award recognizes certified Connecticut Association of School Librarians (CASL) members who have developed a powerful lesson, program or collaboration that empowers student learning and showcases what is happening in school libraries/media centers across our state.  

Cranbury Library Media Specialist Renee Neiger has been selected as a winner of the Connecticut Association of School Librarians School Library Media Program of the Year / Bunny Yesner Award for 2026. This award honors exemplary school library programs, and the award winner receives $1,000.

This award honors programs that meet the principles stated in AASL's National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries. All award winners will be honored at the CASL Conference in November.  

Concord Magnet School Library Media Specialist Casey Andersen has been selected as one of the winners of the Connecticut Association of School Librarians’ TechIT Grant for 2026.  This award honors excellence in the integration of technology into classroom learning, and shows the power of technology through engaged learning.  As part of the award, he will receive a $1000 Tech IT grant and will be honored at the CASL Conference in November.

Payroll/Benefits

Benefits and Payroll continue to focus on year-end operations, including the completion of Open Enrollment for all employee groups and preparation of the teachers' Open Enrollment process. The department is also coordinating summer payroll distributions and retiree payout processing to ensure all payments are completed accurately and on schedule. 

In addition, the new Payroll and Benefits platform has been successfully completed and we are hoping to soon go live. The team is now focused on its next strategic initiative: the development and implementation of a centralized Policies and Procedures platform to improve accessibility, consistency, and operational efficiency across the organization. 

Budget

Updating and distributing 2025-26 GL Summaries for schools and central office departments. Meeting with schools and departments to discuss 2025-26 rest of year expenses.  Processing special education invoices as well as districtwide journal entries and budget transfers. Reviewing open purchase orders to determine if they can be decreased and closed.

Grants

During the past week, Grants has focused extensively on grant management and fiscal reporting activities. A primary priority has been completing all grant fund requests due to the State by June 12. This process has involved reviewing expenditures, ensuring supporting documentation is accurate and complete, reconciling grant activity, and verifying that all requests align with approved budgets and grant requirements. In addition, we have been conducting detailed reconciliations of grant accounts and tying all expenditures to the final fund requests to ensure accuracy, compliance, and proper financial reporting. Preparations for the upcoming fiscal year budget continue. This work includes reviewing current budget lines, analyzing spending trends, and evaluating program needs to support effective resource allocation. Grants has been meeting with program administrators and department leaders to discuss projected expenditures, validate budget assumptions, and ensure that funding requests accurately reflect operational needs and program priorities for the upcoming year. Additionally, Grants met with the Early Start program team to finalize the new contract agreement. As part of this process, we conducted a thorough review and analysis of the contract terms, verified budgetary and programmatic requirements, coordinated the completion of required documentation, obtained all necessary approvals and signatures, and submitted the fully executed contract in accordance with established timelines. Throughout the week, we have remained focused on ensuring compliance with grant regulations, maintaining the accuracy and integrity of financial data, supporting program stakeholders through budget development, and preparing the district for a successful transition into the next fiscal year.