Board Update: Mar 6, 2026

Testing & Accountability 

The Testing Office is supporting each school’s Multi Language Learning Department in identifying supports that are beneficial for spring state testing, including Smarter Balanced and Next Generation Science. School-level collection sheets have been distributed, and workshops are being held. Selected supports will be uploaded to the State’s test delivery system. Teachers will provide students with the opportunity to use these supports prior to live testing.

Almost 98% of students participated in winter NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Association) testing. For both math and reading, a higher percentage of students were above the 60th percentile in the winter compared to the fall. NWEA fall-to-winter growth for both math and reading exceeded the national norm of 50%. In math, 60% of students in grades 1–8 met or exceeded their NWEA projected growth. In reading, 62% of students in grades 3–8 met or exceeded their NWEA projected growth.

Research & Analytics 

Midyear progress monitoring meetings are currently taking place with all schools. During these meetings, student academic data is analyzed to identify areas of progress and areas where additional improvement is needed. After reviewing data related to instructional walk-throughs and reflecting on the Theory of Action used, next steps and adjustments are identified. This is the first year we have engaged in a formal midyear progress monitoring process of this kind. Feedback thus far has been positive, and the meetings have been helpful.

Preparations are also underway to roll out the next Portrait of a Graduate competency. At this month’s Principal and Assistant Principals meeting, the next competency, Self-Directed Learner, was introduced, and we explored alignment with the previously rolled-out competencies: Critical Thinker and Effective Communicator. We began the process of norming our understanding of what self-directed learning looks like and sounds like.

School Spotlight

Every year, CMS K-8 partners with Silvermine Arts Guild for various integrated activities. The 6th graders just completed their Creative Connections cultural enrichment unit.  Through this opportunity, CMS students had the opportunity to connect with students in Nigeria and India. The focus was centered on sharing our personal experiences through art. The teachers led discussions on what makes us unique. The children eventually came to the same conclusion: “We may look different, and our stories are varied, but we are all one people. We all deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.”  The children were asked to create artwork, focused on “My Story” which they shared with their international partners on Zoom.  

School Improvement Plans

This is an important time of year in the School Improvement Plan process.  After analyzing various mid-year data sets, Instructional Leadership Teams check in on the progress they are making towards their School Improvement Plan goals.  This process allows school leaders to identify any adjustments they need to make or supports they require to have an impactful second half of the year.

Food Services 

In celebration of National School Breakfast Week (March 2–6), Chartwells will launch an exciting update for our elementary students, who will now enjoy hot breakfast three times per week. As part of the celebration, the Chartwells Jefferson Pop-Up event will take place on March 4, featuring Chicken and Biscuits with blueberry compote, followed by breakfast burritos on Thursday, March 5. On March 9, “Rise and Dine! Brunch for Lunch” will welcome the arrival of spring with festive and nutritious brunch offerings designed to help students “Bloom into Breakfast.”

Chartwells and NPS are also excited to share that the new Rice Bowl concept has been a tremendous success at the high schools. Due to its popularity, the program will expand to middle schools this month and will be featured every Wednesday moving forward. Global Eats: India will be highlighted at our upper schools on March 10, featuring Chicken Tikka Masala with brown rice, peas, and carrots. On March 12, Try-It Thursday will spotlight roasted potatoes, offering students a nutritious and appealing side dish to sample. And don’t forget—fish will be available every Friday in March in observance of Lent!

Facilities 

A grant application was submitted to the State on February 10 for the planned asbestos flooring abatement and replacement at Nathan Hale, and we are currently awaiting a response. Due to the shortened summer, the project will be completed over the course of two summers. At Ponus and Nathan Hale, school leaders have selected locker colors and quantities for installation in summer 2026. Please note that the Ponus summer school session may be impacted due to the shortened summer resulting from snow day cancellations.

At 46 Concord Street, soil samples have been taken below grade to determine whether contaminated soils are present prior to underground storage tank (UST) removal. Lab results are expected next week. A grant application for this project was also submitted to the State on February 10, and we are awaiting feedback. At Wolfpit, an engineer has been selected for the temporary air conditioning project and is advancing the design phase to prepare a bid package for summer 2026. An initial review has already been conducted to ensure plans and specifications remain on schedule for bidding.

School Safety

Safe School Climate plans are being reviewed and filed for each school building. The Safety Team met with the City Safety Director and is currently reviewing and updating our district relocation plan. The Safety Team worked closely with NPD to monitor student safety when we became aware of a student-planned walkout protest. Thanks to NPD and our team for shielding our students from traffic and pedestrian dangers as they moved across the city.

Transportation

We are certainly experiencing a true New England winter in 2026! As we continue to navigate snow and inclement weather, families are encouraged to use the Bus Zone parent tracking app to monitor bus locations daily, especially on weather-impacted days. If you experience any issues with the app, please use the support option located in the app menu or contact Durham School Services directly at 203-428-4192 for assistance.

Additionally, please ensure your contact information is current in ParentSquare. The Transportation Office uses this platform to communicate important updates, including unexpected delays or potential service interruptions. Keeping your information up to date will help ensure you receive timely notifications.

School Health 

During the month of February, the Human Services Council and Dr. Robert E. Appleby School-Based Health Centers at Norwalk High School/P-TECH, West Rocks Middle School, and Nathan Hale Middle School provided 177 medical and behavioral health appointments to students. During that same period, the Norwalk Community Health Center school-based health centers located at Ponus Ridge STEAM Academy/Concord Magnet School, Brien McMahon High School/Center for Global Studies, and The Family Center Health and Wellness Center delivered 640 medical and behavioral health appointments to NPS students. Additionally, SHS met with NCHC on March 4 to review updates and ongoing developments related to the school-based health center partnership. The NCHC SBHC at Kendall College and Career Academy is scheduled to hold its ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 10.

To provide consent for your child to access services at the school-based health centers at NHS, P-TECH, WRMS, and NHMS, please click here for the English consent form and click here for the Spanish consent form. To consent for services at the school-based health centers at Brien McMahon High School, Center for Global Studies, Ponus, Concord Magnet School, and Kendall College and Career Academy, please click here for the English consent form and click here for Spanish consent form.

Humanities

In K-5 grade level literacy meetings have begun. Teachers will have an opportunity to dig into the upcoming unit and focusing on choosing the best questions to drive student learning.  Read Across America Day took place in schools on March 2, 2026. NPS schools hosted 100s of readers across our 13 elementary schools. What a great time to engage with our students!  School leaders and coaches continue to deepen their understanding of the literacy units and the ways in which they support the literacy vision and the Portrait of a Graduate.  We are excited for the upcoming instructional walks!  

Secondary Literacy: Principals, Assistant Principals, and Coaches participated in our monthly Leadership Meeting. The focus continued to support the work around Portrait of a Graduate and bringing the Literacy Vision to life in our classrooms. Read Across America activities were planned across schools and we have more literacy events happening throughout the month of March to celebrate student writing. Next week, we will begin our Literacy Walk tour through middle and high schools with our partners at TNTP as a way to collect feedback and data on our new curriculum implementation. 

STEM Update

This week, we began the work around crafting a Norwalk Public Schools Math Vision.  In collaboration with TNTP, a committee of NPS stakeholders of administrators, math teachers, MLL teachers, and special education teachers engaged in the first of 4 meetings as they work to create a K-12 math vision. Highlights of the meeting included math histories, research review, and focus groups. The next meeting will be next week; we look forward to how this will benefit our NPS students and staff.

Specialized Learning

Earlier this week, several Special Education Administrators had the opportunity to participate in Read Across America. 

On Wednesday of this week, the Department is hosting the Special Education Parent Advisory Group. The Agenda includes: CPAC overview of the Youth Advisory Board and BRIDGE CT, a discussion around the opportunity for adaptive summer activity options, updates on the 26-27 school year budget process, and an open discussion for additional Q&A.

On Thursday and Friday of this week, Special Education Administrators will be attending the 2026 CONNCASE Legal Conference.  Topics will include: Collaborating with Caregivers to Address School Refusal Behavior, Special Education Legal Issues, Strategies for Collaboration with Parents, Educating Students with Mental Health Issues.

School Counseling and Workforce Development 

In March, the District Attendance Team continues to share attendance data, resources, supports, and school celebrations. Did you know that by 9^th grade, good attendance can predict graduation rates even better than 8th-grade test scores? We love to see our scholars in school every day, as #AttendanceMatters.

Spring is almost here, and the School Counselors are working with their Grade 5 scholars on School Choice and Course Selections for Grades 6 - 12. A School Counselor Series Workshop: Raising Resilient Kids was hosted by Lilli Murillo for our families in Grades PreK-12. The Superintendent Student Council is working with our Building Leadership and Scholars in Grades 8 - 12 to understand their Post Secondary Planning Process. The College & Career Specialists are working with scholars to​ support NPS Internships,​ planning a districtwide trade day in March, and continuing scholarship support, to name a few.​

CT State Norwalk is offering a Broadcasting Course for interested families and scholars who are Age 16+ years old or older. Seats are limited and filling fast, don’t delay, apply today! NPS Celebrated Black History Month, in which our scholars performed. A great time was had by all. Coming Soon, The Workforce Development NPS Trade Series: A Day in the Life of an HVAC Technician & Plumber on March 26th from 5 pm - 6 pm. The Pathways to Construction Spring Cohort 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

This month, Norwalk Public Schools Pre-Kindergarten classrooms continue our commitment to high-quality early childhood education by further transforming our learning spaces into theme-based, centers-centric environments. By utilizing Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP), we ensure that our youngest scholars are met with instructional rigor that respects their unique developmental trajectories.

Our current focus, centered on “Animals," is meticulously designed to support Danielson 3C: Engaging Students in Learning. By creating immersive, center-based environments, we provide students with multiple entry points to access the curriculum. Whether through sensory exploration, dramatic play, or inquiry-based science centers, every child can engage with the content at their individual level of readiness.

Infrastructure

We are actively enhancing our district's digital security measures to better protect students in an increasingly online learning environment. To address potential exposure to inappropriate visual content, we have upgraded our web filtering system with advanced AI-powered image blurring technology. This feature scans web pages in real-time and automatically blurs harmful or explicit images—such as those involving violence or nudity—before they fully load. This prevents student exposure while allowing access to otherwise educational material. This approach improves upon traditional URL-based blocking by effectively handling dynamic, uncategorized, or proxy sites, supports CIPA compliance, processes data locally to preserve privacy, and minimizes disruptions to legitimate research and instruction.

Additionally, we have integrated all district Chromebooks into the CrowdStrike Falcon Insight Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) platform, extending enterprise-grade cybersecurity to our primary student devices. Through this native ChromeOS integration—developed in partnership with Google—the system provides continuous monitoring, AI-driven threat detection, and rapid automated response to suspicious activity, such as malware attempts or unauthorized access, all managed from a unified console. This strengthens defenses against rising cyberattacks targeting K-12 institutions, streamlines IT management across our device fleet, and aligns with best practices for endpoint protection without requiring additional agents or complex tools. Both initiatives, rolled out in early 2026, are already showing positive early results in reducing risks and supporting safe, focused learning. We will continue monitoring performance and welcome Board input as we refine these protections.

Enterprise Software

We attended the monthly virtual collaboration meeting with the EDSAFE District Policy Lab Cohort, sharing processes, problems, and ideas with other districts. AI is the focal point.

All Elementary student photos have been uploaded successfully to Follett Destiny. Middle and high school photos are next.

PSAT 8/9 and PSAT 10 student records have been imported to the College Board for the next assessment window.

Data modifications on OneRoster were made, provisioning all Math Instructional Teachers “administrative” access on the i-Ready platform. This will allow them to manage new students to NPS on their i-Ready Report groups with no need to wait for our response action!

Digital Learning

We are incredibly proud to celebrate Audra Good, our dedicated Library Media Specialist at Brookside Elementary School! Audra was recently featured on the Today Showas part of their Read Across America segment this past Monday. Her selection is a testament to her passion and hard work. Thank you, Audra, for everything you do to inspire a love of reading in our students.

Our Library Media Specialists and Digital Learning Coaches met this week with Kimberly Erickson to discuss our ongoing Portrait of a Graduate work. The discussion focused on how to implement AI integration into next year's new competency: the Self-Directed Learner. Additionally, we have begun developing an AI literacy curriculum for students in grades 3-8, scheduled for the 2026-27 school year.

Norwalk Public Schools is committed to the thoughtful and ethical integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into our educational framework, a critical component with throughways to our Portrait of a Graduate. To drive this initiative, the district has established an AI Literacy Curriculum Team

The work of this team will be guided in their composition of Norwalk Public School’s very first AI Literacy Vision and grounded in our commitment to ensure ALL students graduate future-ready as civically responsible, globally engaged, and positive contributors to an ever-changing and diverse world. The team will also focus on developing a comprehensive AI Literacy Implementation Plan to equip students (grades 3-8) and staff with the knowledge and critical thinking skills necessary to engage thoughtfully with AI tools and resources.

Currently, the AI Literacy Development Team comprises Digital Learning Coaches and Library Media Specialists from elementary and secondary levels, as well as key administrative leadership including the Assistant Superintendent of Digital Learning & Innovation (Ralph Valenzisi) and the Director of Data Strategy and Accountability (Kimberly Erickson), who also oversees the Portrait of a Graduate. In time, this group will expand to include the critical perspectives of additional stakeholders, specifically elementary and secondary classroom teachers, related arts teachers, and content area coaches, ensuring a comprehensive and robust curriculum development process.

March 4, 2026 – Budget Presentation

On March 4, the Norwalk Board of Education presented its FY 2026–2027 Tentative Approved Operating Budget at a special meeting of the Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET). The Board of Education was one of ten City departments presenting budget deliberations as part of the City’s annual review process.

The presentation outlined the district’s Tentative Approved Operating Budget, including key assumptions, cost drivers, and funding needs for the upcoming fiscal year. Presentation materials were provided to the BET for review as part of the formal municipal budget process.

Budget

The Budget team continued routine fiscal oversight and forward planning work. This included updating and distributing 2025–2026 General Ledger summaries for schools and central office departments and meeting with schools and departments to review remaining 2025–2026 expenses through year-end.

Work also continued on updating 2026–2027 School-Based Budget (SBB) and department budget files to reflect current planning assumptions. Ongoing responsibilities included processing special education invoices, as well as districtwide journal entries and budget transfers to maintain accurate financial records.

Grants

This past week, work in the Grants Department focused primarily on development of the FY 2026–2027 budget. All School-Based Budgeting (SBB) files related to grant-funded rosters were prepared, along with the corresponding line items, for inclusion in the budget package distributed by the Budget Team.

Progress was also made on the Perkins Grant. Assistance was provided in reconciling and balancing applicable sections of the grant, and portions of the required narrative were drafted to support timely completion and submission.

A meeting was held with the Marine Science team to review current funding and identify an opportunity to carry over funds. The team is now working with the State to submit a revised grant proposal that would allow the carryover funds to support two schools and fund a Marine Science Liaison position.

Additionally, collaboration began with the Facilities team regarding the new DRIP Grant, which will be an annual direct grant from the State of Connecticut. The team is in the early stages of planning and reviewing implementation options.

Routine grant monitoring, compliance review, and ongoing support activities continued as part of standard operations.

Purchasing and Accounts Payable

The Request for Proposals (RFP) for the replacement of band instruments was reviewed and awarded to AAA Band Rentals, a local small business that has served the district for over 30 years. The awarded bid totals $282,363 and includes instrument replacement for Norwalk High School, Brien McMahon High School, Ponus Ridge, Nathan Hale, West Rocks, Roton, and Concord.

This recommendation was scheduled to be heard by the Land Use Committee on March 4 and will be forwarded to the City Council for review and final approval on March 10.

Capital

Capital operations this week focused on processing payments and continuing work on South Norwalk payment requests. Several change orders were submitted to the Superintendent and returned from the State. These documents were reviewed, analyzed, and properly filed.

The team also addressed multiple problem invoices related to contracts across several projects, coordinating directly with vendors to resolve outstanding issues and clear outstanding items.

Ongoing capital operations continue to include invoice processing, reimbursement coordination, and document management for state reporting requirements.