Board Update: May 16, 2025

Testing & Accountability 

The district is beginning week two of state testing for Smarter Balanced and Next Generation Science. We are carefully monitoring student participation. Districts are required to have a minimum of 95% participation in tested grades for all students and high needs students. High needs group includes multilingual learners, special education students and students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Results will be released   

On May 6 results from the 2025 Panorama survey were presented to the Board of Education and members of the School Governance Council. Survey responses showed that all stakeholders, students, staff and families, had a more positive perception of school safety and school climate compared to Panorama responses from prior years. The positive perception of Staff- Leadership Relations has increased for four consecutive years.  

Research & Analytics 

Members of the research and analytics department attended the Harvard Strategic Data Project Spring Convening. Dr. Kimberly Erickson presented her capstone work on the Portrait of a Graduate and Alden Burnham presented on collaborative data dashboard design. Members of the team learned about cutting edge education data work including data-driven approaches to reducing chronic absenteeism, adjusting the funding structure of contracts to require outcomes, and using evidence-based strategies to maximize program impact.  

The Portrait of a Graduate Spring Feedback Cycle is now underway. The family and staff survey will be open from May 13 through June 6, and staff and student focus groups will take place over the next two weeks. Insights from the feedback cycle will guide next steps and shape planning and implementation of the effective communicator competency rollout.  

All schools have now received their templates to begin School Improvement Planning for the 2025-26 school year. Over the next two months, schools will engage in data analysis to complete their needs assessment and select goals. A full draft of the plan, including a plan for professional development and key action steps, won’t be submitted until early August.  

Building Leadership Capacity - Principal/AP Meetings

On May 6 and May 7 we had our final Principal and AP Meetings for the 2024-25 school year.  The superintendent shared the district’s draft goals for the 2025-26 school year with school leaders and she led them through a protocol which allowed them to give feedback on the goals. School leaders participated in a celebration of practice where they shared successful leadership practices with their colleagues. The day culminated with delving into our district’s portrait of a graduate and AI literacy. Leaders learned about various AI platforms that they want to implement in their schools. 

Principal End of Year Conferences

In the coming weeks, principals will be meeting with their primary evaluator for their end of year conferences. During these conferences, principals will reflect on their learning plans, new leadership practices that were implemented as a result of their learning and the impact those practices had on achieving their leadership goals for the year.

Food Services 

The Blender Bike is still on a roll for spring! Be sure to get in line at breakfast for your Golden ticket to ride. 

The Bike will be at Kendall School on Tuesday, May 20, Jefferson, on Wednesday, May 21, and at Marvin Elementary on Thursday, May 22.  

Next week our FFVP schools will be learning about and tasting Lettuce and Asian Pears. 

Summer meal service is approaching please see our open sites listed below: 

• Cranbury School 
• Jefferson School  
• Kendall School  
• Marvin School 
• Sono School 
• Nathan Hale 
• Ponus/CMS  
• West Rocks 
• Brien McMahon 
• Grace Baptist church 17 West Ave Norwalk 

These sites will provide free breakfast and lunch for children 18 and under. Meals must be eaten on-site at the school. 

Please be sure your families know students can still eat during the summer months.

Transportation 

The end of the school year is fast approaching. The Transportation Office is working on the last week of school schedules for over 30 school/programs, supporting in and out of district transportation.   

As we bring one program to an end, we begin another! Summer programming, including Summer Academy (Elementary Schools), Extended School Year (District Wide), Carver Transitional (Middle and High Schools), local agency camps and out of district, scheduling will begin within the next few weeks to prepare for a June 30 start date. 

This Saturday, Durham School Services and ECS Transportation will partner with NPS to provide shuttle services to our city-wide First Book Event.  Durham will provide services throughout the city Shuttle Schedule .  ECS will provide services from Roton Middle School and Brookside Elementary School (Handicap overflow parking). 

School Health Services    

After 35 years of service, one of the BMHS nurses is retiring. She will be replaced by another nurse in the district. An additional transfer to that vacancy has also taken place, leaving one nurse vacancy in the district. 

Two nurses received the Excellence in Education Award for their outstanding job performance- congratulations to Dana Bogacz of Sono School and Genevieve Talia Sprague Geideman of Kendall College and Career Academy! 

During the month of April, The Human Services Council Dr. Robert E Appleby school-based health centers, located at Norwalk High School/P-TECH, West Rocks Middle School, and Nathan Hale Middle School, provided 259 medical and behavioral health appointments to students at these schools.    

During the same time, 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, provided 561 medical and behavioral health appointments to NPS students. 

Two of NCHC’s school-based health center initiatives, a wellness campaign at Ponus/CMS and anti-bullying campaign with BMHS students, have received much interest and involvement from students and families. During its work the wellness campaign identified two students who required behavioral health rapid response and received the necessary health interventions; the anti-bullying campaign has completed its filming and has scheduled a tentative launch of their project on June 4. 

Humanities

The Humanities Department continues to support literacy walkthroughs in the district.  This has served as a tool to norm around Foundational literacy instruction and to develop plans for upcoming professional development. We have also engaged with TNTP on K-5 curriculum work for the upcoming school year.

School Counseling/Workforce Development

The district attendance team is working to support schools in their support of scholars in the Class of 2025, who are nearing graduation. The High School Counseling team had an opportunity to engage in Professional Development with Naviance. They explored External Letters of Recommendation, eDocs Bulk Send, Unofficial Transcripts, and Student Experience. The K-8 School Counseling team had an opportunity to engage in Professional Development with their resiliency coach from Silver Hill Hospital, in which they engaged in Self-Regulation. The Superintendents’ Student Council members had an opportunity to advocate for Norwalk Public Schools funding at the Capitol in Hartford. Scholars were happy to be there to raise their voices in advocacy of their school community and were excited to be in the governmental building. The student council cohorts also continue to work on their end-of-year projects.

NPS is engaging in a new project called the “Multi-System Coordination Project,” which will use grant funding to serve a selected Tier 3 population in collaboration with the city of Norwalk and includes other partnerships. First Book is this weekend, and the committee has been hard at work to ensure it is a great success! Wegmans Food Market will be opening in Norwalk in a few months, and a hiring event was hosted for scholars at BMHS and CGS who are 16+ years old and interested in applying for a position with the new store. NPS Families who are 18+ were invited to attend a Workforce Development Workshop in the areas of Apprenticeship, Trades, Training, and Employment on May 8 at the Family Center. The workshop included how to use the NPS Workforce Development website for all current and future possibilities.

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! 

Specialized Learning

The Specialized Learning Department is busy planning for Extended School Year (ESY). It will be held from June 30 to July 31 at various locations throughout the district. Students will work on specific goals and objectives in their IEP’s. Students will also receive related services as outlined in their IEP’s.  

We are also planning for the last New Teacher Academy on May 20 and its next Parent Advisory Meeting on May 28 at 6 p.m. at The Family Center.    

Enterprise Software/Data

The secure transfer of zipped data files to CARVER's Monitoring and Evaluation team is underway. The most recent data directories have been shared, with over 70 more scheduled for transfer. Norwalk High School staff now have access to the BRISK extension, and the student version, BOOST, is available, empowering teachers to deliver materials directly to students and monitor their engagement in real time. Efficiency in AV requests has been enhanced through automation, where submitted forms now automatically populate a shared calendar for specialists to consult, reducing reliance on calls, emails, and handwritten notes. State-provided eBooks have been successfully integrated into all NPS libraries via the Follett Destiny platform. The AI-powered support feature for the public website has completed development and testing and awaits final approval for launch. Development of a centralized software analytics platform is in progress, with ongoing collaboration with the Research & Analytics team to refine the resulting data.

Digital Learning

The Digital Learning Coaches conducted a successful second professional development session with our school leaders. They are now preparing targeted PD for the summer to ensure schools are well-prepared for the capabilities of AI in and out of the classroom for SY 25-26. Our VILS expansion into all high schools and grades 6-8 has been very successful, with Roton Middle School recently featured on a Verizon national all-call. We commend the work of Roton and all our schools throughout the year.

Library Media

For the first time, in partnership with Carol Wilshire-Toth from Workforce Development, we have a high school student intern! Summer Bosch, a Norwalk High School student and recipient of the Eidt Scholarship, along with other significant achievements, recently impressed three Library Media Specialists during her interview. Her family's connection to libraries sparked her interest in this internship. Over the next four weeks, she will work alongside two of our highly skilled Library Media Specialists: Stephanie Deeb at Marvin ES and Jodi Flom Nathanson at Fox Run ES. We are delighted to welcome her to our team! Her enthusiasm for music and STEM will complement this internship perfectly. We aim to continue collaborating with Workforce Development to attract more students to this rewarding career path.

Lynn Payton-Roby has been awarded ISTE’s Virtual Conference this year by the CT Association for School Librarians (CASL)! A team of educators from across Connecticut will connect and collaborate on effective strategies to share their learning from the conference with our CASL members. This is an exciting opportunity!

AI Committee

Doug Casey ( Executive Director of CT Commission  for Educational Technology) and Irene Parisi (Chief Academic Office, State of CT) led an informative discussion during April’s meeting, sharing insights about AI at the state level. They discussed the Digital Citizenship adoption of Commonsense and their pilot AI program involving 5 schools in Connecticut.

Future Ready Program

As the 2024–25 school year draws to a close, our students are diligently working on final projects and fulfilling graduation requirements. Their dedication and resilience are evident in the quality of their work and their strong performance across all grade levels.

We are proud to announce that we are on track to celebrate our highest number of June and August graduates in the academy’s history. Combined with the strong graduation numbers from last January, Twilight Academy is poised for one of its most successful academic years to date.

This progress reflects the hard work of our students, the commitment of our staff, and the ongoing support from families and the wider school community.

Payroll

The Payroll Department has successfully transitioned to the UKG system, with the team now preparing to process its fourth live payroll. While overall performance has been strong, staff continue to address minor issues and refine workflows to ensure system optimization.

Development is also underway on two important features within UKG: a new portal for managing FMLA leave requests and the 2026 Open Enrollment portal. Open enrollment for employee benefits will take place from May 26 through June 13.

In partnership with Cigna, a wellness challenge and concepts portal has launched for staff. This initiative includes a variety of health and fitness challenges along with raffles, giving teachers an opportunity to earn prizes as they work toward their wellness goals.

Budget

The Finance team continues to navigate a complex budget landscape as the district works to address a projected $3 million shortfall for the 2025–26 school year. Discussions with the City regarding potential additional funding are ongoing, and the district remains focused on securing the necessary resources to support students and staff.

Grants

The Grants team successfully completed and submitted the IDEA grant to the Connecticut State Department of Education by the May 12 deadline. In addition to the submission, the team conducted a full budget reconciliation and created new Alliance accounts to ensure the budget remained balanced and aligned with funding priorities.

Support was also provided to the First Book initiative, with grant staff assisting in the purchase of supplies necessary to help make the districtwide event a success.

Purchasing & Accounts Payable

The team recently completed negotiations to renew the Food Service Management Contract with Chartwells for the upcoming school year. All required renewal documents have been compiled and submitted to the Connecticut State Department of Education Nutrition Office for review and approval.

Accounts Payable staff continue to prepare for the end of the fiscal year by working to close out Fiscal Year 2025 accounts. This work is essential to ensuring a clean transition and accurate financial reporting heading into the new fiscal year.