World Class Schools for Our Students
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Proposed Norwalk Physical Education & Competition Center (NPECC) Construction Project & Special Bond Election
VOTE MARCH 3rd!
@ St John the Apostle Catholic Church 7:00 am to 8:00 pm
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By: Kate Baldwin, Executive Director of Administrative Services
In my first two articles regarding the proposed Norwalk Physical Education and Competition Center (NPECC), I discussed the history of how and why Norwalk Schools determined the need to construct this facility, and provided an explanation of the spaces in this proposed project. In this article, I will discuss how Norwalk Schools will fund the proposed NPECC.
On Tuesday, March 3rd voters will be asked to approve a $24,000,000 general obligation property tax bond to fund construction of the NPECC. (Learn more about the proposed NPECC facility on the District’s website at www.norwalk.k12.ia.us). The Norwalk Community School District is currently in a very unique position with regard to property valuation increases. As I shared in my first article, the recent growth in property valuations with the ongoing construction of the Microsoft Data Center just west of I-35 near Cumming interchange will increase the District’s property valuations by approximately $270,000,000. In addition to the Data Center, the City of Norwalk has captured two new industries, Michael Foods and Winsor Windows that constructed new facilities in our school district during the past two years. Together these new commercial businesses will add over $16,200,000 to the local property tax base when they are fully completed. And as you drive Highway 28, you can all see all the new businesses that have sprung up over the past couple of years. Each of these new retail businesses incrementally increases the property tax base. And finally, both the cities of Norwalk and Cumming continue to expand with new residential property, each bringing added property tax growth. Below is a chart illustrating the recent and projected growth of the school district property tax base.
NPECC Video
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A Special Tribute to Former School Board Member, Ms. Dana Schuemann
by Kate Baldwin,
Executive Director of Administrative Services, Norwalk Community Schools
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Ms. Dana Schuemann of Cumming, suddenly passed on February 18, 2020. The loss of Ms. Schuemann was a very sad day for the Norwalk Community School District. Dana has served on the school board since 2015. As a board member, Dana was a generous giver of her time, her intellect, her life experiences and her heart. She brought a rare quality to the board as a Norwalk High School alumni and lifetime resident of the school district. Dana was highly qualified to serve on the school board as a parent, community-minded citizen, business professional and supporter of public education for all students. Dana gave a voice to all students, regardless of their individual needs, requests, backgrounds or challenges.
Dana served on various board subcommittees during her 4 ½ years on the school board. As an experienced banking professional, Dana served on the Audit Board Subcommittee. As a “life-long learner” Dana served on the Instructional Services Board Subcommittee. Her education and background as an attorney provided expertise for her to serve on the Policy Board Subcommittee. As a parent that strives to protect and promote the health of our youth, Dana served on the School Improvement Advisory Committee (SIAC), Health and Wellness Subcommittee. Dana served in all of these capacities in addition to her dedicated service to the general duties and responsibilities of a school board member.
In 2017, Dana was elected by fellow school board members from 27 school districts across south-central Iowa, to serve on the Iowa Association of School Board (IASB) Board of Directors. IASB is a state organization formed in the 1950s to guide local school board members in the areas of policy development, management practices, legal compliance, state and federal regulatory compliance and state legislative advocacy for public education. Dana approached this volunteer public service with the same level of commitment and rigor that she exhibited in performing her duties for Norwalk Schools. The IASB Board of Directors quickly recognized Dana’s strong leadership skills and relied on her integrity and sound judgment to set policy for the organization. Dana helped shape IASB governance and legislative priorities that impact Iowa’s K-12 education. Dana’s knowledge of state level educational priorities placed her in a keen position to advise the local Norwalk School Board. As an IASB director, Dana met with state senators and representatives to discuss the educational needs of school districts and the students across Iowa. She understood that education is not a static experience. Rather, Dana helped others to understand the importance of mentoring teachers to enhance education by experiencing new technology, diversity, and culture. Her public education advocacy at IASB influenced Iowa education for generations to come. The students of Norwalk, and all across Iowa, were advantaged by the work of this quiet and humble leader.
Dana was recently re-elected to the Norwalk School Board in November of 2019. During the campaign, the candidates were asked to provide a reflection on why they wanted to serve on the school board. In the passage below, Dana captured her purpose for serving in the Norwalk School Board far better than I can express:
“In the schools we are reaching new heights in terms of student achievements – both academic and extra-curricular, increased graduation rates and teacher/staff quality. I’m always proud to be a Warrior, but never more so than in this last decade of progress.” Dana Schuemann, Norwalk School Board Member, 2015-2020
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NCSD: Re-examining Our TLC Program
by Jim Flansburg,
Iowa Department of Education
Communications
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Teaching a toddler to catch a ball is slow, careful business. Under-handed gentle tosses. Take the same child – 10 years later – and would you deploy the same methods when tossing the ball to her? Of course not. That’s because her skills have vastly improved over the last decade.
So why would a teacher leadership system be any different?
It isn’t, so say educators in the Norwalk Community School District. Entering their sixth year of the Teacher Leadership and Compensation (TLC) program, they know it is time to re-examine the system they put in place five years ago.
“When examining our original goals, we realized we had achieved many of them,” said Amy Gage, director of academic services. “One example is aligning our curriculum to the Iowa Core, which we have done. We’re now ready for bigger goals, bigger work.”
“Over the last couple of years as we reviewed TLC in a small facet, we saw that our leadership roles were starting to overlap,” said Dawn Schiro, director of continuous improvement. “We noticed that while we’re doing great work over here, the work had shifted. We sought feedback on how we can make this better, and that feedback has guided us to the program review.”
And to that end, Norwalk has created a team of 20, consisting of teachers, teacher leaders and principals to do a full review of the district’s TLC system.
“We are starting to have conversations about what our TLC system should be, what we hope to do with it, about possible improvements for the future,” said Shelly Vroegh, TLC and mentoring programs coordinator. “We’ve made a lot of progress in the last six years. When we started TLC, we did not have an instructional framework in place. Today we are using the Marzano Instructional Framework. We are continually working to align our leadership positions with the work that we’re doing to become a Marzano High Reliability School.”
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Norwalk Special Education Delivery Plan
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Revisions to the
Norwalk Special Education Delivery Plan
are now open for public comment until May 21, 2020. A review of this plan is required by each district every five years by the Iowa Department of Education. A committee met on January 26th to provide input and make comments on the current plan. To view a copy of the current plan along with the proposed plan (with revisions made in green highlights and red strikethroughs), please go to the
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Norwalk Student, Hannah Groos Named Iowa Board of Education's Student Representative
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The NCSD is thrilled to share that Hannah Groos, 10th grade Norwalk HS student has been selected by Gov. Kim Reynolds as the 2020-2021 Iowa Board of Education Student Representative! Hannah will serve on the Board for a full calendar year as the only student representative member. Hannah is an active student who demonstrates her talents in many activities which include Girls Who Code (GWC), FIRST Robotics, Student Council, Band, Swim Team, Track, The Iowa Student Learning Institute, Technovation, 4-H, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Student of the Year Campaign. Last summer, Hannah attended the Emerging Rural Leaders Summer Scholars program at the University or Chicago. This program brings students from rural areas across the US on full scholarships to the University of Chicago for a one-week, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. During this program, Hannah was able to meet motivated youth from across the country, emerge herself in Chicago’s culture, and grow her leadership and critical thinking skills.
Hannah is looking forward to serving in her new role and very excited to contribute to the Board. She is currently considering her path in furthering her education and weighing college choices as she explores career options in Computer Science,
Psychology
, Leadership, and
Entrepreneurship.
Congrats to you Hannah!
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Photo Credit: Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune
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CONGRATS!
Congratulations to our winter activities and athletics who have grasped District Championships and qualified for State Competitions this season!
Wrestling:
Conference Champions, Conference Tournament Champions, and State Qualifiers
Boys Swimming:
State Qualifiers
RoboWarriors:
State Qualifiers (Friday,
Feb. 28 and Saturday, Feb. 29
)
Norwalk Speech:
NSDA Nationals Alternates
Show Choir:
Sound Revolution
1st Place 4A Indianola Show Encounter
Sound Adrenaline
3rd Place Prep Division 4A Indianola Show Encounter
Jazz Band 1:
1st Place (4A)
Indianola Jazz Encounter in Jazz Band 1 Class
Jazz Band 2:
1st Place (4A)
Indianola Jazz Encounter in Jazz Band 2 Class
Boys Basketball:
Conference Champions (currently playing for state qualification)
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Norwalk RoboWarriors Advance to State!
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The Norwalk RoboWarriors Purple and Gold teams are both headed to State Championships! Each team competed along with 24 other teams on February 1, at the Super Qualifier in Johnston to earn spots as 2 of 12 teams advancing to State. The teams have competed in 5 league meets, League Championships (finishing 1st and 2nd in qualifications and going on to take 1st and 3rd overall), and at Super Qualifiers, where they finished 1st (Purple) and 6th (Gold) after qualifications. Purple finished 2nd overall and Gold was 4th overall. Purple was also a finalist for the Motivate Award, which recognizes all the outreach the team has done in our community. The Gold team won the Collins Aerospace Innovate Award, which recognizes a unique engineering design element of the robot. State Competition will be held in Cedar Rapids on February 28th & 29th. Livestream of the event will be available through YouTube by searching FTC Iowa Championships. The teams are currently ranked 5th and 10th in the State out of 196 teams. Congratulations RoboWarriors!
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Norwalk's Bowen Born Breaks 3A All-Time
Scoring Record and Norwalk Schools Scoring Record
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Congratulations to NHS Senior Bowen Born who is now the all-time scoring leader in Class 3A Basketball and in the top 10 all-time scorers in Iowa History in all classes! Born is averaging 37 points per game during his Senior season and is currently sitting at #2,332+ career points this season. In January, Bowen received his 2000th point award and the McDonald’s All-Star Game nominee certificate for his accomplishment. This season, Bowen has also clenched the leading scorer title for Norwalk Schools passing Luke Vaske who held the previous record with 1597 points. In addition to all of his scoring accomplishments, Bowen has led the Warrior Boys to three consecutive Little Hawkeye Conference titles and 75 wins and counting in his four years as a Warrior!
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Congratulations to NHS student Evan Voogd! Evan was nominated by the Norwalk Chamber of Commerce as Student of the Year in January at Norwalk's Chamber Awards Ceremony for
his involvement in student council, debate, show choir and his leadership during high school.
Academically, Evan is a finalist for National Merit Scholar, National AP Scholar, and is taking a very rigorous course load to best prepare him for college and his career. Combine all of those activities and accomplishments and throw in the fact that he is a genuinely nice young man.
Congrats Evan!
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New School-Based Mental Health Therapist for Norwalk Elementary Schools
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The NCSD would like send a warm welcome to Madison Sweet, a Licensed Mental Health Therapist through
Orchard Place
who now serves our Oviatt, Orchard Hills and Lakewood Elementary schools.
Madison attended Iowa State University for her undergraduate degree and University of Northern Iowa for her graduate degree. She is trained in Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) and Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and has extensive training in play-therapy techniques, sand tray techniques, and CBT. Madison has worked as a clinician for the past five years as a school-based therapist. Her main approach is a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy and trauma informed care. She values building connections with the students and families that she works with and finding an integrated approach that fits best. She is passionate about studying trauma and how trauma affects the brain, heart, and body. She is available at Orchard Hills on Mon. and Fri. and Lakewood on Tues., Wed. (AM), and Thurs. She can be reached at
[email protected]
or by calling Oviatt or Lakewood directly.
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Norwalk HS After Prom Information
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Stayin’ Alive, Stayin’ Awake, Stayin’ All Night!
AFTER PROM PARTY
Saturday, April 18th, 2020
11:30PM – 5:00AM
Norwalk High School $20
$25 at the door
Tickets available after spring break
Mark your calendars now for a fun-filled all-night party of music, food, games, etc. where there is something for everyone! And…this party is for ALL juniors and seniors – whether or not you attend Prom.
Adults: we need your help to make this a safe, memorable and totally awesome 70s Disco-themed party for your students! A short information meeting will be held Tuesday, March 10th at 5:30 in the high school choir room and tables will be set up outside the auditorium doors that night during the college planning sessions.
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8-9 Eastview Yearbook Order Extended!
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Deadline to order is Sunday, March 1, 2020
Yearbooks are only $30
Click on the link below and go directly to Jostens to order your yearbook.
Payment plan available at check-out. (Only $10/month for 3 months.)
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NCSD Career Opportunities
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Upcoming Events & Activities
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