NOTE FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT |
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World Class Schools for Our Students:
NCSD Board of Directors Election - Please Vote on Tuesday, November 2, 2021
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High quality leaders who serve on the NCSD Board of Directors have been and continue to be a hallmark of our District. High quality Board leadership is vital to the ongoing success of our District. I encourage all Norwalk CSD residents to get out and vote on Tuesday, November 2 in the school board election in order to continue this tradition of excellence. Learn more about the candidates running for the open NCSD Board seats on the NCSD Meet the Candidates webpage.
Every two years the State of Iowa holds school board elections in November. Polling places and voting information may be viewed on the Warren County Auditor’s website including information about Voter Registration, Absentee Ballot Request, Register Online, Warren County City-School Polling Sites, Affidavit of Candidacy, and Track Your Absentee Ballot. Shining examples of NCSD efforts to encourage students to participate in the civic duty of voting are the 2019-2020, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022 Carrie Chapman Catt Awards Norwalk High School has received from the Iowa Secretary of State. “Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate kicked off a new voter registration initiative on September 10, 2019 aimed at Iowa high school students. Every school in Iowa that signs up and registers at least 90 percent of their eligible students to vote will receive the Carrie Chapman Catt Award, named after the Iowan who was a national leader in the women’s suffrage movement. Schools that register 50% and 70% of their eligible students will also receive statewide recognition.”
Area mayoral and city council elections will also be on local November 2 elections ballots. Please take some time to vote on November 2 and support our District’s efforts to Grow Learners and Leaders.
Yours in service,
D.T. Magee
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Norwalk School Board candidates Justin Fletcher, Brian Rausch, Andrew Steiger, and Maribeth Wright share their answers to questions submitted by the public on Thursday, Nov. 28th. |
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Warriors High School Marching Band Ends with 19th Division 1 State Rating
by Nick Menke, Marching, Jazz & Concert Band Director
The year 2021 stepped off on the proper foot for the Norwalk Warrior Marching Band as they completed one of their most successful seasons ever. The band comprised of 130+ members started preparing for their show in early August. The band’s show entitled “Sweet Dreamz” was a mix of lullabies and rock tunes. The music features: “Hush Little Baby” Brahm’s Lullaby contrasted with Sweet Dreams are Made of These and Wake Me Up Inside.”
Outside of Friday night football games, the band competed 4 times placing 2nd at the Linn-Mar Invitational, 7th out of 13 bands at Valleyfest, and 4th out of 12 4A marching bands at the Waukee Marching Invitational. To finish out the season, the marching warriors received their 19th consecutive Division I rating at the Iowa High School Music Association State Marching Band Festival. The bands drum majors were Alaina Joss, Trent Frederick, and Emily Juergens. They led the band and their 30 seniors to the most successful 4A season the Norwalk Warrior Marching Band has ever had!
The band would like to thank the administrative and parent support throughout their season. The energy on Friday nights from the home crowd and at the competitions made performing that much more rewarding.
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Norwalk High School Debate Season Starts Off Strong
by Jenipher Sutherland, Debate Coach
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The Norwalk Debate team is off to a very strong start for the 2021-22 season. We have a lot of new debaters this year, including two foreign exchange students. We started off the year with the NHS Debate Camp/Scrimmage Tournament, where our new debaters learned all about researching topics, writing cases, debate basics, and helpful strategies. Students then participated in three rounds of debate, which were judged by varsity debaters and volunteer parents.
The team’s preparation paid off at our first tournament at Atlantic High School, where three of our teams took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in the varsity division and our 4th team took 1st place in the novice division. At our next competition, the Iowa City West Novice/JV Tournament, novice debaters Becca Martinez and Edona Kraja came in 3rd place overall. Edona, who is a foreign exchange student from Montenegro, also received 4th place overall for being a Top Speaker.
Our Varsity and JV teams are also in the middle of the Central Iowa Debate League season, where we hope to secure a spot in the championship rounds, and maybe even win the championship for the third year in a row. Our debates are all still being held online, but we hope to return to in-person competition soon.
The NHS debate team has many more tournaments lined up between now and mid-February, when we compete at the West Iowa Districts with the aim of qualifying for the NSDA Nationals for the third year in a row. For the past two years the National Tournament has been held online, but in 2022 the event will return to in-person competition in Louisville, Kentucky.
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Teams debating in the ICW Novice/JV Tournament |
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Norwalk Schools Celebrate Being Drug-Free for Red Ribbon Week
Last week, Norwalk students celebrated National Red Ribbon Week (Oct. 23 - 31), the nation's largest and longest-running drug-use prevention program. This year's theme was "Drug Free Looks Like Me". Norwalk students had special dress up days while they spent the week learning about the fun ways they can stay happy, healthy and be drug-free. https://www.redribbon.org/
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This month Norwalk students and staff celebrated National School Bus Safety Week! Thank you to our Norwalk bus drivers and our Transportation Department for all that you do to get our students safely to and from school! We appreciate you so much! |
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A big congratulations to our Norwalk HS Cross Country runners who qualified for the State!
State Qualifiers
Girls: Breelie Mauro
Breelie Mauro finished 83rd in the state competition on Friday, Oct. 29th with a finish time of 20:39.01.
Boys: Donovan Card, Jack Brown, Will Chase, Henry Groos, Noah Buhrow, Ben Hanson, Corbin Oswald, Alt. Brody Lucas, Alt. Luke Geyer and the Norwalk Boys Cross Country Team
The Norwalk Boys finished 6th overall in the 4A XC State Meet on Oct. 29th.
Congrats to all our Warrior runners on a successful season!
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Flu Vaccine Clinic for Norwalk Students, Staff and Families |
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Norwalk Schools will host a Flu Vaccine Clinic on Monday, November 8th at the Norwalk High School Warrior Zone. All registrations must be made online (no walk-ins)
What: Flu vaccine clinic for all Norwalk students, staff and their families. (infants over the age of 6 months)
When: Monday, November 8
Time: 2 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Where: Norwalk High School Warrior Zone
How to Register:
Click on the appropriate link below. All registrations must be completed online.
*All registrations go to Warren County Health Services. For questions, please call (515)961-1074.
*Everyone must register prior to the clinic date.
*Children in 5th grade or younger must have a parent/guardian accompany them for the vaccine.
Norwalk Child Flu Consent Link:
Norwalk Adult Flu Consent Link:
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The NCSD is currently looking for applicants who can help fill flexible substitute teacher and paraeducator positions throughout the district on an as needed basis. If you enjoy working with children and like the idea of a flexible schedule, please visit https://www.norwalkschools.org/.../human.../jobpostings/
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CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
(2) FT General Nutrition Worker: Secondary Campus 10:00-2:00
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English Language Learners (ELL)
by Eric Neessen, Director of Student Services
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As anticipated, the number of English Learners (EL) students continues to grow in the district. We have reached our highest number of EL students being served or monitored at any time. Mrs. Kanost is our primary full-time teacher while Ms. DeMeyer serves as a half-time teacher. They both provide instructional services to help our EL students become more proficient in their English speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. |
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Currently, there are 48 students being served directly. There are eight different languages represented within this group of students, with Spanish and Somali representing the largest percentage of students. The ongoing challenge with serving our population is not knowing how many EL students will be moving into the district at any given time and knowing how intensive their needs may be. Obviously students moving in with little to no English language abilities require more support.
In addition to the obvious instructional support that our teachers provide, they have established great relationships with our EL students and their families. Other outside entities have also provided support to our students, e.g ArtForce (Des Moines), AMOS (Norwalk Christian Church). We are very appreciative for these outside volunteers as our students and families acclimate into our community.
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Update Your Parent Portal Communication Settings for Winter Weather Alerts |
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As we approach the holiday season and begin to see the shifting of colder temps, the District would like to remind parents and families of the below methods for receiving updates on winter weather delays and closings.
Parent Portal Settings:
When it comes to the most timely and convenient way of receiving updates about delays or closings, please make sure that you are signed up for both general and emergency text message and voice/call alerts in your Parent Portal account. Email is also an option but messages are slightly delayed.
To change contact preferences in Parent Portal, please log into your parent portal account and follow the below navigation:
- Login into your Parent Portal account. Click on the person icon on the top right side of the screen.
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2. Select Settings>Contact Preferences. Then scroll down to message preferences. |
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Other Resources for School Weather Alerts:
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Flying High! Norwalk HS Dance Team photos by Ella Nielsen, NHS Photography Student
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Norwalk HS Dance Team poster by Andy Kreider Photography |
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Upcoming Important Dates:
Nov. 4: No School K-12 (Student Conferences)
Nov. 5: No School K-12 (Teachers Day Off)
Nov. 24-26: No School K-12 (Teacher Trade-A-Day and Thanksgiving Break)
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2021 Warrior Giving Project
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