School Matters, Norwalk Reflector By Dennis J. Doughty, Superintendent Norwalk City School District
11.15.13
What’s Next? Last Tuesday night (Election Night) as I sat in the County Commissioners’ outer office waiting for election results, I couldn’t help but reflect on the many years I waited for election results. I recalled the many years of anxiety waiting and contemplating the outcome of levies. With each group of precincts brought to us in the “waiting area”, the person delivering the information said that they were sorry to deliver the bad news for the Norwalk City Schools. Finally, as the last of the results were delivered, they stated that they were sorry that the school levy failed once again. This coming Tuesday, the Norwalk City School Board will once again review the district goals, vision and mission statements. The district is determined to achieve at a high level on the district report card and the individual building report cards. The district is refocusing and intensifying its efforts on improving the graduation rate and improving our overall performance on the ACT, PSAT and the SAT tests. The district is determined to make sure all students experience at least a year’s growth academically; whether they are gifted, special needs or disadvantaged students. The Norwalk City School teachers, administrators and support staff are committed to making our schools an inviting place for all students by promoting and striving to achieve an environment free of harassment, intimidation and bullying. The additional goals for the district are equally important since they include the involvement of businesses, agencies, senior citizens, parents, grandparents in our school system. The goal outlines the need to continue focus on community “concerns” and on using our wonderful facilities to help find answers and ask even more questions. We will continue to communicate our strengths, weaknesses and our need for improvement with the community and share our willingness to continue to provide a clear and concise picture of what is happening in our district schools. The final three goals are focused on improving our curriculum, improving our technology capacity and maintaining our facilities while remaining as fiscally responsible as possible. Last Tuesday night (all night), I reflected on the need to improve and the need to implement a myriad of mostly unfunded state and federal initiatives: Common Core, Third Grade Reading Guarantee, Ohio’s New Learning Standards, eTPES, New Local Report Card System, Extended Standards for Students with Disabilities, Next Generation Assessments, PARCC Assessments, High School End of Course Exams, College and Career Readiness Graduation Exam, STAR Assessments and Diagnostic Testing, the ESEA Flexibility Waiver, the new Kindergarten Entry Assessments, to name just some of those initiatives. The challenges are plenty and the district must be prepared to go forward regardless of setbacks and potential obstacles. What is next for the Norwalk City School District? I know the teaching and support staff will continue to do the best they can and accomplish all they can within the parameters outlined for them. I know that the district will continue to maintain facilities and make sure our buildings are safe and secure for as long as possible. I know that our students will continue to work hard and thrive under the care and support of quality and caring staff members. What I don’t know is how long our district can maintain a quality educational program with our current scope and depth. That part of the future is unknown and is what causes me to lose sleep.