Dear Warrior Families,
With the closing of the Norwalk Community School District (NCSD) from March 16 through April 12, many questions have been asked of the NCSD Administrative Team. With this email, the team hopes to answer the most important questions being asked at this time. Team members will continue to communicate with our families about ongoing services and plans for the community on our district website and through Infinite Campus Messenger messages. The district’s COVID-19 webpage includes district news and resource links that can help families navigate this challenging time in our country.
Please join me for a one hour virtual town hall meeting on Sunday, March 29 at 1:30 PM (the meeting will be recorded for later viewing). The meeting will occur through a Google Hangout live stream. The live stream may be accessed at this link: https://stream.meet.google.com/stream/1f17cfa9-ab69-4afb-bbf8-756d4b4b2764 or
Phone Number (US): +1 574-213-7635 PIN: 920 599 079#
Please submit your town hall questions here: Town Hall Question Form
On March 18, families were able to pick up needed student possessions and medicine from schools. If your student needs essential educational materials or medicine currently in schools, please contact your building principal in order to make arrangements to retrieve those items. Please note that the soonest this retrieval will begin is on Tuesday, March 31, 2020.
The NCSD will provide an emergency meal pickup service that includes breakfasts and lunches for children 18 and under. There are currently two distribution dates – Monday, March 30, and Monday, April 6. More information can be found about the meal pickup service at this link: https://www.norwalkschools.org/2020/03/emergency-meal-service-for-children-under-18-years-of-age/. Please stay in your vehicles when you come to pick up your meals. Our staff will place the meals in your trunk or back seat. Per USDA guidance, the students for whom the meals are intended must be present. There may be situations in which a child may not be present in the car due to safety concerns. This may include situations where students or family members are: not feeling well, have flu-like symptoms, or symptoms of COVID-19, or have compromised immune systems. In these situations, we ask that the individual picking up the pre-packaged breakfast and lunch identify this while picking up the meals.
The district has provided and will continue to update educational resources as an option for PreK-12th students via our website on the District Academic Resources page. Many of the resources are focused on PreK-5th students, though there are a number of links that address secondary students and content.
Another source of optional resources for 6th-12th grade students is through Google Apps, and includes Classroom, Hangouts, Gmail and other tools available to us through the Google Suite for Educators. Through our extended closure, students are able to access a range of materials already made available to them through those platforms. Teachers may also be adding additional optional materials to help support all students to review, to continue learning, and to stay connected and productive. Lastly, information regarding Advanced Placement and DMACC concurrent courses are detailed in separate communications.
We also know as a district that access to technology ranges from household to household. Please look for a “Technology Needs Survey-2020” in a separate communication no later than Monday, March 30.
In addition to schools being closed during this extended break, all district activities and all community uses of facilities have been canceled or postponed as well.
The NCSD is committed to keeping our community updated to assist you through these challenging times and will continue to partner with the Iowa Department of Education, Iowa Department of Public Health, and other local agencies to ensure compliance with current guidance. As this situation progresses, we will be staying in close communication with our families and community to assist them. While this situation is not ideal, the Norwalk Community School District will continue to make concerted and consistent efforts to educate our students while helping to ensure their safety and the safety of our community.
Yours in service,
D.T. Magee
Superintendent of Schools
