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NPS highlights what’s being retained at schools as budget cuts announcement nears
NORWALK, Conn. — School district leaders prepped the public for $11.8 million in cuts to their planned operating budget for the coming school year by explaining the challenges and detailing what won’t be removed from the schools. Norwalk Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Lunda Asmani on Wednesday said the schools budget wasn’t quite finalized because…
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BoE looks to extend Estrella’s contract
NORWALK, Conn. — Another year would be added to Norwalk Superintendent of Schools Alexandra Estrella’s contract, under a proposal being considered by the Board of Education. The Board is scheduled to meet Thursday at Jefferson Elementary School, though meetings are usually held Tuesdays. The agenda, which states “Approval to authorize Board Chair to enter into…
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Rilling leads BET to fund middle school counselors for a year
NORWALK, Conn. — Middle school counselors provided during the pandemic by the Mid-Fairfield Community Care Center will continue for another year despite school district budget pressures, under a plan approved Monday by the Board of Estimate and Taxation. “We started talking about it and felt that if we could take some amount of contingency (account…
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No, NPS hasn’t fired 35 teachers – as of now
Union leader stands by warning of staff layoffs NORWALK, Conn. — A rumor has some Norwalkers believing that 35 Norwalk Public Schools teachers were axed in one day, under the public’s radar screen. “That information is inaccurate,” NPS Media Relations Specialist Emily Morgan said. On May 16, Norwalk Federation of Teachers President Mary Yordon spoke to…
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Second try: NPS seeks State grant for HVAC work
NPS failed to win funds in the first round of the Lamont Administration’s HVAC Indoor Air Quality Grants Program for Public Schools. City-side Building and Facilities Manager Alan Lo is working with NPS Director of Facilities Bill Hodel to take aim at the second round, Lo said at Wednesday’s Board of Education Facilities Committee meeting.
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School union leaders urge Norwalk BoE to question Estrella’s coming budget cuts
“The district appears to have decided that teachers with less seniority are going to be the ones to be placed on the hitlist no matter what services they are providing to our student population,” said Norwalk High School Principal Lynne Moore, who is also Norwalk Association of School Administrators (NASA) President.
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Norwalk ACTS updates dashboard
“In the past, Norwalk ACTS made specific dashboards for the community and its Initiatives, but it has redesigned these dashboards to include more data in an easy-to-read format that is centralized in one location. Now the dashboard includes five sections: Norwalk Citywide Profile, Norwalk Public Schools District, Norwalk Early Childhood, Norwalk Youth Social Emotional Health,…
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Norwalk BoE looks to $4.1 million for FY24 budget
NORWALK, Conn. — The Norwalk Board of Education’s budget delta has decreased – about $4.1 million can be directed to the budget, lowering the amount of reductions needed to align with the spending approved by the City, Norwalk Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Lunda Asmani explained recently. Additionally, NPS might receive up to $2.5 million…
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NPD investigating middle school ‘504’ group, Chief says
NORWALK, Conn. — Norwalk Police have been investigating a “loosely organized group mostly made up of middle school students that identify themselves as ‘504,’” Chief James Walsh said Monday. Incidents of vandalism and “additional events” have occurred in connection to West Rocks Middle School and Nathan Hale Middle School, both on and off school grounds,…
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NAACP leader alleges NPS coverup
After the WRMS student was beaten by 504 Gang members, a video turned up and Reynolds suspended him, denying him due process for an incident that happened outside of school, Penn-Williams said in a statement.
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NHS to present ‘Newsies’
NORWALK, Conn. — The Norwalk High School Drama Department is presenting “Newsies,” a play set in 1899 New York City, with a real-life newsboy strike, replete with a full cast of local students and staff. It’s essentially about the news industry, albeit at the turn of the 19th Century. Co-director Charles McAfee, an NHS drama…
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Naramake kids pedal for smoothies
NORWALK, Conn. — Naramake Elementary School pupils now have the novelty of powering a blender by pedaling a bike, to create a healthy lunch option. Norwalk Public Schools and Chartwells, the district’s food provider, unveiled the Smoothie Blender Bike at a Thursday ceremony. NPS was one of five school districts to win the custom blender…
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Norwalk Charter Revision Commission’s draft coming into focus
NORWALK, Conn. — Norwalk’s Charter Revision Commission is going further than some citizens expected. Though some perceived the Commission would stick with cleaning up the charter and leave more controversial items to a following election, the Commission is drafting a charter revision that would make give the Mayor a four-year term. The detailed revision to…
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Norwalk teachers union president slams NPS leadership, promises to fight for union members’ pocketbooks
NORWALK, Conn. — The plan to switch employees to a different health insurance plan was expected to save Norwalk Public Schools $7 million, Norwalk Federation of Teachers President Mary Yordon said Thursday. “NPS needed careful leadership and timely sensitive actions in order to make this change work, and that was lacking,” she wrote in a…
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NPS forced to stick with higher cost health insurance option for employees
NORWALK, Conn. — Norwalk Public Schools will not be reducing its health insurance costs, as it had hoped. “When the teachers union collectively bargained last year, one of the things that they had in the contract was for the Board of Ed to go out for an RFP to see if there’s something better and…
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Accused NPS teacher resigned from job
NORWALK, Conn. — A Norwalk Public Schools teacher who was arrested Friday resigned from her job the same day. Stefanie Sanabria is accused of rendering a Brookside Elementary School fifth grader unconscious late last month while demonstrating a martial arts chokehold on three fifth-grade students and charged with strangulation second degree, risk of injury to…
