Skip to main content

Superintendent’s Coffee Talk for May, 2017



Superintendent’s Coffee Talk for May, 2017

Upcoming dates, events: May 10th Honors Convocation, final HS concerts 5-15, 5-16, commencement is Sunday, May 21st, last student day Mon. May 22nd. (Teachers are on contract for two days following the end of the student year). Seniors are finishing up May 10-11; seniors traditionally finish early.

Thursday, August 17th is the first day of school for the 2017-18 school year. The full calendar is available at https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzNNwJp2xvrKUTFaZ0RDQVNGY28/view

Commendations: Spring activities success has been tremendous - top-ranked baseball team, quiz bowl state champs, Skills USA and FFA national qualifiers, the list goes on!

Thanks: We are grateful for the tremendous parent volunteerism that made post-prom a huge success and is spearheading another great PTO Fun Run event scheduled for Friday, May 5th.

Foundation: The Norris Foundation will award more than 30K in scholarships to graduating seniors at the May 10th Honors Convocation to help them pursue their post-secondary dreams. The Foundation golf tournament raises funds for this and other Foundation initiatives including classroom innovation grants to teachers. The annual golf tournament is June 19th and is accepting registrations.

Recent events: First ever statewide ACT administration to all juniors was April 19th and went off without a hitch. We did not have class that day for freshman, sophomores, or seniors.

Strategic Plan areas:
21st Century Learning
Communications
Inclusiveness and Engagement
Transitions

Key Strategic Plan initiatives:

District mobile app: http://launch.customschoolapp.net/norris160/
1:1 deployment (Chromebooks) for 9-12 fall, 2017 (and more mobile cart deployment K-8)

New math curriculum is Pearson Envisions and will be used K-8, initial training on the new texts and materials will occur in May.

We have nine retirees this year, and a number of others leaving district for personal or career promotion reasons.

The Board is considering how to finance needed infrastructure projects and upkeep including HVAC, re-roofing, bus barn expansion, driveway expansion, parking lot resurfacing, kitchen renovations, etc. This discussion may factor into and include fields development discussion. The district will only be able to incrementally move forward on accomplishing these projects since special building fund levying capacity is limited under general fund restrictions. Thus a bond issue to address some of these may need to occur, deliberation and discussion on timing and sizing of it will be determined by board after lengthier needs analysis and detailed cost estimating.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Difficult discussions are opportunities for growth: let's grow together!

Here's some advice for helping ourselves through crucial conversations which we must have, every day, with many others. . . . sometimes planned, often unplanned - and deep in the fourth quarter of a school year, staff tensions, parental conflict or dissatisfaction from a stakeholder may be the impetus for these school-based conversations. They offer great opportunities for personal growth and organizational improvement, so embrace them as such! Here are some reminders to educators for positive and productive outcomes from difficult discussions:
Remember that if someone is talking to you - that is good! They value you, they believe you can help, they believe you have the power to positively assist them. Listen first, then talkRehearse empathy statements (sometimes that's only a "thank you for sharing that" but often it can be more meaningful than that)If you are mad or defensive because you feel accused, count down before responding or wait it out until you realize you…
Post a Comment
Read more

Tremendous Titans Moments From A Wonderfully Memorable 2014

As we wrap up the 2014 calendar year, we are also halfway through the 14-15 school year. With a sense of anticipation, our thoughts turn to the year ahead and we refine and revise our individual and collective goals for 2015. Before we allow the sense of excitement for the impending year take over, however, we should pause and reflect on the many good things that transpired in 2014.

50 years strong! The 2014 year was a special one for the Norris District as we celebrated the 50 year anniversary of the district. The Norris story is one of successful consolidation. The vision and the foresight of the district's founders in creating a unified campus that, while centrally located geographically, is not in any one district municipality, has fostered a sense of unity and cohesiveness that is tremendously beneficial for the school culture. Many school consolidation stories chronicle a contentious and bitterly divisive process; the Norris District has become a model for successful consoli…
Post a Comment
Read more

What I hate about cold weather running & why I keep doing it, anyway

If you're just (insanely?) dedicated to distance running or you're already training for the local favorite Lincoln marathon, then odds are you have encountered the abysmal reality that cold weather running is a necessary precondition for putting the required training time in for those spring marathons and summer road races.  Here's a short list of some of the things I find to be persistently pestering about cold weather training - those December - March Nebraska runs that require you braving bitterly cold conditions:

1. Frozen eyelashes.  Betsy Barent pointed this one out the other day.  So true.  The eyebrows freeze and the moisture from your eyes eventually seals your eyelids shut...making it oh so much harder to, well, see.  Not to sound like a running snob, but, well, seeing is one of those things that really helps to facilitate the running experience.
2. First, when your fingers go numb. And then, when your fingers start to throb.  Eventually, though, if you can run t…
Post a Comment
Read more