NORFOLK — The Norwood-Norfolk Central School District is looking for input on three plans that have been reviewed by members of the school community over the past year and will be on the agenda for approval when the school board meets in August.
Input is requested by July 30 on the district’s 2022-23 technology plan, safety plan and code of conduct. Drafts of the technology and safety plans are posted on the district’s website at www.nncsk12.org/Domain/26. The code of conduct can be found at www.nncsk12.org/Page/2885.
Superintendent James M. Cruikshank said some changes in the technology plan were necessitated by the pandemic.
“This is normally a three-year plan. The plan that we had before the pandemic was to get a one-to-one initiative started. We had the devices coming in. We were ready. We just hadn’t gotten all the protocols and policies in place. Then, all of a sudden the pandemic happened,” he said. “So what we’re trying to do now is to codify our systems for each child having access to a device, but also to address instructional methodology. We learned a lot during the pandemic going one-to-one, a lot that we wanted to continue, but also a lot that we didn’t want to continue. This plan just better reflects the next few years.”
Mr. Cruikshank said there were some practices that the district’s students and teachers felt were valid.
“So we don’t just want to go back to where we were. We want to continue to move forward, but go forward with the best practices,” he said. “It’s a learning process with technology. As soon as you learn something, technology changes. So we need to have a plan ready to be flexible.”
Changes were also made to the safety plan.
“We are updating that every year, but we are constantly tweaking it. With each drill we do, each situation we encounter, each resource we receive, we’re constantly updating it,” Mr. Cruikshank said.
He said that, 10 years ago, the plan was basically addressing what actions to take if a student or faculty member died.
“It’s evolved into so much more — trying to accommodate for security and safety and many avenues. So this is a much more comprehensive plan. It is based off a pretty good template that New York state had sent me from other districts,” he said.
A second portion of the plan, the emergency response plan, is confidential. Mr. Cruikshank said that gets into the exact protocols to follow in the event of an emergency.
“This year obviously, coming in the wake of tragedies which seem to be getting pretty close to home, we’re trying to address our safety and security as best we can. We are constantly meeting on this at Norwood-Norfolk. We meet once a week on safety and security concerns,” he said.
The code of conduct was updated to bring it into compliance with new laws and regulations.
“But as a whole, the code of conduct is a fairly stable, dependable document based on case law,” Mr. Cruikshank said.
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