On Saturday, October 29 I was able to travel to Fort Dodge and watch our boys and girls cross country teams compete in the cross country state meet. It is truly a joy to watch Norwalk students, and students from around the state compete and perform on this annual stage. Congratulations to NCSD’s Breelie Mauro and all of our boys individual performers. You performed well and represented our district well!

Our boys finished in 4th place at the state meet, lower than the team hoped for and still an amazing accomplishment and a testament to the strides this program has made since 2017 when Coach Chad Larson was named Head Boys Cross Country Coach. Words escaped Coach Larson as I congratulated him and his face contained a mixture of excitement for the display of hard work and elite achievement by the team and disappointment for just missing the lofty goals the team had set.  

Why do I mention this experience this month? Coach Larson and the Boys CC Team exemplifies the hard work and selflessness displayed by Norwalk staff members on a daily basis. I see the looks of excitement, concern, caring, disappointment and enthusiasm each day in classrooms, activity spaces and buildings from the NCSD staff members who have stepped forward to perform a sacred duty to guide, serve, and educate the 3,514 preschool-12th grade students and their families who have made Norwalk their choice school district.  

As we approach Thanksgiving, I am thankful for this district, the NCSD staff and the students, families, and communities we serve. Staff and students - I see you and am excited to continue down this educational journey together.

Please make sure to exercise your civic duty and vote. Go Warriors!

Yours in service,

D.T. Magee

Listen -  Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood

Warriors High School Marching Band Ends with 21st Division 1 State Rating

by Nick Menke, Marching, Jazz & Concert Band Director

The Norwalk Warrior Marching Band finished off another successful season. This year's show "Follow The Yellow Brick Road" was a mashup of the music from the Broadway Musical "Wicked" along with "Country Road" by John Denver, "Beyond the Yellow Brick Road" by Elton John, and "End of the Road" by Boyz II Men. The Warrior Marching Band finished their season by earning their 21st Consecutive Division I rating at the Iowa High School Music Associations State Marching Band Festival. 

Watch Warrior State Band Performance Here

Image Below: This year's seniors and drum majors after their final marching performance.  

Community Open House in Honor of Kate Baldwin

The Norwalk Community School District will be honoring Kate Baldwin, NCSD Executive Director of Administrative Services, for her 20 years of service. Kate is retiring at the end of December after a distinguished career in school finance and leadership. The Norwalk community is invited to an open house to honor Kate on Thursday, December 8th, 2022 from 4-6 PM at the Norwalk High School Multipurpose room (please enter through the NPECC entrance and follow the signs).

Norwalk Schools Celebrate Being Drug-Free for Red Ribbon Week

Last week, Norwalk students celebrated National Red Ribbon Week (Oct. 24 - 28), the nation's largest and longest-running drug-use prevention program. This year's theme was "Celebrate Life, Live Drug Free". Norwalk students had special dress up days while they spent the week learning about fun ways they can stay happy, healthy and be drug-free. https://www.redribbon.org/

A big shout-out and thank you to all of our staff members who attend our events! The kids love seeing their current and former teachers supporting them in their extracurriculars. Whether you're watching, running a scoreboard, working security, or attending with your family - your attendance is much appreciated. It has been great to see the support our students get from the staff!

Boys Golf - Finished their season at the district meet early October. Ryan Jermier and Grady Sigrist just missed qualifying for the state meet.  

Girls Swimming - Our girls travel to Des Moines Lincoln and coop with their program. The girls are still swimming. Last week they finished 2nd in the new Iowa Alliance Conference meet. District meet will be next Saturday, November 5 at Johnston. Norwalk swimmers include Emma Sizemore, Shae Drymon, Joy Martin, Camrie Niemeyer, Margaret Osterloh, and Riley Samuelson.  

Dance Team - The girls are preparing for their state competition in early December at Wells Fargo. The team recently hosted the annual Monster Mash Bash - a great tradition in Norwalk. Great job by the girls, Coach Prenger, and the parents who helped make that a great event once again this year.  

Football - Wrapped up their season on Oct. 21st. The Warriors finished 5-4 overall and finished 4th in a very tough district that sent three teams to the playoffs. The All-District teams will be announced soon, along with other postseason honors.  

Boys XC - Won the LHC meet and finished 4th at the state meet, the highest finish at the state meet for this team in school history. Senior Donovan Card finished in 15th place which qualifies him as a 1st Team All State performer. 

Girls XC - Breelie Mauro competed at the state meet this past weekend and finished in 25th place. Breelie improved 58 spots this past season at the state meet.  

Volleyball - finished their postseason run with a loss in the regional final to Bishop Heelan. This season marked a historic milestone as they tied for the LHC regular season title for the first time.  

Unified Sports

Michelle Wiedmann, Unified Sports & Special Olympics Coach

Norwalk High School officially became a Unified Champion School during the 2021-2022 school year. A Unified Champion School has to meet certain criteria through Special Olympics of Iowa and their Unified Sports Program. The criteria is: you must have some type of Peer PE program, work toward an inclusive school environment, participate in respect week, and participate in Unified Sports through Special Olympics of Iowa. This 2022-2023 school year, we will participate in Unified Bowling, Unified Basketball & Unified Track & Field. We will be looking at adding more sports events as we go.

On October 21st, we participated in our first official Unified Sports competition. We had 12 unified pairs participate in the event. The District Unified Bowling Competition was held at Bowlerama in Des Moines. Norwalk High School competed against Unified Pairs from Des Moines Roosevelt and Des Moines Lincoln. The day was full of smiles and fun times!

The results from this event are below:

1st Place - Qualifying for the State Unified Bowling Event on November 19th 

Megan Adams (athlete) & Emma Sizemore (unified partner)

Adam Larsen (athlete) & Joey Mastin (unified partner)

Thatcher Schnitker (athlete) & Juliana Warren (unified partner)

Nathan Bohannon (athlete) & Payton (unified partner)

Robbie Bischoff (athlete) & Caitlin Kohls (unified partner)

2nd Place

Kollin Agan (athlete) & Alayna Williams (unified partner)

Boden Marquis (athlete) & Kayleigh Meneough (unified partner)

Jacob Martin (athlete) & Hayden Foetisch (unified partner)

3rd Place

Madison Soto (athlete) & Andie Davitt (unified partner)

Mason Messamaker (athlete) & Tanner Merriman (unified partner)

4th Place

Bronson Bakely (athlete) & Kain Elsen (unified partner)

5th Place

Carsen Tomlinson (athlete) & Addi Van Dyke (unified partner)

Join Our Team! 

Join our amazing team in the Norwalk Community School District! We have open positions for custodians, maintenance, bus drivers and nutrition! Apply Online at https://www.norwalkschools.org/.../human.../jobpostings/

NPECC Open House: Norwalk community members, NCSD Administration and Norwalk Chamber members gather for the Norwalk Physical Education and Competition Center ribbon cutting ceremony hosted by the Norwalk Area Chamber of Commerce. 

Upcoming Important Dates:

Nov. 3: No School K-12 (Student Conferences)

Nov. 4: No School K-12 (Teachers Day Off)

Nov. 23-25: No School K-12 (Teacher Trade-A-Day and Thanksgiving Break)

Payments for all student fees were due on the first day of school, August 23rd, 2022. Any unpaid fees as of Thursday, December 1st may be submitted to a collection agency.  Please be aware that once an account is submitted to a collection agency it may impact your credit rating or score. A $25 administrative fee may be assessed to all delinquent accounts as of Thursday, December 1st. Please note – fee balances are no longer shown in Parent Portal.  You MUST complete the following steps to see your fees in RevTrak – even if you have paid through RevTrak in previous years.  

Step 1) Go to https://norwalk.revtrak.net to access the Norwalk portal. 

Step 2) Login using your current RevTrak account. Create an account if you're a new user.

Step 3) Select the "Student Fee Payments" box. 

Step 4) On the left side toolbar select "Add student" NOTE: this step is only applicable for your first login. Once a student has been added to your account, you will skip this step. 

Step 5) Enter "Student ID" - To find a student ID number; go to the parent portal (from the Norwalk homepage), click on "Today" tab, student ID number will display immediately to the right of your student's picture at the top of the screen. 

Step 6) Enter "PIN". This will be the same number as your student ID. 

Step 7) Add fees to cart. 

Step 8) Make payment. 

To access the video walkthrough, click this link.

If you do have an outstanding balance, you may contact the building secretary as listed below with any questions.

High School, Kelly Allman (grades 9-12) 981-4201

Middle School, Laura Starkweather (grades 6-8) 981-0435

Lakewood Elementary, Linda Guerra (grades 4-5) 981-1850

Orchard Hills Elementary, Deanna Gingrich (grades 2-3) 981-1855

Oviatt Elementary, Carol Reynolds-Ward (PreK-1) 981-1005

Thank You, 

Jake Loll, Director of Business Services

Norwalk Student Education Foundation

Fall Gala is Saturday, Nov. 12

There is still time to register for the NSEF Fall Gala! This year's live auction is full of great items that you won't want to miss! We hope you can join us!

REGISTER HERE: https://tinyurl.com/3we9jfx8

2022 Warrior Giving Project

Norwalk High School Fall Play

Norwalk High School Drama Presents

Murder In The Knife Room

by Jonathan Rand

Tickets Available:

$8 online or $10 at the door

Friday, November 11th @ 7 PM

https://vancoevents.com/BMNI

Saturday, November 12th @ 7 PM

https://vancoevents.com/BMNJ

*No passes will be accepted for this event. 

Rock On to State Showcase 

Get your tickets today for the annual Rock On to State Showcase presented by the Norwalk Dance Team. Join 18 teams from across Iowa who are preparing for the State Competition. Send them off in style on Nov. 12 from 4-9 p.m. at Norwalk High School. Tickets Online Only https://bit.ly/3NmPpwo