Superintendent's Corner

Dear SAU 70 School Community,

Happy New (School) Year!

Somehow, while we have all been waiting for a few sunny days in a row, summer has slipped by and we’re already a week into the new school year! This Monday we welcomed our teachers and support staff, students joined us on Wednesday, and now we’re headed into the Labor Day weekend.  I’m happy to report that we’re off to a great start

As they always do, our custodial and maintenance staff have done an outstanding job readying our buildings, and our school and central office teams have worked tirelessly to hire and onboard more than 40 new staff members, update computer systems, and prepare for the new year. 

Over the summer, our school board members completed and approved our strategic plan goals and our Portrait of a Learner with the help of many hundreds of you who provided your input through surveys and public meetings over the past three years.  Our next steps in that effort will be to develop strategies and initiatives at the building and district level that will help us achieve those goals, so stay tuned for more opportunities to provide feedback as we chart our course for the next five years.

For those of you who wish to be more actively involved on our schools, our Volunteer Coordinator, Teal Parker, shares the following message:

Dear Parents/Caregivers –

Please take a minute to fill out the attached volunteer form for the 2023-24 school year.  We have a comprehensive selection of volunteer opportunities this year, many of which can be completed on a flexible schedule.  Filling out this form does not commit you to any specific task/event, rather it will allow us to tailor any upcoming event updates/emails to your interests.

If you have any questions or suggestions for volunteer activities, please reach out to Teal Parker at tealparker@hanovernorwichschools.org.

Thank you in advance for supporting our students!
 

One change you should be aware of is that we have implemented a new mass-communication system called Bright Arrow. One of the new system’s advantages is that we can use text messages to share important information with you, in addition to phone and e-mail. I will be sending you a test message soon from short code 79041 that will allow you to opt in or to decline text messaging from your school and the SAU.  For those of you who aren’t fans of my lengthy e-mails, be sure to opt in!  The new system also gives us the ability to translate messages for our families whose primary language is not English.

Thanks as always for your support of our schools, and have a great Labor Day weekend!

Jay Badams
Superintendent of Schools