Welcome!
The first day for students will be Monday, August 16.  There will be open houses on Thursday, August 12 for grades 1-5 in the Elementary from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and for grades 6-9 in the Middle School-High School from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.  A Kindergarten open house will be held on Friday, August 13--letters will be sent to parents.

Bus information
Information will be sent regarding bus routes.  If you have not received the information by Tuesday, August 10, you may call the bus barn at 791-0005 and speak to Harlan Essink, the Transportation Director, or Donna Gana, the Transportation Secretary.  Bus routes and pickup times may vary a few minutes during the first few days due to additions and other changes.  Parent(s) or guardian(s) may designate a day care center/baby sitter as a designated pickup or drop off point.  The day care provider/baby sitter must reside in the Norris District.  The pickup and drop off points must remain the same each day--we cannot properly manage a system in which those points change depending on the day of the week.  Special requests should be the exception, and we ask that those special requests be made sparingly.  If your children will not be riding the bus in the morning, it is most important that you call your bus driver.

Due to road construction on 56th Street, special arrangements will be made for the transportation of students residing in areas impacted by that construction until the project is completed in late September or early October.

Emergency Procedures
The Norris School District has developed a Crisis Response Plan that is designated to minimize danger to anyone present in our school buildings should an emergency occur.  Our primary objective is to attend to the health and welfare of your child/

children in the event of a crisis.

In most emergencies, your child/children will remain and be cared for at the school he/she attends.  In the rare event of an emergency affecting the school your child attends that prohibits re-entry to the building (such as a broken water main or a fire), elementary and middle school students will be accompanied to a predetermined alternate site.  High school students will go to an alternate site or be dismissed to return home for the day.

We ask that you follow this procedure if you hear of any school emergency:
1. Turn on your radio to 1400 KLIN, 1240 KFOR, 1450 KWBE, 96.9 FM KZKX, or 1110 KFAB, or television channels 8 or 10/11.  We will keep the media informed of any emergency.
2. Please do not telephone the school.  We have limited phone lines.  These must be used to respond to the emergency.
3. Please do not come to the school unless requested to pick up your child at school.  Any emergency involving your child's school may mean emergency vehicles and workers must be able to get in the building.  If the emergency necessitates relocation of staff and students, you will be informed via the media.
4. If a student is injured we will be calling parents at home or at work.

Please affix this information inside the cover of your phone book.

Governance
The six-member Board of Education is the collective voice of the Norris School District community.  The Board serves as the legislative arm of school governance and sets policies regarding all areas of the school district.  The Board is involved in setting the budget, approving the curriculum, and working together with the superintendent and administrative staff as the management team.  Board members are elected by ward and serve with no pay.  Present members:
--Jim Peschong Ward 1 (north)
--Patty Bentzinger, Pres.  Ward 2 (nw, w. Hickman, Roca)

--Dale Harlan  Ward 3 (east, part of Hickman)
--Jim Craig, Vice Pres. Ward 4 (east, Panama, Holland)
--Cinda Zimmer, Secretary  Ward 5 (south, Firth)
--Norm Wallman, Treasurer   Ward 6 (sw, Cortland, Princeton).
The Board has established Language Arts/Reading as the top priority for the instructional program, followed closely by computer literacy and the core academic subjects of math, science, and social science.

The Norris Board of Education holds regular meetings on the second Thursday of each month in the Board Room of the 1996 addition to the High School.  Notice of the meetings and the agenda are published in the Voice newspaper.  There is a place on the agenda for citizens' presentations.  Please call Board President Patty Bentzinger or Superintendent Roy Baker if you wish to be on the agenda.

Norris School Administrators and phone numbers:
--Superintendent Dr. Roy Baker
     791-0000
--Asst. Supt.  Larry Grosshans
     791-0000
Elementary Principal Dave Moorhead
     791-0030
--Middle School Prin.  Barry Stark
     791-0020
--High School Prin. Galen Boldt
     791-0010
--HS Asst. Prin./A.D.  Bob Morris
     791-0010

Jerry Dalton, School Psychologist, is the Special Education Coordinator and can be reached at 791-0030.

Cont'd From Page 1
Handbook revisions
Several changes have been made from the 1998-99 handbooks.  Parents