Baffling Budget Move Needed
By Avice Meehan Norfolk voters will likely see an unusual item on the agenda for this year’s annual town meeting in May: A request to appropriate $58,366 for Botelle Elementary School for the current fiscal year. The action will ensure that Norfolk remains in compliance with a nearly 40-year-old state statute that sets out minimum […]
Regional Budget Vote Is May 4
The referendum on the Northwestern Regional School District No. 7 budget has been set for May 4 in Norfolk, Colebrook, Barkhamsted and New Hartford. If approved, the district budget would be $25.25 million for the 2026-27 school year, an increase of 1.74 percent over the current year. Norfolk’s assessment, based on the town’s anticipated enrollment, […]
Envisioning Botelle’s Future
The Board of Education and Superintendent Kevin Case will hold a series of community conversations beginning April 1 to help inform the future of elementary education in Norfolk. Additional conversations will be held on April 22 and May 20. All are from 7 to 9 p.m. at Botelle School. The project grew out of discussion […]
BOTELLE BEAT
Building Our School Budget By Kevin D. Case, Superintendent of Schools Each year, Norfolk trusts us with two of its most valuable resources: its children and its tax dollars. Developing the annual school budget is one of the most important responsibilities we have as a school district. I would like to let you know how […]
Proposed Botelle Budget to See Modest Increase
By Avice Meehan The Board of Education will hold a special meeting on Thursday, March 4, to vote on a proposed $2.658 million budget for the next fiscal year. It would represent an increase of 4.47 percent or $113,665 over the budget for the current year. Superintendent Kevin Case presented the spending plan on Feb. […]
How Botelle (Carefully) Uses AI for Learning
By Avice Meehan For more than three decades, children visited the fictional town of Frog Creek, Penn., home to two children named Jack and Annie. With the help of a magic tree house, the pair are whisked away to distant places where they have adventures, solve problems and, perhaps, learn a thing or two. Like […]
Botelle Fine Tunes at Mid-Year
By Avice Meehan The Board of Education received a mid-year snapshot of student performance and growth from Botelle Principal Lauren Valentino at its Feb. 24 meeting as part of a packed agenda that also included reports on completion of elevator repairs and praise for the “Blizzard of Fun” program during Weekend in Norfolk. Staff and […]
Students Honor Those Who Served
Botelle Elementary School hosted its annual Veterans Day Sing on Nov. 11 to honor town veterans. The event, now in its second decade, included a lunch and special program.
Adaptive Learning: Botelle Shifts Gears on Reading
By Avice Meehan Mixed results on statewide assessments of math and reading have prompted the leadership of Botelle Elementary School to begin a two-year professional development program focused on the science of reading. Principal Lauren Valentino shared that game plan, along with student achievement and growth scores, with the Board of Education (BoE) at its […]
A Bad Month for Invasives
Norfolk contractor Phillip Lovett volunteered a day of his time and equipment to clear a steep bank at Botelle Elementary School infested with a tangle of bittersweet, porcelain berry, Japanese honeysuckle and multiflora rose—among other invasive plants. It was part of the Conservation Commission’s all-out effort to tame invasives across Norfolk. A team from Native […]
