Norwich The 36th annual Martin Luther King Jr. birthday celebration Friday had to forego the traditional luncheon and camaraderie that usually marks the popular event, but speeches, award presentations and prayers all focused on different aspects of the historic recent months and weeks.
The theme for this year’s celebration, “When We Dare to Dream, We Strive to Build,” will be carried over to another virtual Martin Luther King Jr. Day online march and program at 2 p.m. Monday.
Speakers on Friday noted the historic racial equality protests throughout the country last spring and summer, the election of the first African American female vice president and the horrific images of the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
The app allows students to report any kind of incident including bullying, threats of violence and mental health crises. The students can choose to send in information anonymously or with their names attached.
“Get the help you need and never have to worry about being shamed or humiliated or scared for it,” said Garrett Testut, a senior at NFA.
The reports then go to administrators on campus, including the director of campus safety.
“They are tied to their phones and this works on their phones as a text messaging app, an easy way for them to send us important information,” said Wayne Sheehan, director of campus safety at NFA. “I receive that report in real-time. And if we don’t have enough information we can text the student directly asking for information that we would need to be able to act on what they are trying to tell us.”
Norwich Free Academy will transition to fully online learning effective immediately as COVID-19 cases continue to rise. The school district said they hope to return to in-person classes this semester. School officials chose Dec. 7 as their potential return date. School officials said five more people tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday. This comes after seven people tested positive for… Norwich Aug 28, 2020
Students returning to Norwich Free Academy next week will find many changes amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Traffic flow on the 10-building high school campus is almost entirely one-way. Distance markers can be found throughout, both inside and outside. Hand sanitizers and sanitizing wipes have been installed in every classroom. “The process is students use hand sanitizer, get a wipe, wipe…