Newport News Public Schools launches new Capital Improvement and Facilities Master Plan Dashboard
Newport News Public Schools (NNPS) has launched a Capital Improvement and Facilities Master Plan Dashboard to increase public visibility and accountability for the school division’s capital needs and facilities master plan.
The dashboard presents cost and management data for school facilities, including capital data for each school. The online tool also identifies major renovation needs, facility conditions and deferred maintenance costs.
The dashboard tracks the school division’s progress on key initiatives identified by the NNPS Facilities Master Plan Steering Committee, including safety and security enhancements, replacement of learning cottages, maintenance projects deferred due to the lack of available funding and computer lab renovations. It also gives users an in-depth, transparent look at facility needs through a variety of visualizations, including maps, charts and graphs.
“The new dashboard is a significant milestone in our long-standing efforts to provide greater transparency and accountability around NNPS school facilities. It provides insight on maintenance needs and the funding needed to support the division’s aging facilities,” said Dr. George Parker, superintendent of schools.
“The development of a Facilities Master Plan and our new dashboard represents Newport News Public Schools’ commitment to providing world-class educational facilities. With these resources, we can provide the public with transparent data that will enable NNPS to be accountable, improve facilities and generate better outcomes for students and staff,” said Dr. Parker. “My commitment is to keep our community informed about our CIP goals so we can come together as a community to fund these needs.”
Families, staff and citizens can track the progress of CIP projects and multi-year goals. While this data has existed throughout NNPS in different formats, the dashboard represents the first time this information is publicly available in an easy-to-access format. To view the dashboard, visit www.nnschools.org/futures.
School Earns Purple Star Status
Katherine G. Johnson Elementary School (formerly Lee Hall Elementary) has been named a Purple Star School. The Virginia Department of Education awards this designation to schools that meet their high standards for service to military-connected students and their families.
To be selected as a Purple Star school, school staff must complete training in meeting the needs of military students, the school must designate a specific point of contact for military families and offer new students peer support to ease their transition.
At Johnson Elementary, a team of fourth- and fifth-grade students known as the Anchored4Life team leaders welcomes new students, supports students who are moving and supports military students going through the deployment of a parent.
For one of its schools to be awarded the Purple Star, the school system must also demonstrate its support for military families. In September 2021, the Newport News School Board passed a resolution committing to support the approximately 6,500 military-connected students in the school system through ongoing professional development for teachers to prepare them to best meet the needs of this population and through focused communication to keep these families informed of the school and community resources available to them.
Newport News Public Schools now boasts two schools that have earned Purple Star status. General Stanford Elementary was named a Purple Star School in 2021.
