To the Editor:

The recent work being done to expand Newtown High School, while promising, has arrived as the culmination of years of deliberation, indecision, and delay. Any recent graduate can no doubt recall the pressures of overcrowding, as well as the frustration as more and more time slipped by without a solution. The process has by this point become routine: votes and revotes on school budgets, quick-fix solutions such as portable classrooms, and too many officials unwilling to stand up for Newtown’s schools. The students of this town are the backbone of our community, and it is imperative now more than ever that long-term investments are made to ensure their future success. Time and time again, Chris Lyddy has shown that he is ready and willing to fight for education in Newtown.

At the end of his first term as our representative in Hartford, the results of Chris’s hard work are evident. In addition to his work on legislation improving early childhood and special education, Chris has also helped to strengthen graduation requirements and prioritize public school reform in the state of Connecticut. Chris was recently named 2010 Legislator of the Year, and his tireless efforts have garnered awards and recognition from the Early Childhood Alliance and the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now. In the years to come these accomplishments will serve as the groundwork for further improvement to our schools.

To govern well is to stand by one’s principles and make difficult decisions which will benefit the community as a whole. Our current economic climate has made this decisionmaking process even more difficult with the constriction of public funding and the ever-present drive to cut costs; however, what has been made clear is that over the past two years Chris Lyddy has been eager and willing to make these choices and fight for the residents (and students) of Newtown. If we wish to see the continuing improvement of our schools and the continuing success of Newtown’s youth, then Chris Lyddy is by far our best candidate for state representative.

Sincerely,

Shane McCarthy

5 Winding Brook Road, Newtown                                   July 14, 2010