To the Editor:

I ask that voters read carefully the candidate statements for the positions of Board of Education members. Please pay attention to the following:

1. Blue Ribbon School: This federal program under the US Department of Education applies to individual schools, not to districts. After a school is certified by the State of Connecticut it can begin the application process. Candidates should consider compensating a school in the district should that school apply. Administrators, faculty, staff, and everyone else in the building is already working diligently and usually beyond contract time to provide quality education for the children of Newtown and should not have the additional burden of the application process unless Newtown pays for them to do the extra work. All candidates should read the application materials fully.

2. Readin’, writin’, ‘rithmatic: Candidates should consider reading the Connecticut Core Standards that can be found at CSDC’s site. Then, candidates should consider reading curricula from Newtown schools, perhaps elementary, intermediate, middle, and high school. Having done both of those tasks, candidates will be in a better position to suggest and/or support ways to further opportunities for Newtown students using specific ideas.

3. Buildings, fixtures, equipment, technology, etc: Candidates should consider the physical state of each of Newtown’s schools to the extent that candidates become aware of delineated budgets within a school as well as major projects necessary for a school’s safe and effective environment.

4. Organized external agendas: Candidates should explain their alignments with groups outside of Newtown insofar as those groups offer templated agendas for members of a Board of Education to follow such as Newtown witnessed on the board last spring in the conflict concerning school library books.

5. Socio-emotional development: Candidates should consider the individualized, detailed work that is done daily in each of our schools to support all of our students and should become aware of how complex teaching and learning are in Newtown schools. To start, consider counseling, special education, testing, advising, group programs, sports, the arts, activities, and co-curricular and extra-curricular programs.

Thank you,

Katharine Dougherty

Newtown