By Andrew Gorosko
A local podiatrist is now using an advanced form of noninvasive, electronic treatment intended to relieve the pain of patients who have medica...
Republicans Elect Delegates
To State Conventions
Newtown Republicans endorsed delegates for various state conventions coming up in May at a caucus Monday, March...
New Route, And On A Saturday:
Barnum Festival’s Great Street Parade
BRIDGEPORT — The Barnum Festival has changed the day of the Great St...
Bariatric Physician To Discuss Treatment Of Obesity
DANBURY — The “Treatment of Obesity” will be discussed by guest speaker...
Ticket prices have been reduced to $30, with proceeds going to The Wilton Student Summer Playshop, The Wilton Arts Council and The Playshop’s Guy S....
1979-2004 ~ 25 Years of Excellence Serving Newtown!
Thank you so very much to all who helped make our Dinner/Dance Auction a big success! Your generos...
Kids Are Not ‘Cute’ Adults
To the Editor:
My daughter came home with a notice from the Reed School about two events listed at the Newtow...
After Prostate Cancer:
The Next Step
BRIDGEPORT — The St Vincent’s Medical Center Prostate Cancer Institute lecture series presents uro...
The Vintage Base Ball Association
On February 11, 1996 delegates from 13 vintage base ball clubs representing five states assembled in Columbus, Ohio to co...
Research Leads To Newtown—
One Man’s Quest To Rediscover Covered Bridges
By Shannon Hicks
Nature photographer and researcher Warren H. W...
Unfortunately as voter turnout continues to decline the chances of it increasing also decline. The LC and BOF already know that the budget will be approved by virtue of the low turnout so why try to make smart decisions? The so-called referendum is essentially just a rubber stamp. They will continue to increase the budget by 2-5% every year because it's low enough to not cause a pushback under the cover of "inflation" and "maintaining the schools." Sending the budget to vote with 9% turnout is meaningless and a waste of resources on April 23rd.
I have seen Mr. Pisani repeatedly assert in the pages of the Bee that Newtown schools are "testing at a failing 64.9%". I'd be curious if he could elaborate on this statistic, as I have been unable to verify it independently. Which test exactly is our school system failing? How do our schools compare to other towns? How does our score compare to historical measures? It's very hard to draw conclusions from a single data point, so here are a few more data points to think about for context: Newtown is consistently ranked among the top 20 school districts in CT by the US News and World Report and Niche, which consider a range of performance metrics in their rankings; on average, Newtown students perform similar to, if not better than, students in neighboring school districts on standardized math and reading tests; the only data point on the CT Department of Education District Report Card where Newtown "fails" -- that is, falls behind the state average -- is access to art instruction. I'm glad the council member has acknowledged in this letter what taxpayers in high-performing (and high-spending) school districts like Darien, New Canaan, and Westport already know: "School funding does impact student achievement." Please keep that in mind when you vote this week!