European Scenes At KAA
KENT — Harwinton artist John Swatsley’s solo show entitled “European Holiday” will be on ...
Construction Burglary
Sometime between 4:45 pm August 17 and 7:30 am August 19, someone entered a home under construction on Meridian Ridge Drive and stole...
Pig Roast At St Andrews
MARBLEDALE — St Andrews Church will host a pig roast on Saturday, September 16, from 4 to 7 pm.
The cost is adults $15 and c...
Season Opener Is September 17—
Newtown Friends Of Music Announce
Complete Line-Up For 2006-07 Season
For the coming season of “exquisit...
Registration Open For Adult Diploma Program
On Wednesday, September 6, from 6 to 8 pm, at Newtown High School registration will take place for the WERACE/ Newto...
Mr & Mrs Roger Hernandez
Alyson Nicole Robichaud and Roger Hernandez were united in marriage on July 22, 2006, in a ceremony that took place at Southford F...
Real Estate Notes
Canterbury Lane
Gregory and Amy Davis purchased a home at 12 Canterbury Lane from Mark and Kara Smith.
Joan Briglia, ABR, with Coldwell B...
Virginia Marie Parsloe
Active Volunteer
Virginia Marie Parsloe, 89, of Lyrical Lane, died August 25 of natural causes while peacefully listening to one of ...
Applications Available For 2007 UConn Master Gardener Classes
TORRINGTON — The University of Connecticut’s Cooperative Extension System ...
Newtown schools have degraded over the 3+ decades I've lived here as the concentrated social experiment curricula driven by the state and small but loud groups. Yet we continue to dig into our pockets while we witness the downward spiral.
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!