Twelve hours, 400 players, and more than $9,000 later, the Newtown Bridge Club and organizers of its third annual Longest Day Bridge and Scrabble event, June 19...
On June 20, following a second public hearing, Planning & Zoning Commission (P&Z) members unanimously approved the installation of a solar/electric array at a 1...
Newtown Knights of Columbus-St Virgilius Council 185 this year nearly tripled the donation made to FAITH Food Pantry (FFP) last year following the inaugural Run...
All town offices will be closed on Thursday, July 4, in honor of Independence Day.
Newtown Senior Center, C.H. Booth Library, and the transfer station also will...
Whether it meant wearing a gray wig, a mustache, a baseball glove, or holding a prop, Middle Gate Elementary School fourth graders paid attention to details for...
A squalid trailer under the summer sun may not be a cooling idea, but with images of dangerous Himalayan ascents in the background, Annapurna, opening July 19 a...
To the Editor:
It has been almost one year since I needed the services of the Newtown Ambulance, and I am sorry it has taken so long for me to write this letter...
The Newtown Bee is scheduled to host Attorney General William Tong for an editorial board meeting Monday, July 8, subject to his availability.
Readers are i...
Business name: Dermatology Associates of Western Connecticut
Address: 170 Mount Pleasant Road, Suite 201
Partners: Beth Buscher, MD; Kimberly Eickho...
UPDATE: On Tuesday, July 23, Honan Funeral Home announced, "Due to the paving of the parking lot at St Rose of Lima Church, the Mass of Christian Burial for...
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!