ORLANDO, Florida - It was an extremely rewarding AAU season for Newtown’s Kelley Haines and the U-13 Connecticut Starters National AAU girlâ€&#...
For The Great Outdoors
By Jan Howard
For residents who enjoy outdoor activities such as hiking, skiing, and riding horses, either for exercise or to find peace ...
The Boulevard
Phillip A. Johnson and Jill Hall Johnson recently sold their home at 28 The Boulevard to Maura and Andrew Shpunt, formerly of New Milford.
Loretta...
The Friends of the Library are currently accepting donations for their Labor Day book sale. Please leave your books on the cart on the first floor.
Please do no...
Crows Nest Lane
Mr and Mrs Chris Reseska recently sold their home at 27 Crows Nest Lane, Unit 19A, to Mr and Mrs Jason Briggs, formerly of Norwalk.
The propert...
The 1980 show, choreographed for Broadway by Marge and Gower Champion, is simply a vehicle for tap dancing, and that’s what Richter director Richard...
HARTFORD – Thousands of athletes from around the state of Connecticut converged on Trinity College in Hartford this past weekend for the start of th...
Local Health Officials Take Aim At Mosquitoes
Local officials urged residents this week to take precautions against the possibility of West Nile Virus by elimin...
The Newtown Torpedoes raised their summer record to an impressive 6-1 recently with a hearty 311-91 victory over Danbury.
Kevin Cahalane, swimming in the 11 and...
Patricia H. Nasse
Patricia H. Nasse, 67, wife of Richard A. Nasse of Heritage Village, Southbury, died July 30 in Danbury Hospital.
She was the mother of Kathle...
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!