DYNAMITE 2, HAWKS 2: The Dynamite lived up to their name in this game, with forward Megan Anderson scoring against the Hawks in the first five minutes of play.Â...
Education Connection To Hold Open House
LITCHFIELD — On Tuesday, October 24 from 2:30 to 5:00 pm, Education Connection will hold an open house to ...
Diocese Of Bridgeport Set To Honor Those Who Died For Their Faith
BRIDGEPORT — People of all ages throughout Fairfield County are invited to honor t...
Brownie Plant Program Offered At Kellogg Environmental Center
DERBY — The Kellogg Environmental Center announces Brownie Try It Day, Saturday, Octob...
Young Musicians Make It Through The Audition Process
BRIDGEPORT — Greater Bridgeport Youth Orchestras has announced that over 200 talented young mus...
A Great Day To Paint
To the Editor:
It started with Steve D’Amico (D’Amico Painting) sending a crew out to pressure wash the exterior. T...
The Taunton Press Celebrates
25 Years Of ‘Fine Woodworking’
NORWALK — The Taunton Press of Newtown, in conjunction with The...
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!