The Legislative Council and the town attorney seem to agree on making November balloting for the most complex charter revision in Newtown's history as easy as p...
Day Camps at Dickinson Memorial Park and Treadwell Park officially began the summer on Monday, June 20, with the first day of camp at both parks.newtown-ct.gov/...
The state's Department of Public Health (DPH) issued a Drought Advisory this week, which appears to be more of a preventative measure than based on any current ...
As a puppy, Jinx let out her first deep "Boo-woo" bark as a heavy rain hit the roof. So funny was this, watching her tilt her head at the ceiling to determine i...
Fraser Woods Montessori School Head of School Myriam Woods began her time with the Newtown-based school in 1990, and retired from the position on June 30.
Her t...
Whether it is an 1807 dictionary, early 1900s illustrations books, The Great Gatsby or an autobiography signed by Bill Clinton, the Specials Room at the 41st Fr...
As a Shepherds' mentor, Newtown resident Kathryn Colucci has been mentoring Bridgeport resident Kadijah Needham, a rising sophomore at Kolbe Cathedral in Bridge...
Kim A. Snyder's documentary Newtown has been acquired for theatrical distribution by Abramorama, an independent distribution and marketing company.Newtown focus...
All town offices will be closed on Monday, July 4, in honor of Independence Day.
Newtown Senior Center and C.H. Booth Library also will be closed on Monday.
The...
Chuck Leety was the younger son born to Marie and Earl Leety, and sandwiched between a pair of sisters growing up in Pennsylvania. He had an older sister, Marie...
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!