The warm weather last week seemed to awaken some of Newtown's smallest residents: I heard rumblings that ticks were out en masse. A call to Newtown Health Distr...
Resident and professional senior advisor Curt Symes is offering a free class series called "What's Happening in Newtown for Boomers, Seniors, And Family Members...
The following students made the High Honor Roll and Honor Roll for the second quarter marking period at Newtown High School for the 2017-18 school year. The hon...
NEW HAVEN - Nazareth College Wind Symphony (NCWS), conducted by Dr Jared Chase, will perform the world premiere "Into the Silent Land" by Rochester, N.Y.-based ...
Just days after the February 14 school shooting in Parkland, Fla., former Sandy Hook Elementary School library/media specialist Yvonne Cech traveled to the area...
Fox Ridge Farm, an equestrian facility located in the southwest corner of Newtown, is hosting day camp for young riders, ages 4 and up, who are looking to start...
Newtown Police said February 23 they are investigating several incidents that occurred on the afternoon of February 20, during which a pair of men either passed...
C.H. Booth Library hosted a reception for local community members to meet new Library Director Douglas Lord on February 25. Mr Lord began his time at the librar...
During the Celebration of Excellence portion of the Board of Education's February 6 meeting, Interim Superintendent of Schools Dr Lorrie Rodrigue introduced rep...
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!