To the Editor:
Of course you are still at risk, every day you wake up you face risk to and from many things. My intent is to not minimize the risk of the virus,...
Update: This report was updated at 11:15 am on April 5 to clarify Connecticut youth suicide statistics from the Chief Medical Examiners office that were not...
In a year during which social distancing and coronvirus concerns kept some families apart and prevented some teams from finishing what they started, rivals from...
A group of community volunteers equipped with gloves and gardening tools came together for the two-day Newtown Fruit Trail Reawakening at Fairfield Hills, on Ma...
A local attorney, former Board of Education member, and community volunteer has been elected to chair the latest Newtown Charter Revision Commission. Andy Buzzi...
The Charlotte Helen Bacon (CHB) Foundation is organizing a free StoryWalk on the Fairfield Hills campus from Saturday, April 10, to Sunday, April 18.
StoryWalk ...
Published: Apr 03, 2021 at 01:47 PM
President Joseph Biden has ordered flags lowered, through Tuesday evening, to honor a US Capitol Police Officer who was killed in the line of duty yesterday aft...
High school indoor track teams, including Newtown’s squads, only had an opportunity to compete a few times in March once the sport’s “high risk” coronavirus pro...
The dispatchers at the Newtown Emergency Communications Center at Town Hall South, 3 Main Street, report the following fire calls and the responders:
Thursd...
The Newtown Democratic Town Committee (DTC) hosted a webinar with Desegregate Connecticut founder and lead organizer Sara Bronin on March 23. Zoning and current...
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!