Budgets Plan Cut
By Steve Bigham
The finance committee of the Legislative Council Wednesday voted to recommend that $2.3 million be trimmed from the proposed 20...
VNA Faces $50 Late Fee
The Visiting Nurses Association’s (VNA) $500 budget request for the 2000-2001 municipal budget faces a $50 reduction after th...
The dispatchers at Edmond Town Hall report the following fire calls:
Thursday, February 24: 8:04 pm, odor in building, Edmond Town Hall, 45 Main Street, i...
Neighbors Object To Horse Farm Arena
By Andrew Gorosko
The Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) is considering an appeal from two Stone Gate Drive couples who are seek...
Saturday, March 11
Newtown Coffee House, doors open 7:30 pm (open mic), music begins 8:30, Newtown Congregational Church House, 41-A Main Street, admission...
Residents Rally To Preserve Their P&Z Protest Rights
By Andrew Gorosko
Walnut Tree Hill Road area residents are protesting a proposal by Walnut Tree Developers ...
Larceny Charge
Police report they were called to Newtown Convenience Store at 22 Church Hill Road about 4 pm March 1 in connection with an alleged shoplift...
Newtown’s NSSF Steps Into The Spotlight Of The Gun Control Debate
By Steve Bigham
Since 1995, Newtown has been home to the National Sports Shooting ...
P&Z Approves 40-Lot Tilson Woods Subdivision
By Andrew Gorosko
The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) has approved the 40-lot Tilson Woods residential subdivi...
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!