Simple Steps Can Prevent Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
FARMINGTON — For the estimated 25 million Americans who suffer from Seasonal Affective Di...
Holiday Closings
All town offices will be closed on Tuesday, November 11, in observance of Veterans’ Day.
The transfer station at the former landf...
Artist’s Program By Laurie Klein
DANBURY — Sadelier is exhibiting a series of beautiful hand-colored, floral and landscape photographs b...
Art Show To Benefit Lourdes Of Litchfield
LITCHFIELD — Thirty-eight artists have promised work for an art show the weekend of November 7-9 that wil...
Stuck For An Explanation
To the Editor:
Today, Tuesday, November 4, 2003, I voted at the Reed Intermediate School. As is customary upon leaving the voting booth...
Remember that day: Friday, November 1, 2002? That was the night two South-West Conference championships were decided literally within minutes of each other ...
The ability to change one’s views without losing one’s seat is the mark of a great politician.
––Morris K. Udall...
The Rewards And Challenges Of Serving The St Rose Parish Keep Coming
By Kaaren Valenta
For Parochial Vicars John Inserra and Milan Dimic, and youth minister Rod...
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!