NHS Art Portfolios At Booth Library
Art Portfolio is an intensive and individualized art program for college bound seniors at Newtown High School. During the co...
‘Small Treasures And More’
NEW MILFORD — Gregory James Gallery is hosting its eighth annual group exhibit titled â€	...
Family Day Activities Set For December 13
DANBURY — Ann’s Place, The Home of I Can invites the public to attend the agency’s...
Our Firefighters Do It Again
To the Editor:
Thanks again to all five of Newtown’s fire companies for once again collecting food, turkeys, money, and...
Newtown Will Be Well Represented This Year During
The Annual Governor’s Residence
Holiday Open House
By Shannon Hicks
HARTFORD — Gover...
Share Newtown’s history with Newtown old-timers and newcomers alike by passing on photos of interest to The Newtown Bee. The Bee welcomes submission...
The service at Trinity will consist of Advent scripture readings beginning with Old Testament prophecies and concluding with the Gospel. The readings, proclaime...
Winter Softball Sessions Offered For Girls Ages 8-14
Girls ages 8-14 are invited to sign up for the second annual Winter Training Program provided by Newtown Hi...
Gladys M.
MacDonald
Sandy Hook Resident
Gladys M. MacDonald, 85, of Sandy Hook, wife of the late Roger MacDonald, died November 28 in Danbury Hospital. Sh...
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!