Facebook Aims To Help Prevent Suicide
MENLO PARK, CALIF. (AP) — Facebook is making it easier for people who express suicidal thoughts on the social ...
Town Awarded $400,000 State Grant For Fairfield Hills Improvements  Â
By Andrew Gorosko
The town plans to use a $400,000 state grant to make capital improve...
Christ The King Lutheran Church Will Welcome Its New Spiritual Leader This Weekend
By Shannon Hicks
“I’m not nervous as much as excited,...
Council Starts New Year With A $150k School Capital Request
By John Voket
During a relatively brief, 40-minute meeting and a series of mini-sessions, the Legisl...
Sports Podcast
Check out sounds of the games and hear interviews with coaches in weekly audio sports recaps on The Bee’s podcast. Sports and news c...
Volunteer Opportunities
By Nancy K. Crevier
The season of giving does not have to end with the holidays. Numerous area organizations need the gift of time and t...
Angela Marie Corso Fedak
Leaves A Legacy Of Love And Laughter
Angela Marie Corso Fedak, 83, of Sandy Hook and formerly of Stratford, widow of her beloved J...
Workshops, Webinars Set To Connect Businesses
With Economic Development Tools
HARTFORD — Governor Dannel P. Malloy announced this week that, while ...
Construction Spending Rises In Latest Report
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — Construction spending jumped in November as builders spent more on single-famil...
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!