MILFORD — The Sandy Ground Project was established by the New Jersey Fireman’s Benevolent Association last year. Its mission is to build 26 playgrounds along th...
The 14th Annual Southern Connecticut Science & Engineering Fair will be Saturday, February 8, Newtown High School.
The fair is sponsored by the Southern Connect...
To the Editor:
After clearing my driveway, shoveling walks and clearing snow off the car, what was left was the three feet of snow at the foot of the driveway a...
After losing a 52-49 double-overtime thriller at Joel Barlow of Redding on January 31, the Newtown High School girls’ basketball team got back on track, beating...
A family ice skating party sponsored by Newtown Parks & Recreation for Friday night has been relocated. Instead of the temporary rink at Fairfield Hills, the Fe...
Herbert J. “Buddy” Draney III, 79, of Newtown, died peacefully January 31, at Danbury Hospital. He was born in Paterson, N.J., January 22, 1935, to Ann and Herb...
Joining the charitable efforts emanating from Newtown to employ the performing arts as a healing mechanism in the wake of 12/14, The 12.14 Foundation announced ...
In an effort to help foster business opportunities in the greater Newtown area, the Newtown Chamber of Commerce continues to host free monthly networking events...
To the Editor:
In most parking lots for businesses, a brightly painted area of diagonal yellow lines indicates a no parking area. In Newtown, it serves as an ar...
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!