Mary Louise O'Donnell Mikita, 74, died peacefully at home in Sandy Hook May 31, with her loving family by her side.spadaccinofuneralhome.com.
Born on June 24, 1...
Fire Marshal Bill Halstead said this week that he has eliminated lightning as the possible cause of a fire that destroyed a vacant 1908 mansion at 20 Castle Hil...
June 7, 1991
The Newtown Shopping Center's expansion plans will be delayed several months now that a local environmental group has successfully petitioned ...
"Just get it done."
That was the order to Joe Borst one day in 1961 when as civilian contractor at a nuclear missile site, he learned a support strut that would...
The smell of fresh earth-toned paint filled rooms at the duplex building at 63 Washington Square in Fairfield Hills. Ross Carley and several other Fairfield Hil...
Head O' Meadow Principal Barbara Gasparine welcomed gathered students and educators to an assembly on Wednesday, May 18, held to celebrate the kindergarten Span...
The next monthly breakfast meeting of the Newtown Chamber of Commerce will take place Wednesday, June 8, from 8 to 9 am, at Sal e Pepe Contemporary Italian Bist...
Second grade students at Head O' Meadow Elementary School clapped, sang and stomped Monday, May 23, at the school's second annual International Folk Dance Festi...
Newtown High School hosted its annual World Language Honor Society Inductions ceremony in the school's cafetorium on Tuesday, May 17.
NHS World Language Departm...
Flagpole Photographers Camera Club will hold this season's last competition night of its 2015-16 season on Thursday, June 9, at 7:15 pm, at Newtown Senior Cente...
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!