New Groups Hopes To Bring Support To Caregivers
By Jan Howard
A newly organized support group offers help to area residents who have taken on the role of caregi...
Teikyo Post
 Offers Internet Marketing
WATERBURY — Teikyo Post University is offering a special topics course, Marketing on the Internet, which wil...
Annual Rabies Clinic
Set For June 10
The Town Clerk’s office, in cooperation with the Connecticut Veterinary Medical Association, will once again be...
 ‘Ruthless!’ Opens In Sherman June 16
SHERMAN — Mystery, comedy and murder most foul will command the Sherman Playhouse sta...
Pianist-Composer Live At Aldrich
RIDGEFIELD — The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art will welcome a performance by The Jason Moran Trio on Friday, J...
Peter Ashton of Palm City, FL, to Kurt and Dina Daum of Newtown, property at 21 Phyllis Lane, $375,000; Frank and Janice Rocha of Newtown to James and Kathleen ...
Studio Tours Of Brookfield Artist, June 10-11
BROOKFIELD — Gloria Laposka, who recently exhibited her works at Frank J. Miele Contemporary Art Galle...
Mrs Ouelette
By Kaitlin Pendagast and Allison Steinfeld
Ever wonder who’s in the kitchen of your cafeteria? Well… in the depths of the pots a...
Circus
By Sammie Ciaccia, Valerie Nezvesky, Kelly Fagan, and Jill Logan
The fifth grade students at Middle Gate Elementary School went on a field trip to the Ri...
Baptist Church Plans Bible School
MONROE — Stepney Baptist Church invites all children in Monroe, Easton, Trumbull, and Newtown to come to the SonZo...
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!