Art Auction Fundraiser To Support Youth Organizations
Cullens Youth Association, in conjunction with the Venturing Crew 70 of Newtown and the Greater Candlewood...
RSO Competition
For Young Musicians
RIDGEFIELD — The annual Music Performance Competition sponsored by Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra has again be...
Oakdale Avenue, Waterbury
Carol Toman purchased property located at 46 Oakdale Avenue in Waterbury from Terry and Anne Maria Ward.
Deborah Reed of Advanced Real...
Digging For Clues Of Fugitive SlavesBy John Christoffersen Associated Press Writer
WESTON (AP) — Up a steep narrow road in a remote part of this sma...
Saturday, September 3
Opening day of 30th Annual Friends of Booth Library Labor Day Weekend Book Sale, 9 am–5 pm, at Fairfield Hills campus, Wa...
Filmmaker, Olympians Team With Students On Leadership Conference
By John Voket
Last spring, Newtown High School student and athlete Mary Kate Conlan and her mom...
Occupation: I am a designer/creator of designer bedding called Little Merry Fellows and the proprietor of the Little Green Barn since 2001. I am also Market...
Bits & Pieces
By Kim J. Harmon
Â
For about 20 minutes, I watched the installation of the new turf field at Treadwell Park this week and it struck me that ...
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!