Free Blood Pressure Screening
Masonicare at Newtown will sponsor a free blood pressure screening on Tuesday, May 17, from 10 am to noon in the Lockwood Lodge We...
NHS Girls Track Team Improves To 6-3
By Anna Hodge
The Newtown High School Girls’ Track and Field team has had a busy past two weeks. The team compe...
Give this photo another look. No one was able to figure out where it was taken, so we’re giving everyone another week to figure it out.
Because itâ&...
On The Diamonds ... Youth Softball Highlights
Youth softball results from this past week are as follow:
U6
Diamond Electrical Supply vs Zoar Ridge Stab...
Volunteers
Sought For
Commission Seats
First Selectman Pat Llodra is seeking interested residents who may qualify for service on several local commissions. Cu...
Chase Bank Robbery—
Alleged Getaway Car Driver Arrested
By Andrew Gorosko
Police said they have arrested the alleged driver of the getaway car that...
Local Man Pleads Not Guilty To Felony Sex Charges
By Andrew Gorosko
A local man has pleaded not guilty to ten pending felony charges involving his alleged illic...
Supporting The Sciences
To the Editor:
As chairperson of this year’s Newtown Discovery Science Workshops, I’d like to thank our Newtown ...
Dodgingtown Market & Deli — A Neighborhood Delight
Located near the intersection of Route 302 and Jacklin Lane, next to the Dodgingtown Fire House, ...
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!