Morning rain soaked the start to Newtown’s seventh annual Earth Day Festival, but did not hold back a late-day crowd Saturday, April 26.
“Yes, it was a great da...
The radio dispatchers at the Newtown Emergency Communications Center at Town Hall South, 3 Main Street, report the following fire calls and the responders:
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PLEASE NOTE this press release has been corrected to reflect a change in plans for the May 17 hike.
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Newtown Hikers has released its schedule fo...
Harvey Botsford Rasmussen, 86, of Newtown, a beloved husband, brother, uncle, and friend, died peacefully May 2 at Bethel Health Care. He was born December 6, 1...
Anna R. Dutko, 87, of Newtown, formerly of Bridgeport and Lewisville, Texas, died May 1, surrounded by family at Masonicare of Newtown. She was born May 5, 1926...
An informational session to explain the construction aspects and cost implications of the planned expansion of the Hawleyville sanitary sewer system is schedule...
A gathering of Housatonic Valley Waldorf School students, faculty, staff, family members, and other invited guests welcomed spring on Friday, May 2, with tradit...
CORRECTION (Tuesday, May 6, 2014): This story has been updated to reflect the correct name of Smart Tech Challenges Foundation.
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Since launch...
HARTFORD (AP) — Key lawmakers say they doubt a compromise will be reached on whether to place additional restrictions on the public release of information from ...
Longtime Newtown resident Anna Wiedemann believes the measure of a person cannot be defined by their political persuasion. So it is fitting that the Democratic ...
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!