A number of Head O' Meadow Elementary School fourth grade students joined Principal Barbara Gasparine and lead teacher Carol Danenberg for their lunch on Friday...
The Genealogy Club of Newtown will meet Wednesday, May 10, at 7 pm, in the meeting room of C.H. Booth Library, 25 Main Street.
The speaker will be club member a...
EverWonder Children's Museum is pleased to announce the award of a $2,000 grant from The Ronald McDonald House Charities New York Tri-State Area (RMHC NYTSA) to...
The Board of Education's School Start Time Committee members heard a report at their meeting on May 1 on a survey taken by Newtown Middle School seventh graders...
William "Bill" A. Istvan, 61, of Kent died peacefully April 30, at a cabin in the Adirondacks that he completely enjoyed and called "God's Country." He was the ...
St Rose of Lima Church Outreach Ministry and Visiting Angels will host a free seminar, "Helping You Navigate Medicare and Long-Term Care So You Get The Health C...
Lenore "Lee" Stanulis Niedzielski, 83, of Newtown, died unexpectedly on May 4, at Danbury Hospital. Born on November 17, 1933, in Brooklyn, N.Y., she was the da...
Newtown High School hosted a Career Fair on Tuesday, April 25, in the school's lobby for students to learn about potential career options.
NHS School to Career ...
Newtown High School's track and field squads had standout performances at meets in late April and early May.
The girls' team went to Pomperaug of Southbury on A...
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!