Summer Program At Westover School
MIDDLEBURY — Westover School’s summer programs for girls will take place this year from July 18 to 23 ...
Main Street Crash
Police report a two-car accident at 63 Main Street about 2:46 pm June 21.
Motorist Nikolaos Sidiropoulos, 39, of Westport, who was drivin...
Howie Zipperstein and Carl Abrahamson banged out four hits apiece and Brian Aumueller clubbed his sixth home run of the season, driving in four runs, to lead So...
Gertrude Felton Portante
Gertrude Felton Portante, 85, a retired teacher and psychologist, died June 26 on her 85th birthday at Epoch on Blackstone Boulevard, P...
Auditions For Albee’s ‘Woolf’
Town Players of Newtown will hold auditions for Edward Albee’s Who
’...
Nothing Is Ever Final At Fairfield Hills
We predict, taking into account the makeup of the new Fairfield Hills Management Committee appointed just last month an...
Barnum Museum Will Offer Birthday Party
For Its Benefactor On July 5
BRIDGEPORT — The Barnum Museum wants everyone visiting the region over the Jul...
Wilderness West Road
Dr Christopher and Julie Manfredi purchased 1 Wilderness West Road from Pam Simeone.
Doreeen Kostecki, GRI, CRS, of Bob Tendler Real Estate...
Reed To Head FFH Panel
By Jan Howard
Former Superintendent of Schools John Reed was elected chairman and Robert Geckle, former chairman of the Fairfield Hills M...
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!