A new year has begun. Along with Superintendent of Schools Dr Lorrie Rodrigue sharing news of a “smooth” start to the school year, the Board of Education approved its final 2018-19 year-end financial ...
Summer travels have led Newtown High School social studies teacher Rachel Torres to being excited for the 2019-20 school year: She documented traveling to Lithuania and Poland while learning about the Holocaust.
Kindergarten students across Newtown got a taste of school on August 23, ahead of the start of the 2019-20 school year on August 26.
Newtown Public School district kindergarten students all had the op...
With just days before the start of the 2019-20 school year, district educators and staff were welcomed on August 21 at Newtown High School for an annual convocation.
The Newtown High School Marching Band & Color Guard fall season has begun.
The group of 78 seventh to twelfth grade students participated in a two-week band camp that began August 12 and was scheduled...
Newtown Public School district parents can share first day of school (August 26) photos of their child/children with The Newtown Bee for possible publication in next week’s print edition of the paper.
Sisters Sonya, 11, Karinna, 7, and Adrianna Feder, 7, worked collectively to complete the coloring page in The Newtown Bee’s Back To School supplement, published on August 16.
Instead of attending classes at Newtown High School when school begins later this month, rising junior Genevieve Kelly will be in Frasdorf, Germany, thanks to a scholarship.
It's a bit ironic.
On July 31, 2025, Bruce Walczak wrote that "evasive answers or silence are unacceptable in government." He also promised to respond to constituent inquiries and to "close the loop," even when there wasn't an immediate answer.
Two weeks of silence in response to a legitimate question seems difficult to reconcile with that pledge.
The standard wasn't set by his critics—it was set by Bruce himself. Just another politician ... say whatever is necessary to get the job.
Original letter: https://www.newtownbee.com/07312025/a-commitment-to-responsiveness/
CT primaries are closed to voters not registered with the party's designation. Dems can't vote in Rep. primaries and, vice versa. Unaffiliated and Independent voters cannot vote in them. Keep primaries closed!
Bruce, welcome to the conversation.
Your recent statement after the storm — admitting that you should have communicated “faster, more completely, and more personally” — was fine as far as it went. But this is not just about one storm. It is about a pattern. You ran on openness, responsiveness, and transparency, even saying that “evasive answers or silence are unacceptable in government.”
The problem is that Newtown residents have been dealing with exactly that silence from you since you were elected.
Newtown’s Emergency Management page says the town, together with the Office of the First Selectman, provides “critical public information and warning” during emergencies. The town also rolled out CodeRED cellphone registration on March 24, 2022 so residents could receive emergency information directly.
So where were you when police were searching for missing 23-year-old Kateri Doty in January? Where were you during the brush fires near the Newtown town line in April? Where were you on April 22, when state police and Newtown police were searching for two people who fled an I-84 crash and a canine search moved into the Church Hill Road area?
Residents should not be hearing about a missing person, wildfire conditions, or police tracking dogs moving through backyards from Facebook, neighbors, or kids in town. They should be hearing from their town government.
This is not really about whether you personally press the CodeRED button. Or how many task forces you have created. It is about leadership. You are the First Selectman. You are responsible for making sure the town communicates clearly, quickly, and visibly when public safety is involved.
So yes, it is nice that you have finally acknowledged the problem. But the public did not need this storm to figure it out. We have been saying it for a long time.
Bruce, you were missing when the town needed to hear from you. The question now is whether this storm finally woke you up, or whether this is just another late apology followed by more silence.
The topic may be the same but the narratives every other week differ and I appreciate the installments. Rebuttals on factual content rather than focusing on form would improve the discourse.
