Newtown Middle School students and staff participated in a Winterfest Door Decorating Contest that spread ornamental joy down a main hallway at the school for the week of December 10.
Head O’ Meadow Elementary School second grade students learned about different holidays and traditions from countries around the world while rotating through classrooms December 6 and December 13.
Kind acts keep piling up for Hawley Elementary School’s third graders, and all of their efforts culminated on December 12, when the entire third grade gathered pajamas and books to donate to the Women’s Center of Greater Danbury for children.
The Board of Education heard a report on special education practices and procedures from consultants at its meeting on December 18: The report recommends further district-level reviews.
Head O’ Meadow Elementary School students had the opportunity to shop for presents for loved ones and raise money for three charities on November 29 and 30, thanks to the school’s annual PTA-run Holiday Giving Shop.
A new Ben’s Bells mural has been completed at St Rose of Lima School. The mural, made up of predominantly green tiles, with the words “Be kind,” now adorns a wall in the school’s interior front entrance.
Every Tuesday during the school year, members of the Newtown High School Peer Leadership club meet and plan different activities around interests or passions of club members. Recent projects have spread the club’s support locally and further away.
Hawley Elementary School began its annual Kindness Month celebrations with a visit by Westport author Karlin Gray on December 3, and throughout the month, the school will focus on learning about kindness and completing kind acts.
Newtown Police Department K-9 Officer Felicia Figol, Officer Matt Hayes, and K-9 Aris visited Fraser Woods Montessori School on December 4 to share some of Aris’s abilities during two school assemblies.
Jason, you're the best. It was the honor of a lifetime to serve alongside you. Thank you so much for kind words and for everything you've done for our country!
Bruce's communication during the storm? Sorry, but that was a failure and an area that warrants serious introspection from our FS. Did anyone get a Code Red call like Dan used to do? Nothing early on, then flurries or repetitive emails after the fact with old information. I don't know if it was an issue using the technology or what, but our neighbors in Monroe and Bethel did a far better job updating their constituents.
Lets not start a campaign by gaslighting the residents, the voters in Newtown are smarter than that.
I support the goal of improving pedestrian safety and reducing serious crashes, and I appreciate the work that went into the SS4A Safety Action Plan. That said, I’m concerned that some of the proposed “traffic control” elements (like delineators/bollards that extend into the shoulder/travel space) may be treating a symptom while ignoring a major driver-behavior problem that is creating risk and congestion today.
A consistent issue on Main Street—especially with southbound traffic—is that drivers stop in the travel lane to “politely” yield to cross traffic or turning vehicles when they don’t actually have the right-of-way. That behavior backs up traffic, triggers hard braking/rear-end risk, and creates unpredictable conditions for pedestrians and other drivers. On top of that, illegal/unsafe parking too close to crosswalks and intersections reduces sight lines and makes crossings feel more dangerous than they need to be.
Connecticut law already addresses this behavior. CGS § 14-251(c) prohibits a vehicle from remaining stationary on a public highway in a way that would “constitute a traffic hazard or obstruct the free movement of traffic” (with the usual exception for a disabled vehicle). Stopping in the travel lane to wave cross traffic through—when there’s no legal requirement to stop—creates exactly that kind of obstruction.
