Newtown Prevention Council

Community Conversation

By Eliza Hallabeck

The last grant-sponsored meeting for the Community Conversation on bullying will go before the Newtown Prevention Council during its meeting Thursday, May 21, at 3 pm.

“Our goal is now to present the first two pieces to the Prevention Council,” said School District Health Coordinator Judy Blanchard.

The first piece of the community conversation, Ms Blanchard said, was getting the topic going. Roughly 60 members of the community participated in the first meeting, held January 31, and during the second meeting, held March 24, the idea for a logo contest was brought up, which had a deadline of Friday, May 8.

“The feeling sort of was, that we were missing that central piece that pulls us together,” said Ms Blanchard while describing the conversation from the second meeting.

Reed Intermediate School Assistant Principal Anthony Salvatore pulled the logo contest together, asking residents of all ages to submit an image that would remind people to be “Nicer in Newtown” when they look at it. The top entries will be on display at Reed Intermediate School this Saturday, May 16, from 9 am until 1 pm, and visitors will be able to vote for their favorite logo.

The community conversation on bullying began when members of the Newtown public school system and members of the Newtown Prevention Council applied for a grant from the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund; the district was awarded $2,500 to hold meetings to further the discussion on the topic of bullying. The meetings are also sponsored by the Newtown Prevention Council and the Newtown Board of Education.

After the Community Conversation on Bullying findings are presented to the Prevention Council on May 21, Ms Blanchard said there will be one more meeting at the state level to wrap up the grant for all participants across the state. Despite no longer having funding after this Thursday, Ms Blanchard said the hope is the topic can continue to be ongoing in Newtown.

“The whole goal was to hit your community on a button we could all agree on and run with it,” said Ms Blanchard.

The Newtown Prevention Council meeting will be held at the C.H. Booth Library, and will start at 3 pm.

“The hope is,” said Ms Blanchard, “that just because the money is not there, does not mean we can’t keep going.”