Newtown Schools By The Numbers
To the Editor:
In 11th grade, high school students in Connecticut take the Connecticut SAT School Day — which tests reading, writing and math skill. US News and World Report rated Newtown High school in the top five percent of all high schools in the nation. Newtown High School is ranked 36th within Connecticut out of 206 high schools.
Some candidates for the BOE have suggested our school system needs to get back to basic, that the system has underwhelming performance, that we aren’t getting value for the dollars spent, and that we lost Blue Ribbon Status. (we didn’t, it’s a one-time, one year, designation to an individual school and the school must apply for it, we haven’t).
Newtown is ranked by the CT Department of Education as in the top 20 percent in math scores, and top ten percent in reading. Overall, we are consistently ranked in the top 20 percent of the state’s school district.
Newtown is ranked in the top one percent in high school graduation rates. Our art, music and sports programs are top rated. By any standard Newtown has excellent schools, and many residents move to Newtown because of our excellence. Newtown’s net 2022-23 expenditure per pupil is $20,035. and across the state Newtown ranks 91 out of 164 districts for spending. less than the state average. Our property values reflect the caliber of our schools.
We don’t need Board of Education members bringing an agenda into the management of our school system. We need positive reinforcement and objective and open-minded members to guide our school district. We aren’t perfect and must, of course, constantly seek to improve our system and student’s performance.
Please pay attention to letters to The Newtown Bee, what candidates are writing, and how that relates to continuing the excellent school system that Newtown has earned.
Bruce Walczak
Newtown
Bruce seems troublingly content with the status quo. He fails to mention that NHS has declined and fell behind Trumbull and Pomperaug on the same list. That Trumbull and Monroe spend 10% less but get better results. Why criticize the incumbent candidates on something that is not controversial? We should all stive for the pursuit of academic excellence in our schools. Spinning and cherry-picking data as in this letter shows a troubling disregard for objective reality. The job of the BOE is to provide oversight on behalf of the electorate, not PR as the district falls behind our peers.
In the 2017 school year, almost 72% of Newtown 11th and 12th graders met the Connecticut college and career readiness benchmark. In 2022 barely 58 percent of 11th and 12th grade students demonstrated readiness, with only 55% meeting the SAT benchmark, 37% meeting the AP benchmark and 9% meeting the ACT benchmark. Numbers do not lie. That’s a nearly 20% decline in just one marker of performance. This is only the tip of the iceberg for what the underlying trend data and elementary scores suggests is coming if would be officials ignore it.
If ever you were on the fence about voting for Bruce Walczak, one need look no further than Mr. Knapp’s thoughtful and lucid reply to this Letter to the Editor. Bruce won’t be an advocate for lifting up this school system for the benefit of our students; he’s just fine with where we are now.