Holiday Festival Kick-Off Meeting

By SHANNON HICKS

Published: Jul 25, 2003 12:00 AM

Believe it or not planning has begun for the 18th Annual Newtown Holiday Festival, a fundraising event for Family Counseling Center of Newtown that offers a variety of events for all ages to enjoy. This yearâs festival will be Sunday, December 7, in Newtown and Sandy Hook, and will certainly include the events that have made previous festivals a popular outing: a Festival of Trees, live music performances and strolling musicians, a walking tour of historic and/or important homes, antiques and crafts shows, Victorian Tea Room and New England CafÃ©, and more.

The festival will also be preceded by its traditional event, a Holiday Festival Gala the night before the townwide event. This yearâs gala will be Saturday, December 6, at The Amber Room Colonnade in New Fairfield.

A festival kick-off meeting has been scheduled for Thursday, August 7, beginning at 7:30 pm. The meeting will be at My Plauce Restaurant, on Queen Street in Newtown. Anyone interested in learning more about the festival, and perhaps volunteering to run or join any of its committees, is invited to attend.

For additional information or if you are interested in helping but cannot attend on August 7, contact Family Counseling Center at 426-8103.

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Teachers Union - nuff said.

Vote No To The BOE Budget And No it Should Not Be Higher

Newtown schools have degraded over the 3+ decades I've lived here as the concentrated social experiment curricula driven by the state and small but loud groups. Yet we continue to dig into our pockets while we witness the downward spiral.

Vote Yes On April 23

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.

Go Out And Vote April 23

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!

All I Ask Is That You Think About It

An investment is done with a hope for a return. The operative term here is 'hope'.

Continue To Invest In Newtown’s Schools

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Holiday Festival Kick-Off Meeting

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