Newtown Public Schools is a school district in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of 2013 it contained seven schools, with a total enrollment of 5298, an increase of 1663 since 1994. It comprises 2.64% of Fairfield county (0.53% of the state). Teachers in the school district are paid more than average for the area, which has in the past led to complaints from neighbouring districts of staff being poached from them.
History
The building that now houses Hawley School was built from donations to Newtown by Mary Elizabeth Hawley in 1921, and was in fact named after her parents. It was a modern building for the time, having as it did central heating, an auditorium, a chemistry laboratory, and fireproofing; however nowadays it lacks facilities with respect to other schools in the district, such as central air conditioning. By 1950, the school had become so overcrowded that an extension was built at the rear of the building and some of the old one-room schoolhouses were re-opened. The Newtown High School was located in this building from 1921 to 1953, when it was moved to a new building on Queen Street. The Hawley building was re-used as an elementary school, serving kindergarten to grade 8. The high school moved from Queen Street in 1970, and the Queen Street building became what is today Newtown Middle School, with the Hawley elementary school reduced to serving kindergarten to grade 4.
The playground facilities used by Hawley School were once the Newtown Fairgrounds. They became Taylor Field, owned by Cornelius Byron Taylor, who donated the field to the town at the same time as Hawley donated the building.
On May 10, 2013, a task force voted unanimously to demolish the existing Sandy Hook elementary school and construct a new school on the existing site
2012 school shooting
On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza shot his mother at home, then killed 26 people (20 children and 6 staff) and himself at Sandy Hook Elementary School. It was the third-deadliest shooting in U.S. history, after the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting and the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings, the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, after the Virginia Tech shootings, and the deadliest of any U.S. elementary school.
The Sandy Hook building did not reopen after the shooting; the school's student body resumed classes in the then-closed Chalk Hill Middle School building in nearby Monroe on January 3, 2013. Donna Page, the school's former principal, became the interim principal, telling parents it was her "calling" to return after the tragedy. She was the principal for 14 years before retiring in 2010.
Many residents of Newtown expressed support for turning the site of the shooting at the former Sandy Hook Elementary School building into a memorial.
The township decided the most appropriate course of action would be to demolish the old school and build a replacement on the same site. Demolition took place in October and November 2013. The demolition of the school was highly guarded and workers were required to sign confidentiality agreements to protect the victims and their families. The town accepted a state grant of $49.3 million to cover the costs of the demolition and construction. The new school opened in August 2016.
Schools
See also
- List of school districts in Connecticut
References
Reference bibliography
Further reading
- "Newtown Schools". Newtown, Connecticut: past and present. League of Women Voters of Newtown. 1955. pp. 89 et seq.Â
External links
- Newtown Education Budget
- Connecticut Education Statistics
