The Woodbridge Democratic Town Committee and our Democratic Candidates for Amity Board of Education are focused on celebrating Amity’s successes and working with our educators and community members to provide the very best education for our students.
We align with Amity’s Mission Statement…
“To enable every Amity student to become a lifelong learner and a literate, caring, creative, and effective world citizen.”
We support Amity’s Core Values on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion…
WE BELIEVE the district should nurture a community of learners who embrace individual and cultural differences, valuing how differences enrich society.
WE BELIEVE that all learners should have access to the resources necessary to achieve their fullest educational potential with the full support of a community of leaders.
WE BELIEVE that learners must belong to and feel supported in their learning environment for them to thrive socially, emotionally, and academically.
This election season, we must ask ourselves why our Republican Party and their candidates do not.
In response to Amity’s Mission Statement :
“The Cambridge dictionary defines citizen as a person who is a member of a particular country and who has rights because of being born there or because of being given rights or a person who lives in a particular town or city. Nowhere is the word world used in that definition, and for a bunch of educators to not know the definition of what citizen is, is really embarrassing and for you, I would rethink your mission statement.”
— republican party chair 10/22
IN A letter sent criticizing the Board’s Guiding Principles for DEI:
“School boards seek to conceal from the public their efforts to infiltrate DEI/CRT pedagogy into school curricula, then seek to marginalize and stifle those in opposition.”
— signed by DANIEL DEL PRETE, REPUBLICAN BOE CANDIDATE 11/22
During our referendum ON the Amity Budget; encouraging their base to vote NO:
“The Amity administration and the board won’t tell you what DEI truly stands for or admit that it’s a racist Marxist-based ideology that they are using to indoctrinate our children.”
— WRTC FACEBOOK POST 5/1/23
There is much to celebrate at amity!
Here are just a few examples:
Seven Amity High School Students Named Merit Scholar Semifinalists
Seven Amity Regional High School students have been named semifinalists in the 69th annual National Merit Scholarship program, which qualifies them to compete for a National Merit Scholarship.
The Amity Math Team
The Amity Math Team placed 1st (Large School Division) in the CT State Association of Mathematics Leagues (CSAML) competition, beating long-time winner and rival Greenwich High School.
Amity’s Recent Award at the Academic Decathlon National Competition
Amity’s Academic Decathlon Team received the Rookie of the Year award at the National Competition in Frisco, TX, in April 2023. Additionally, team members were awarded six individual medals in the Essay, Science, and Interview competitions.
Amity’s JSA (Junior State of America) Recognition
The Amity JSA received recognition as the Northeast Chapter of the Year! The result was because of the great work by the students.
Trident Nets Top Honors for 2nd Year
Amity’s student newspaper, The Trident, has been selected for the 1st place award for schools of between 1,000-1,700 students in the American Scholastic Press Association’s annual student newspaper competition. This is the second year in a row that The Trident has been the 1st place winner.
Our CT Science and Engineering Fair Results
Throughout the second half of March, 18 of Amity’s Science Research students competed virtually in the CT Science and Engineering Fair, the most prestigious science fair in CT. Ten of the 18 Amity students became finalists, a near-record high for the school. They were awarded more than $95,000 in scholarships for their innovative work.
Mathematical Puzzle Challenge
Members of the Amity Math Honor Society (Mu Alpha Theta) and the Amity Math Team participated in the Mathematical Puzzle Programs High School Challenge hosted by Southern Connecticut State University. Amity had three teams, one of which secured first place.
Amity’s Debate Team
The seven-member Amity Regional High School debate team advanced to the Sweet 16 of the International Public Policy Forum debate competition – the only Connecticut team to make it to that round.
Even in light of Amity’s successes, the Republican Candidates seem focused on promoting a drop in Amity’s ranking by U.S. News and World Report.
REPUBLICAN BOE CANDIDATE BRUCE MARIEN
“I am particularly concerned with the decreased academic ranking of our school versus its peers and the changed teaching/learning environment in the school post-COVID.”
While out knocking on resident’s doors, his handwritten notes highlight this particular negative report.
“Over the last few years Amity has slipped consistently where today U.S. News and World Report lists Amity #39 among high schools in the state.” — Republican First Selectman Candidate, Marty Halprin, Woodbridge Town News
Instead of doing their due diligence to understand the metrics by which these rankings are calculated, they have chosen to use it for their own political gain.
The question we should all expect our leaders to be asking is,
“What does this change in ranking mean?”
Our Democratic Candidates for reelection to the Amity Board of Education,
Sudhir Karunakaran and Patrick Reed asked just that.
What they learned was that, while Amity’s rank among CT schools is on the rise, U.S News and Report used data from 2018-2019 to produce their 2023 ranking. In addition, they relied heavily on AP test taking, not AP course enrollment.
Here is what Dr. Karunakaran’s analysis shows:
Amity's rankings rose significantly in 2021-22, to 9th (Math), 11th (English and Language Arts), and 17th (Science).
U.S. News also used older 2018-19 data---data that did not reflect Amity’s recent performance improvements.
The good news is that the impressive 2021-22 performance will help Amity’s ranking next year.
Forty percent of the ranking is tied to Advanced Placement (AP) test-taking and scores, which U.S. News considers as a proxy for college readiness.
A significant share of Amity students taking AP classes choose not to take the exams. The exams cost $98-$148, and as colleges increasingly do not give college credit for AP exams, many Amity students find these exams not worth their stress or money.
““Magazine rankings, especially when based on outdated data or questionable metrics such as AP test taking, don't define our excellence.” ”
—Sudhir Karunakaran, Democratic Candidate for Amity BOE
If we choose to look for good news in a recent ranking, here is one:
