New Reed Intermediate Principal Starts Work

By Eliza Hallabeck

“A whole lot of excitement” and “a real blessing” were ways Sharon Epple Bietel explained her new position as principal of Reed Intermediate School on Thursday, July 16, the day after she began working in the Newtown School District for the second time in her career.

“Yesterday was like a family reunion,” Dr Epple said.

Dr Epple lives in Newtown with her husband and three children. Karli Beitel will be a senior at Dartmouth College, in Hanover, N.H., this fall, Max will be a sophomore at WestConn in the fall, and her youngest, Christian, graduated from Newtown High School this past spring and plans to attend Dickinson College, in Carlisle, Penn.

“These kids keep you busy no matter how old they are,” she said.

Dr Epple began her teaching career in 1986 at Head O’Meadow School where she taught first and second grade, before moving up to an assistant principal job at Saxe Middle School in New Canaan in 1997.

In 2001, Dr Epple Beitel advanced again to Regional District 12, serving Roxbury and Bridgewater, respectively the Booth Free School and Burnham School as principal until 2004. That year she transitioned to Brookfield where she took the helm at Huckleberry Hill Elementary School.

“Besides the excitement and the comfort in coming back to Newtown,” Dr Epple said, “I am really looking forward to working with the staff. I have just heard consistently the caliber of the staff here is veteran and top notch.”

Just two weeks before she started working, the Board of Education met on July 1, the first meeting of two scheduled meetings to interview for the position at Reed, and unanimously voted to hire Dr Epple into the position.

“During our search, Sharon emerged head and shoulders above the 44 applicants we had for the position,” Superintendent of School Janet Robinson told The Bee following the session, which was held at the Booth Library.

Dr Epple said during the interview on Thursday she remembers when ideas for educational space where still being thought about in town. When she received a letter from then Superintendent of Schools John Reed about investigating a five-six school, “I remember thinking that is so cool,” she said.

Dr Epple said she is excited about the school’s environment, because it caters to the specific age group of the students within the building. Reed Intermediate School, she said, is a gorgeous facility, and impressive in how it combines the structure of the building with grouping the students in learning clusters to enhance how students at the five-six grade levels learn.

 Beyond working in the school, Dr Epple said she is excited to work with the Newtown community again.

“You really have to embrace the parents and the community,” said Dr Epple, regarding teaching in Newtown. She later added, “I think we are at a point where we have to rely on more community involvement in the schools.”

Parent Teacher Association members, she said, are helpful in supporting all aspects of education.

With the rest of the summer ahead of her, Dr Epple admitted she has already been thinking about the first day of school, scheduled for September 2 this year. She said she plans to wave and say hello as students exit from their buses, and said she is excited to share the first assemblies and other beginning-of-the-year events with the students.

“I feel so lucky to be coming back into the school system,” she said.

She warned to keep an eye out for T-shirts with a new slogan on them, because “Reed Rocks.”