New school staff hired ahead of the 2025-26 school year received a warm welcome to the Newtown Public Schools District.

Twenty-five new staff members attended a four-day long orientation at Reed Intermediate School from August 14 to August 19. The eventful week included icebreakers, presentations, and other activities, culminating in a bus tour of Newtown.

Staff orientation coordinator Anne Fries, who is also a teacher at Hawley Elementary School, led the group in introductions and various community building exercises.

The morning of Friday, August 15 saw the new hires go on a scavenger hunt. They had to find another person who matched certain criteria such as “someone who has a pet” and “someone who has lived in another state.”

Afterwards, everyone sat in a circle and shared one of the fun facts they learned. Fries said the scavenger hunt, along with the several other activities they did, helped the new hires prepare to connect with their students. She emphasized that building community in the classroom makes students more open and excited to learn.

“We really grow want to grow a connection with students and staff,” Fries said. “That’s what I really strive for, not just giving them the tools to hit the ground running, but for them to have connections coming into the district and feel like they’re already a part of the community.”

Some of the professional development presentations throughout the week included: a security overview from Director of Security Mark Pompano, a breakdown of the district’s curriculum structure from Newtown High School teacher Kristin English, and a presentation on how social and emotional learning build relationships and community from RIS teacher Sara Strait.

Chartwells, the district’s food service provider, served breakfast every morning. People could help themselves to pastries and strawberry smoothies, while calming piano music welcomed them into the library.

At the end of each day, principals met new hires at their respective buildings for a “Welcome Tour.” Other afternoons were unscheduled for new hires to meet with colleagues, set up classrooms, or work in buildings.

New Hires

One of the many new hires who attended orientation is LeeAnn Browett, who will be the dean of students at Newtown High School.

Browett said a number of things led her to taking the position. She has been a history and special education teacher for three decades, and is excited to build on those experiences and take on a leadership role.

Not only is she a Newtown Public Schools graduate, she also taught in the district for several years.

“So I care very much about this community, and when I saw this position, I thought this was just the absolute perfect fit,” Browett explained.

The dean of students is a new position added into the 2025-26 education budget. When NHS was reduced from three assistant principals to two in 2020, the cut created a lot of work and put considerable strain on the remaining school administrators.

In turn, Browett will take on a supportive role to ease stress from the administration’s workload. She will provide assistance in a variety of ways: tracking attendance, managing discipline issues, and helping students develop the skills they need to be successful.

Browett said she is very excited to support students in a new way.

“Being in that role as an educator, there were a lot of things I did with students to support them with soft skills like time management, handling stress, getting things done that they needed to get done … And this I feel is an opportunity to really do that on a new level,” Browett explained.

On a personal level, Browett is happy to return to her hometown. She said a few colleagues she taught with at the high school are still there, adding that “it’ll be sweet to work with some familiar faces again.”

Beth Savinelli and Alyssa Furtado are also looking forward to starting in Newtown Public Schools this fall. Savinelli will be a sixth grade English language arts (ELA) and social studies teacher at Reed, while Furtado will be a sixth grade math and science teacher at Reed.

“We just got hired last week, so it’s been a lot all at once, but it’s been exciting,” Furtado said.

Savinelli and Furtado knew each other in their master’s program, and finished it earlier this spring. They had been applying to jobs throughout the summer, and are happy to teach the same grade together at Reed.

Furtado said they will be right down the hall from each other.

“Being a new teacher, it’s nice to have someone else that’s in the same boat,” Savinelli said.

This is a full circle moment for Savinelli, since she went to Reed when she was younger. She also student-taught at Sandy Hook Elementary School. She loves teaching upper elementary school-age students, so when she saw the position open, she thought it would be the perfect fit.

Furtado lives in Bethel, and said she heard great things about Newtown from Savinelli. She worked the last two years in Bethel as a substitute, and did her student teaching there. When she looked for jobs online, she saw a lot of similarities between Newtown and Bethel, and felt teaching in Newtown would be a similar and good experience.

Jesse Bartko, who will be a seventh grade English teacher at Newtown Middle School, said he is really happy to work in the district. Bartko went to Brookfield High School growing up, and got his masters in Erie, Pennsylvania. He later came back to Connecticut and said Newtown came onto his radar as one of his “dream districts.”

“So last year, I was [teaching] in Bridgeport, and the opportunity came up during a search for a Newtown English teaching position. I applied, one thing led to another, and here we are,” Bartko said.

Teaching English has always been his preference, as his mom taught second grade English for 25 years. Bartko said he actually went to school for communications, public relations and journalism, so the written word and the way people can use it to express information and wield knowledge is important to him.

Bartko said transitioning into Newtown Public Schools is “night and day” from where he came. He called where he taught in Erie and Bridgeport Title 1 schools, meaning that they serve high numbers of low-income households and receive federal funding for it.

The school Bartko taught at in Erie, he said, served the poorest zip code in the country.

“So the difference in support that Newtown can provide to its students has been awesome to see,” Bartko added.

A Warm Welcome

This was far from the first time Fries coordinated a new staff orientation. Fries started the position in 2021 as a way to use her administrative certification and build her resume, but loves helping new staff come into the district and get acquainted with the community.

“When I meet them, these new educators have just gotten hired, so they are excited, enthusiastic, open-minded, and passionate,” Fries said. “It’s such an eclectic group of educators that I get to meet and connect with.”

Fries said she was honored to be the one who welcomed them to the district.

“I get to be the one that gives them their first glimpse at what teaching in Newtown looks like,” Fries explained. “So I want to make sure they have all the tools and all the prep that need to excel as they transition into their new roles.”

Coming in and sharing in the new hires’ excitement makes her role as new staff orientation coordinator “such a lovely position.”

“It’s just one of the best jobs,” Fries said.

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.