Class List Postings Elicit Mixed Reactions

By Susan Coney

A steadying stream of parents and kids poured into the Newtown Middle School lobby on Friday, August 26, to take a peak at the class list postings for the seventh and eighth grades for the upcoming school year. As students entered the foyer of the middle school their faces displayed a wide range of expressions from nervous to excited; and as they read which cluster they were to be placed in for the next school year reactions were mixed.

The class lists were posted in alphabetical order, rather than listing by individual clusters, so many students lingered to see where their best friends were placed and to try to see who would be in their cluster. Some walked away jumping for joy, while others looked somewhat shell shocked.

Eighth grader Andrew Nichols was all smiles as he read that he would be in the Red Cluster this year. He said that he was excited to start a new school year and that it looked like he had a good group of teachers. Andrew was not sure how many friends would be in his new cluster, but he certainly did not seem concerned about it and was looking forward to making new friends.

Cousins Evelyn Fahey and Caroline Lawrence, both entering the seventh grade, gave a sigh of relief when they saw that they had been placed in the same cluster together. Evelyn beamed, “I’m happy because a lot of my friends are in my cluster! I’m looking forward to being at the middle school.”