Former Teacher Returns As Reed Principal

By John Voket

Newtowner Sharon Epple Beitel has come full circle, figuratively speaking. Newtown’s Board of Education voted to appoint the veteran educator who got her start at Head O’ Meadow Elementary School in 1986, to become the new principal at the Reed Intermediate School.

In the first of two executive sessions the school board would attend Wednesday, July 1, a unanimous vote confirmed Dr Epple Beitel to the post effective on or about July 15, according to Superintendent Janet Robinson.

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

Dr Robinson said she was pleased to add an educator with so many years of experience to her team in the Newtown School District.

Dr Epple Beitel, who lives in town with her husband and three children, will enjoy among the shortest commutes of her two decades in the field, which began with her first teaching post 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.

Dr Robinson said Dr Epple Beitel stood out immediately and quickly moved to the top of the district’s interview committee.

“She is a strong instructional leader with a philosophy on education that fits well with the Reed School community,” Dr Robinson said. “She was the perfect candidate to help in moving things forward.”