School Board Welcomes 51 New Teachers

By Susan Coney

The Newtown Board of Education held a reception prior to last week’s October 6 Board of Education meeting to welcome the 51 new teachers joining the staff this fall. Following a coffee and dessert reception, Superintendent Evan Pitkoff introduced the new staff by saying, “After spending five days of workshop training and seeing the energy and commitment of these new teachers, we realized why we hired them because they fit so well with our district model. We hosted this reception as an opportunity for the Board of Ed to meet the new teachers.”

One by one the new staff members introduced themselves to the board and gave a brief description of their background and how they felt the new year was progressing.

Many of the newly hired teachers came to Newtown from surrounding school districts and expressed that they felt welcomed and supported by the Newtown system. A few were new teachers just out of school while others had previous work experience in other noneducational fields and had recently chosen to switch to teaching as a vocation.

The new teaching staff project diverse backgrounds and experiences from Karen Schreiber hired as a physical education teacher at Reed, who previously taught for 16 years in Wyoming and Colorado, to Trisha Pull who was hired to teach music at Reed. Ms Pull brings less teaching experience with her but has the unusual experience of spending a year teaching in the Philippines.

Board Chairman Elaine McClure welcomed the new staff saying, “I would just like to point out that all of the principals and some assistant principals from all seven schools are here. This is how we like to operate in Newtown; everyone comes together to cooperate.”

The school board members welcomed the new teachers and introduced themselves. Board member and Newtown parent Lisa Schwartz observed, “The personality of this crew is remarkable!” Fellow board member, Paul Mangiafico told the group, “I have three grandchildren in Newtown Schools. This is a really lively and talented group. I expect and look forward to seeing really great things coming from you.”

At the close of reception Business Director Ronald Bienkowski jokingly reminded the new staff to pay close attention to all those purchase orders submitted. This drew a laugh and applause from the entire group.