Reed is a school for fifth and sixth graders. It is divided into clusters of about 50 students, with each group…More taught by a team of two teachers. The principal, Dr. Sharon Epple, supervises the fifth grade, while the assistant principal, Dr. Anthony Salvatore, supervises the sixth grade. The teaching model is intended to foster a level of consistency and clarity, in addition to promoting smaller learning communities.</p> <p>"The school's core values are to be safe, responsible, respectful, productive and healthy. These values are to bring the community together and foster a sense of caring," educators said. The school publishes a core-value matrix that maps out the ways students should behave in the classroom, hallway, cafeteria, playground, bus, locker room and restroom.</p> <p>The school is named after John Reed, who served as Newtown's superintendent of schools for 20 years before retiring.</p>

Only seventh and eighth graders are taught at the middle school, which is organized into 10 clusters, five for each…More grade and each assigned a color: blue, green orange, purple and red.</p> <p>Sixth graders had at one time attended the school but then to ease overcrowding, the town opened Reed Intermediate School in 2003 for fifth and sixth graders across the district.</p> <p>The Newtown Middle School site also once operated as a high school but then the town opened Newtown High School in 1970.</p>