Assistant Principal Shuffle

Former language arts teacher and Sandy Hook School Assistant Principal Jen Sinal will be swapping places with long-time Reed Intermediate School Assistant Principal Tony Salvatore, officials have announced.

The assistant principal swap takes effect Friday, July 1.

"She brings a lot of strength in the literacy area, so we're excited about that," Reed principal Sharon Epple said of Sinal.

Sinal, formerly a language arts teacher at Newtown Middle School, will spearhead language arts programs at Reed, in addition to assistant principal duties.

"We have not seen any tremendous growth in the writing area," Epple said. "She is going to be instrumental in support the language arts center."

Reed had a tough start to the school year with dozens of parents expressing frustration at changes to the classroom schedule and complaints about a lack of instructional time.

Epple said that those issues were eventually worked out, and the swapping of assistant principals was not done as a result of those issues.

At the same time, Epple said Salvatore has been at the school for a long time and officials believed a change may be in order.

"Maybe it's time to get a fresh look and get that language arts strength to the building," Epple said. "Change is good. The fresh look that Jen brings is going to be beneficial."

In addition, some of the attention that she once focused on language arts will now move toward math, she said.

"I'll be shifting my instructional view, although I oversee all of it," Epple said. "We're very interested in looking at our math curriculum and getting that alignment."

In turn, Salvatore will bring his experience at the intermediate school to Sandy Hook, where he will help prepare elementary students for the upper grades, Epple said.

District and Sandy Hook School officials could not be reached for comment.