Hot Springs schools ready for new year

As Hot Springs heads into another academic school year, superintendent Gerald Chouinard reflects on his first year in the position. “It has been a very good year,” he said of the 2020-2021 school year. “I’ve signed on for three more years and will be contracted through 2024.” While Chouinard continues furthering the connection between students and teachers, he also plans to create and maintain a stronger outreach with the community.

“I absolutely love Hot Springs,” Chouinard said. “The community has been extremely supportive in what most educators would feel was a challenging year. We had such amazing support initially and any challenging impacts were minimal because we had that support.”

Chouinard says while the school has stayed in constant standby mode by following state and federal government guidance on COVID-19 protocols, they haven’t had to take any extra precautions as of yet. “We are seeing a bit of an uptick with the delta variant, but at this point in time, a large majority of folks within our staff have been vaccinated. We’re in pretty good standing to start the school year off safely.”

While the school faced minimal impacts last year and has the tools in place for any kind of outbreak in the future, Chouinard says they are still taking the pandemic very seriously. “We are, however, at a point to move forward and get back to some normalcy,” he stated.

Along with implementing a new math and language arts curriculum this year, the district welcomes Cindy Moore as the school’s new nurse. “We didn’t have a nurse last year or for a few years now,” Chouinard said. “We're very happy we found her, especially with COVID around. She’s going to be a great addition to the staff.”

The superintendent’s plan for the upcoming school year is to continue a professional learning process within the school’s collaborative culture, as well as focus on a shared leadership model that will help the faculty move forward within the school as a team.

“Collaborative culture is based upon research and data that focuses on the quality of instruction and is catered to each individual student’s level of learning,” Chouinard said. “Creating a collaborative environment is all about educating oneself about what our students’ needs are and ensuring those needs are met at each level of their education.”

Chouinard will also continue to bridge the gap between the school and the town. “Community outreach is something we’ve worked on over the last year and will continue to work on,” he said. “It’s something that is very important to us and we strive to improve that relationship. Without community support, it’s very difficult to educate and ensure we’re doing everything we can for our kids.”

Chouinard says community input is important and needs to be considered high priority in order to successfully operate as a school district. “We are a reflection of our community,” he stated. “We don’t want to take the community for granted, that’s something I personally strive to improve each coming year.”