“What excites me the most is that we’re all a team that already knows how well we work together,” said Dr. William Jacoutot, the new Director of Curriculum and Instruction at the Henry Hudson k-12 Regional School District.
Jacoutot is stepping up from his position as principal of the Highlands Elementary School to take on the role as head of the department which also includes Melissa Garcia, who has been and will continue to be supervisor of instruction for the district.
With Dr. Jacoutot’s educational background and qualifications, the district will now have the ability for even more structure and more innovative ideas for keeping educational standards at the highest level in all three schools.
The creation of a broadened program that includes a director to oversee the curriculum for the k-12 district was made even better since all the other members of the team are also ‘veterans’ in the school district, familiar with all three schools, students, and faculty. Because of all this, plans for the new school year are “already ahead of schedule,” he said.
Joining the Director and Garcia on the team are the new principals in the district, all of whom have been in the district for several years in other positions. Eric Pritchard, who has been vice principal and athletic director at Henry Hudson School for the past four years, will now be the principal at the Highlands school, replacing Dr. Jacoutot. Thomas Lynch, who has been the science and chemistry teacher as well as the coach of many athletic teams at Hudson for 28 years, will now be the vice principal and athletic director at Henry Hudson. Andrew Teeple, who has been an interim in the district for the last two years and is a retired school administration, will now be the principal of the Atlantic Highlands Elementary school at least until temporarily, most likely up to two years. But Teeple also has his own connections to the district, having been raised in Highlands with parents who made their own generous contributions to the school district as employee, teacher and board of education member.
“The Board of Education, administrative team, faculty, and staff have been incredibly supportive of our newly restructured Office of Curriculum & Instruction,” said Dr. Tara Beams, administrator of the district. “This exciting redesign introduces a new Supervisor of Instruction to work collaboratively with our Director and expands leadership opportunities to foster and develop future educators within our district.”
“We are thrilled to appoint Dr. Jacoutot as the new Director ,” she continued. “ Over the past three years as the principal of Highlands Elementary School, he has led his school community to outstanding student growth and achievement.” Dr. Beams pointed out that throughout his tenure, Dr. Jacoutet “has consistently demonstrated a deep expertise in curriculum development, strong instructional practices, and a commitment to targeted professional growth for our staff. We are excited to watch him bring this same transformative leadership and vision to the entire district. “
That “Dr. J” is capable of taking on the newly created position and getting a high standard for excellence cannot be denied. After working 13 years as a teacher in the Monroe township school district in Middlesex County, where he taught world history, American history, economics and participation in Government classes, he served another three years as an elementary school vice principal and also coached both wrestling and cross country. He has been principal in Highlands for the past three years, and took on this new position the beginning of July.
Dr. Jacoutot earned his doctorate in education from Liberty University in Virginia, after earning master’s degrees in school leadership from Pennsylvania Western University and in secondary education from Wesleyan University in New York. He earned his BS in history from the University of Buffalo before starting his educational career.
The new department enables the district to have more structure in educating our students, Dr. Jacoutot said. While every school is governed by state regulations, school districts can localize their curriculum, create programs to make learning more appealing, and offer supplemental courses and training where needed. This year, he said, the department will highlight supplemental support in science, similar to what was accomplished last year in math.
Dr. Beams reiterated Dr. Jacoutot’s gratitude for how well the team has already established its program. “ Working with Mrs. Melissa Garcia, who has served our schools for the last 15 years as a teacher and instructional coach. I have seen how she supported our teachers through curriculum implementations, provided resources to help differentiate instruction, and led ongoing professional development across all content areas and grade levels. Not only does she bring incredible expertise in instructional best practices, but her deep commitment to our district and her passion for progress will also have an incredibly positive impact.”
While the formal acceptance of the new position just went into effect July 1, Dr. Jacoutot said the program is ahead of schedule at least in part because the team has been working together in anticipation of the reality and has been building the infrastructure . Even locations of the meetings of the team are being rotated. While JD. Jacoutot will now have his office in the larger Atlantic Highlands school, both he and Garcia will be involved in all three schools, a and working together with each school’s principal to continue to maintain their focus on teaching and learning. “Everything can’t be accomplished overnight,” he said, “but there are distinct advantages in everyone knowing the buildings, the faculty and the student. Here, the students work together and know each other, even though they come from two different towns.”
Although at the elementary school level the Atlantic Highlands school has approximately twice the number of students as Highlands, many of their programs are completed together, the children compete on different sports teams together, and work together on school outings and major events.
“We’re all in the same ball park,” he said, and all have the goal of continuing to build a positive momentum together.. “My immediate goal is that we continue to build on this positive momentum and continue to work together with a strong focus on curriculum.”
As far as a long-time goal? Dr. Jacoutot thought for a second, smiled and said, “I just want to continue to find ways to be certain all our kids get all the opportunities to be the best they can be.”
Dr. William Jacoutot
Accident
