Former Lewiston High School Principal Shawn Chabot is working at the Dingley Building, background, as assistant superintendent of the Lewiston school system.
LEWISTON — Shawn Chabot, who was the Lewiston High School principal last year, is assistant superintendent, replacing Tom Jarvis who retired.
Chabot said it was a tough decision to leave the high school, a job he enjoyed, but he wanted a new challenge.
“I’ve been in school buildings for 23 years,” he said. “I’m looking forward to learning new parts of education, facing new challenges and helping all teachers and students throughout the district.”
Superintendent Bill Webster said Chabot is “one of the few leaders in the district who has worked at every school level.”
When the district is deciding issues of curriculum and instruction, “he’s been in the trenches and will be able to provide leadership. Shawn is also a great people person with a wonderful personality,” Webster said, adding that those talents combined will benefit schools and students.
Chabot, 46, grew up in Dexter, is a first sergeant in the Maine Army National Guard, and has worked in education for 24 years.
After graduating from the University of Maine at Farmington, his first teaching job was at Leavitt Area High School in Turner where he taught history.
Then he was assistant principal and athletic director at Buckfield Junior-Senior High School. After that, he worked at Mechanic Falls’ Elm Street School, then was principal at Holy Cross in Lewiston, then assistant principal at McMahon Elementary School, also in Lewiston.
He served as Lewiston Middle School principal for three and a half years, then high school principal for the past two and a half years.
In addition to being assistant superintendent, Chabot is chief academic officer, which means he’s in charge of Performance-Based Learning, a new way of teaching that advances students when they’ve demonstrated they’ve mastered what they need to know.
Performance-Based Learning has been controversial in Lewiston; several years ago the district abandoned it at the high school to provide more time to develop consistent standards for teachers to grade.
“We still have work to do,” Chabot said. “But we’ve done a lot of planning and are in a much better position than we have been in the past.”
This year, grades K-9 will use the Performance-Based Learning system. Parents will notice the grading system will be 1 to 4 instead of A through F. “With PBL, we’re better able to define where a student is at,” Chabot said.
Lighter note
Chabot’s favorite movie: The original “Star Wars” trilogy.
Favorite food: “Anything Mexican.”
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2017 head and shoulders photo of Lewiston assistant superintendent Shawn Chabot.
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